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Federal Civil Procedure : Case Law + Briefs, Pleadings & Motions

This guide is intended to help law students and practitioners find resources which will help them understand federal civil procedure and find applicable federal court rules. Developed by Joan Markey and updated by Loreen Peritz and Jean Davis.

Case Law: U.S. Federal

Lexis Legal Research starting points: Explore: Content > Cases links to U.S. federal cases.  One can search all available U.S. federal court cases, or can search by court, circuit, state or practice area.  See also link: Cases: All Federal.  Log in required.

Westlaw starting point: tab: Federal materials links to the page: Federal Cases.  One can search all available U.S. federal court cases, or can search by court, state, circuit or territory.  Log in required.

Case Law: Federal Rules

Briefs, Pleadings & Motions

Subscription sources:

Bloomberg Law: Dockets Search (log in required)

Lexis: Briefs, Pleadings & Motions (log in required)

Westlaw:: Briefs (log in required)

The Making of Modern Law: U.S Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978

In BLS Library's SARA catalog record above, click link: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION -- (MOML) -- REMOTE ACCESS RESTRICTED TO CURRENT BLS COMMUNITY -- SEE PROXY INSTRUCTIONS.

For brief analysis tools, access:

Bloomberg Law > Brief Analyzer

Lexis > Brief Analysis

Westlaw > Drafting Assistant

For sample documents (e.g., pleadings, motions) & clauses, see the Practice Pages box on the home page of this guide.

Publicly accessible sources:

Supreme Court of the United States > tab: Case Documents

United States Courts website links

Try: Internet Archive for older material.

 

Secondary Sources