Lawyers in large law firms usually have databases, couriers, professional law librarians and money to help them locate full-text copies of court documents quickly. What are mere mortals to do? There is actually quite a bit.
Mere mortals who want Oregon appellate court documents have their own “points of access” and it’s going to get better:
1) How to Find Oregon Appellate Court Briefs research guide, which will be updated shortly
This a joint initiative of the Minnesota State Law Library and the Appellate Practice Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association.
“New self-help clinic helps Minnesotans navigate appeals process,” posted Monday, February 8, 2016, at the Minnesota Judicial Branch website:
“A new self-help clinic at the Minnesota State Law Library provides free assistance to individuals seeking to file an appeal with the Minnesota Court of Appeals or the Minnesota Supreme Court.
We try to keep an eye out for any updates to our How to Find U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit briefs posts.
You can visit our previous post and also see the official United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit website.
Law librarians teach law students and new lawyers that state and federal appellate court briefs are treasure troves, but they are not the easiest documents to search.
For example, in Oregon, unless you have a subscription to Lexis or Westlaw, and can afford to buy into their briefs databank, and need to search only relatively recent briefs, you have to resort to needle-in-a-haystack types of research. (A law librarian can recommend some research tips, but the research still takes time.)
Web-based, publicly-accessible, moderately priced, and searchable digital briefs banks rise and fall, but that’s a good thing. One needs to experiment a lot to find the right online business model and database. To read about a recent effort:
We are working with our 9th Circuit Court of Appeals law librarians to update our existing guide to briefs from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In the meantime:
1) In a nutshell, you will find 9th Circuit Court of Appeals briefs filed since 2008 on PACER.
2) Read the previous blog post, “How Do I Find Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Briefs?”
KCLL Klues reports that Washington State appellate court briefs from June 2006 forward are now online.
For Oregon appellate court briefs, see the guide on How to Find Oregon Appellate Court briefs. (And see here for more information on appeals in Oregon courts.)
Appellate court briefs are a terrific source of information for all legal researchers.
This blog post is written primarily for the new appellate court brief writer, either the new lawyer or the pro se litigant.
Not all materials on briefs writing are online (surprise, surprise), so be prepared to visit an Oregon law library:
1) OSB “Appeal and Review” (loose leaf) (from the Oregon State Bar or an Oregon law library)
2) Various CLE course materials on the Oregon appeals process (titles vary from law library to law library depending on collection size and purchasing decisions).
A complete answer to this question depends on where you live. IF you are in a city with a federal court library or, lucky you, in a city where a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Library is located, you may have a few other options.
You may also have access to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (official name) briefs that are available on Westlaw or Lexis.
In time the briefs may appear on PACER (and a few may be there now, but I’ve not ever seen one there myself).
Oregon Legal Research Blog