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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.

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.  Explore: Federal links to All Federal Cases.  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

Bloomberg Law: Dockets Search (log in required)

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

Westlaw:: Briefs (log in required)

Supreme Court of the United States > tab: Case Documents

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.

Federal Court website links

Try: Internet Archive

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

For brief analysis tools, access: Bloomberg Law > Brief Analyzer, Lexis > Brief Analysis & Westlaw >Drafting Assistant