Federal case law and court documents are often available online for free, particularly if the case was decided recently. Generally, check the website of the deciding court to see if they provide digital copies of their cases. In addition, the following resources provide free case law.
The Caselaw Access Project (“CAP”) expands public access to U.S. law by making all published U.S. court decisions freely available online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of the Harvard Law Library.
This website from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts collects links to the federal courts websites, offering digital copies of recent opinions.
Court listener is an alert tool for the U.S. judicial system that is updated daily. It includes all precedential opinions from the Supreme Court and Circuit Courts. Non-precedential opinions are also included, except from the D.C. Circuit. This site also offers a a citator.
This browseable and searchable database from FindLaw offers U.S. Supreme Court opinions since 1893. FindLaw also maintains a database of case summaries for lower court opinions since 2000.
Courts are increasingly making their materials freely available online, frequently via the court website. At the state level, this is particularly true for state Supreme Courts. When looking for state case law, it is often best to start at the website of the deciding court if you have a citation. The National Center for State Courts provides a list of state court websites.
This website collects data on state courts and also includes links to the state court websites.
The sources below provide alternatives for hard-to-find cases.
The Caselaw Access Project (“CAP”) expands public access to U.S. law by making all published U.S. court decisions freely available online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of the Harvard Law Library.
Justia.com includes an extensive database of federal cases.
LLRX offers a free collection of state court rules, forms and dockets.
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