Reporters

Reporters contain the full text of published court opinions. When a court first releases an opinion, it is usually published as a single case in a pamphlet known as a "slip opinion" or "slip decision." Multiple opinions are collected and published in soft-bound pamphlets called "advance sheets." Depending on the publication, advance sheets are issued on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. Advance sheets are later replaced by bound volumes, known as "reports" or "reporters." The pagination in the advance sheets and the bound volumes is identical.

Official reports are published under the authority of the legislature and are usually printed by the government. Unofficial reporters are printed by private publishers (such as West) with or without authority from the legislature. The National Reporter System, developed by West, covers both federal and state courts. All West reporters - i.e., all of the following, except U.S., L.Ed., Wash., and Wash. App. - are part of the National Reporter System.

For more information about reporters see:

the PowerPoint presentations provided by West

Using West's National Reporter System (PDF)

or one of the basic legal research guides in the Library (KF240 at Reference Area).

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Major Reporters

U.S. (Federal)

This table identifies the major reporters for cases from the U.S. (federal) courts that are available in the Law Library. This list does not include courts that no longer exist and some specialized courts.

U.S. Court	Title	Abbreviation	Call Number	Location(s)
Supreme Court	United States Reports	U.S.	KF101 .A212	Reference Area Compact Stacks
	Supreme Court Reporter	S. Ct.	KF101 .A322	Reference Area Compact Stacks
	United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition	L. Ed. L. Ed. 2d	KF101 .A313	Reference Area
Courts of Appeal	West's Federal Reporter, 3d Series (1988-date)	F.3d	KF105 .F432	Reference Area Compact Stacks (vols. 1-277)
	Federal Reporter, 2d Series (1925-88)	F.2d	KF105 .F432	Compact Stacks
	Federal Reporter (1880-1924)	F.	KF105 .F432	Compact Stacks
District Courts	West's Federal Supplement, 2d Series (1988-date)	F. Supp. 2d	KF120 .F42	Reference Area Compact Stacks (vols. 1-179)
	Federal Supplement (1933-88)	F. Supp.	KF120 .F42	Compact Stacks
	Federal Rules Decisions (1941-date)	F.R.D.	KF 8839 .F4	Compact Stacks
Bankruptcy Courts	West's Bankruptcy Reporter	B.R.	KF1515 .A2 W47	Reference Area
Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims	West's Veterans Appeals Reporter	Vet. App.	KF7745 .A518	Compact Stacks
Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces	West's Military Justice Reporter	M.J.	KF7605 .A2W4	Compact Stacks
Court of Claims	Federal Claims Reporter	Fed. Cl.	KF125 .C5 C53	Compact Stacks
Court of International Trade	United States Court of International Trade Reports	Ct. Int'l Trade	KF6698 .A512	Compact Stacks
Tax Court	United States Tax Court Reports	T.C.	KF6324 .A512	Reference Area Compact Stacks (incomplete)

The Law Library does not subscribe to the Federal Appendix, which includes cases from the U.S. Courts of Appeals that are not selected for publication in the Federal Reporter. These cases may be found in print in subject-specific looseleaf services and online via commercial databases and court websites. Ask a Reference librarian for assistance.

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States

The West National Reporter System organizes state court cases by region of the country. The map indicates the states that are included in each of the regional reporters.

Cases from Washington State appellate courts are found in the Pacific Reporter:

West's Pacific Reporter, 3d (1988-date)	P.3d	KF135 .P2 P32  Reference Area Compact Stacks
Pacific Reporter, 2d (1931-88)	P.2d	KF135 .P2 P32 Compact Stacks
Pacific Reporter (1884-1931)	P.	KF135 .P2 P32 Compact Stacks

 

The other regional reporters, their abbreviations, and call numbers (all in the Compact Stacks) are:

