Gallagher Law Library - UW School of Law

U.S. Judicial System: Selected Websites

 

Updated Feb. 5, 2009.
Prepared by Mary Whisner for visitors with the World Affairs Council.

University of Washington, Gallagher Law Library,

Research guides Internet Legal Resources links to free websites with U.S. federal and Washington State legal sources. 

 

Legal Information Providers
LexisNexis http://www.lexis.com/ A commercial service that provides full-text databases of federal and state cases, statutes, regulations; secondary sources about law; news publications; some coverage of other countries.
LexisONE  http://www.lexisone.com A slice of LexisNexis aimed at solo and small-firm practitioners.
U.S. Supreme Court (complete) and state and federal appellate cases (last five years only) are available free to users who register.
Other services are available for a fee.

 

U.S. Federal Agencies
Federal Judicial Center http://www.fjc.gov/ �The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency for the federal courts.�
Supreme Court of the United States http://www.supremecourtus.gov/  Provides selected opinions, dockets, and other Court information
United State Senate Committee on the Judiciary http://judiciary.senate.gov  Holds hearings on judicial nominees and other matters concerning the federal courts.
U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ "Funding, Training, Programs, Statistics and Research" about the justice system and other topics.
U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/  

 

Associations & Organizations
American Bar Association http://www.abanet.org  American Jury Project, http://www.abanet.org/juryprojectstandards/home.html
American Jury Initiative, http://www.abanet.org/jury/home.html 
Section of Litigation, http://www.abanet.org/litigation/home.html, sponsored symposium on �The Vanishing Civil Trial.� See special issue of the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, v.1, issue 3 (Nov. 2004), available at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/jels/1/3
American Constitution Society for Law and Policy http://www.acslaw.org A progressive organization �working to ensure that the fundamental principles of human dignity, individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, and access to justice are in their rightful, central place in American law.�
American Inns of Court http://www.innsofcourt.org/ Parent organization for small, local groups of lawyers, judges, professors, and law students meeting "to improve the skills, professionalism and ethics of the bench and bar."
American Judicature Society http://www.ajs.org �The American Judicature Society (AJS), founded in 1913, is an independent, national, nonpartisan organization of judges, lawyers, and other members of the public who seek to improve the justice system.�
Federalist Society http://www.fed-soc.org �A group of conservatives and libertarians interested in the current state of the legal order.�
National Institute for Trial Advocacy http://www.nita.org/  Judges, attorneys, and law professors interested in promoting justice through effective and ethical advocacy.
American Association for Justice (formerly Association of Trial Lawyers of America) http://www.justice.org Civil plaintiffs� attorneys.
Defense Research Institute http://www.dri.org Civil defense attorneys.
Federal Bar Association http://www.fedbar.org/  Federal judges and private and government attorneys involved in federal courts.
National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys http://www.criminaljustice.org  Criminal defense attorneys.
National Center for State Courts http://www.ncsconline.org/ "The mission of NCSC is to improve the administration of justice through leadership and service to state courts, and courts around the world.�
National District Attorneys Association http://www.ndaa-apri.org/  State criminal prosecutors.
National Lawyers Guild http://www.nlg.org �Dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system.�
RAND Institute for Civil Justice http://www.rand.org/icj/ "interdisciplinary, empirical approach to public policy issues"
TRAC (Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse) http://trac.syr.edu/ "comprehensive, independent, and nonpartisan information about federal enforcement, staffing and spending"

Blogs
ABA Blawg Directory: Trials & Litigation   http://www.abajournal.com/blawgs/trials+litigation Just what the title suggests: a directory of blogs about trials and litigation.
SCOTUSblog http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/ News and information on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trial Ad Notes (UW) http://trialadnotes.blogspot.com 
 		 News and resources on trial advocacy with a focus on Washington State.