Dockets, Briefs & Oral Argument: ... Lexis+ Documents & CourtLink Coverage

Find briefs, motion papers, and pleadings

Outside of the CourtLink dockets service, Lexis+ offers a few ways to find briefs, motion papers, and pleadings (such as complaints, petitions, answers, etc.).

• If you have a court decision in a case, look for the "Filings" tab, which lists briefs and other party-filed materials and may include both filings directly related to the decision (e.g., the merits briefs about the issue decided in the opinion) and other documents filed in the case (e.g., filings regarding a motion previously made in the same case but not at issue in the decision you are viewing).
  • To ensure you find case-related filings (to the extent Lexis+ has any) in the courts above or below the decision you started from, run a Shepard's report for direct prior and subsequent history cases and check the Filings tab for each such opinion.
• To search for filings in a case for which you do not have a decision/opinion to start from, go to the "Content" tab (on the Lexis+/Legal Research home page) and select the "Briefs, Pleadings and Motions" collection. You can search across the whole collection or drill down further by type of filing and/or jurisdiction.

Find state trial court orders

Outside of CourtLink, Lexis+ also collects selected trial court orders from state courts—

• Go to the "Content" tab (on the Lexis+/Legal Research home page) and select the "Cases" and from there choose the "All Trial Court Orders" collection. You can search across the whole collection or drill down further by jurisdiction (50 states + 3 territories + DC).

CourtLink coverage details

In the CourtLink search page below the "Within" search box, click on "Court Availability" to see courts included in CourtLink (table format):

• Use the pulldown selection menus to filter by "Court System" (jurisdictions include "United States" for federal courts, 37 states, and the United Kingdom) or other column headers.

For more details in narrative format, click on "Court information" In the CourtLink search page below the "Within" search box: choose from a list of court systems, United States (federal courts), individual state names, or United Kingdom. This will open a page with an overview of the court system(s) covered for the jurisdiction followed by information on what specific courts' dockets are covered in CourtLink (to skip to this coverage information, try using a Ctrl-F search for "coverage" or "access") with general dates of coverage and updating schedules.

CourtLink Court Information page example (screenshot)

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