About Court Cases
The written decision from a judge (or panel of judges) is referred to as a case, decision, or opinion.
Generally cases only from appellate courts are available. Selected state trial court decisions and verdicts are reported in the news; they are not available in traditional print or online sources. The exception: about 15% of cases from the federal district courts (the trial level in the federal system) are available in LexisNexis Academic.
The more information you have about a case, the more successful your search will be. Do you know:
- names of the parties (Roe and Wade)
- the court that decided the case (U.S. Supreme Court, Washington Court of Appeals)
- date or date range (2008 or last ten years)
Contact the Gallagher Law Library reference librarians for help with identifying and locating court opinions.
Guides & Tutorials
- Court Briefs & Oral Arguments A guide to finding briefs written by attorneys and submitted to U.S. and Washington State appellate courts
- Caselaw Summaries & Headnotes A tutorial on search results for cases in LexisNexis Academic
Best Sources
- LexisNexis Academic Thorough coverage of US and state cases; some international cases
[UW restricted] - LegalWa Complete coverage of cases from the Washington Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals
- HeinOnline U.S. Supreme Court cases, 1754-date
[UW restricted]
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