Atlantic Reporter	A.; A.2d; A.3d	KF135.A7 A8
California Reporter	Cal. Rptr.; Cal. Rptr. 2d; Cal. Rptr. 3d	KFC47 .C32
New York Supplement	N.Y.S.; N.Y.S.2d	KFN5045 .A33
North Eastern Reporter	N.E.; N.E.2d	KF135 .N6 N62
North Western Reporter	N.W.; N.W.2d	KF135 .N7 N6
South Eastern Reporter	S.E.; S.E.2d	KF135 .S6 S6
South Western Reporter	S.W.; S.W. 2d; S.W. 3d	KF135 .S7 S6
Southern Reporter	So.; So.2d; So.3d	KF135 .S8 S6

The Law Library also has the official reporters for the Washington appellate courts:

Washington Supreme Court	Washington Reports, 2d	Wash.; Wash. 2d	KFW45 .A22	Reference Area Compact Stacks
Washington Court of Appeals	Washington Appellate Reports	Wash. App.	KFW48 .A5W3c	Reference Area Compact Stacks

When citing Washington cases to Washington courts, follow the Reporter of Decisions Style Sheet, which uses different abbreviations for Washington court reports:

• Washington Reports = Wash.
• Washington Reports, 2d = Wn.2d
• Washington Appellate Reports = Wn. App.

The Law Library generally has other official state reporters that predate coverage in the regional reporters. Search the catalog by the name of the state and the phrase "law reports."

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Digests

Cases are printed in reporters in rough chronological order. To locate cases by subject or legal issue, use a digest that covers cases from the appropriate court(s).

Digests are organized alphabetically by topics, established by West Publishing Co. and detailed in its Analysis of American Law. KF144.W4 at Reference Area & Reference Office.

Each Topic begins with a scope note (Subjects Included and Subjects Excluded and Covered by Other Topics), then an outline of the Topic (Analysis). Abstracts of points of law are then arranged in order by Key Number.

Each digest has a Descriptive Word Index and a Table of Cases. Most also have Defendant-Plaintiff Tables (earlier regional and decennial digests do not).

For more information, see Updating Your West Digest Search (on Westlaw).

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Digests in the Gallagher Law Library

The digests in this table are listed from most comprehensive to most specific.

Court(s)	Title	Call Number	Location
U.S. & state courts (all cases in the National Reporter System)	Decennial Digest (multiple series)	KF140 - KF141	Reference Area Classified Stacks (1897-1906)
U.S. courts, including Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, District courts, Bankruptcy courts, Court of Claims & Military courts	Federal Practice Digest, 4th Series (1975-date)	KF127 .W484	Reference Area
	Federal Practice Digest, 3d Series (1975-89)	KF127 .W483	Reference Area
	Federal Practice Digest, 2d Series (1961-75)	KF127 .W48	Reference Area
	Modern Federal Practice Digest (1939-60)	KF127 .M6	Reference Area
	Federal Digest (1754-1938)	KF127 .F4	Reference Area
U.S. Supreme Court	United States Supreme Court Digest (1754-date)	KF101.1 .W4	Reference Area Compact Stacks
State appellate court cases from the Pacific Reporter *	Pacific Digest (1884-date) (5 series)	KF135 .P21	Reference Area
U.S. Bankruptcy courts	West's Bankruptcy Digest	KF515.3 .W47	Reference Area

* Note: the Law Library does not have digests for other regional reporters. Use the Decennial Digests for states not included in the Pacific Reporter and Pacific Digest.

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Methods for Searching Digests

1. Begin with a known case.

From reading secondary sources or using annotated codes, you might know a major case on point. Take the topics and key numbers from that case and look them up in a digest that covers the jurisdiction you need; the topics and key numbers are the same throughout the system.

2. Use the Descriptive Word Index. Look up terms to find Topics and Key Numbers that have relevant abstracts.

3. Use the topical approach.

Choose one or more Topics that are likely to address the issue you are researching. Read the scope notes to see whether your issue is covered. Skim the outline to find a Key Number or range of Key Numbers.

For more information see the following guides and tutorials provided by West Group:

Using the Digests (PDF)

West's Key Number System

The Topic and Key Number System (PPT)

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Updating Digests

1. Check for a pocket part (or later edition of the digest).
2. Check for interim pamphlet(s).
3. Check digest section of recent reporter volumes and advance sheets.
4. Use Westlaw.

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