Westlaw, HeinOnline, and Nexis Uni are the primary sources for court decisions available at Reed.
Need case law in a hurry? Try Google Scholar. Please see the Google Scholar: Case Law guide from Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas School of Law for a discussion of what Google Scholar includes and omits from its case law offerings.
Google Scholar for case law is most helpful to use after you have already surveyed secondary sources, statutes, and regulations on your topic, but before turning to licensed databases such as Nexis Uni and Westlaw for case law.
Especially when you are unfamiliar with a particular subject, this easy to use resource allows you to perform an unlimited number of searches to get a sense of the keywords used in legal opinions regarding your subject and take stock of what cases are on point, if any.
Types of law and documentation about law in Westlaw and LexisNexis include:
Other court documents are available directly from the courts. Some courts may make this information available electronically, but this is not typical.If a government agency is involved, additional documentation may be available from the agency's web site, especially for high-profile cases.
Remember that interest groups often obtain public court documents and put them on the web (e.g., the American Library Association's web page about the Google Books settlement).
This work by the Reed College Library is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY Attribution 4.0 International License.
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