Strategies for Finding Court Documents

When a civil or criminal action is commenced, a docket number is assigned and a corresponding docket sheet created. There may be pleading and motions filed by parties and orders issued by the court, briefs, oral arguments and a final adjudication, issued with or without a reported opinion. As practices vary among jurisdictions and courts, it is valuable to learn strategies for finding these documents in different circumstances.

In recent years, Westlaw and LexisNexis have established a growing number of databases that provide briefs, dockets, court filings, and other documents that are within the scope of this research guide. Access to these documents afforded to researchers using law school passwords has varied and changed. Researchers who seek court documents can consult the online directories for each provider, without charge, for current information, including the appropriate database identifier (Westlaw) or library and file (LexisNexis). See:

During a Westlaw research session, court documents can be located by, e.g., consulting the "Litigation" section of the Westlaw directory; the links to databases for briefs, dockets and court documents on the main Welcome to Westlaw page; and the "Petitions, Briefs and Filings" listed in the KeyCite report; or by selecting "Briefs and Other Related Documents" while viewing a court opinion on Westlaw.

During a LexisNexis research session, court documents can be located by, e.g., consulting the main "Legal" tab, particularly the sections on "Briefs, Motions, Pleadings & Verdicts" and "Court Records from CourtLink."

Among the library pages and databases that may be helpful on work with court documents, consider:

Page maintained by David Bachman
Last updated: April 2009