Law Resources
Courts System Information
Map of U.S. with geographic boundaries of federal districts (PDF) - From Federal Judiciary Homepage
Federal court structure chart (PDF)
State court structure chart for North Carolina (PDF)
Court strucure chart for both systems with reporters (PDF)
Federal Judiciary Homepage
- Portal for the federal courts system.
- Provides news, educational information, links to circuit and district courts, and more.
- Maintained by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
Finding Case Law
LexisNexis
Academic
"Legal Research" section includes legal news, law review
articles, state and federal case law, state and federal statutory law,
federal regulations, tax law and European Union law
Finding a reference to a case in a law review:
- On the red Search bar at top, select “Legal”
- Law reviews are the default search option.
- Search by the case name or parties to the case (e.g., Roe v. Wade).
- Limit to only a few years if receive too many hits.
- Find reference to the case name and its correct citation.
- Click on citation hyperlink.
Finding case law by citation:
- On the red Search bar at top, select “Legal”
- On the far right menu, select “Federal and State Cases”
- A new search screen will appear. Try to search by citation number first.
FindLaw: Cases and Codes
- Free website for finding federal and state law, U.S. codes, and other legal resources
- Requires the creation of a free log-in account.
- Best for U.S. Supreme Court opinions.
For more information, contact: Lynda Kellam, Data Services & Government Information Librarian
