Court Rules
Treatises on Federal Procedural Rules
Usually referred to as Wright and Miller, even though they are not always the joint authors. Covers Federal Civil and Criminal Procedure Rules and Federal Rules of Evidence. Although there is an adequate index, the best way into Wright and Miller is by FRCP, FRCrim.P, or FRE number. Extremely detailed discussion of the various rules and their application and interpretation. Good as both a practice tool and a research tool.
Practice oriented, with a fairly detailed subject index. Assumption is that you will be going into this set via subject, rather than federal rule (although there is access via rule as well). See also its companion set, Federal procedural forms, lawyers edition. Includes practice tips and references to other explanatory sources. Is part of the TCSL, which includes ALR, Proof of Facts, Am Jur, US S. Ct, Lawyers Edition, etc.
This is the only one of the three treatises described here that is in looseleaf format. It is probably (though not necessarily) updated more often than the two other treatises mentioned here. Practice oriented research tool. Has both subject and rule access.
Excellent Rutter Group guide.
Federal Procedural Forms
Companion forms set with Federal Procedure, Lawyer's Edition, above. Good subject access to forms.
Has annotations and cross references to Moore's Federal Practice, which is a multi-volume treatise on federal practice.
Companion forms set with Wright and Miller, Federal Procedure and Practice (above)
Federal Cases Interpreting Federal Rules
West extracts some (not all) federal district court decisions dealing with federal rules and puts them into this separate reporter. West uses standard digest headings and you can find these cases using the Federal Practice Digest. The FRD also includes explanatory material and brief articles on federal rules issues in the front of many of the volumes.
This set includes both Federal Circuit and District court cases pertaining to interpretation of federal rules. It has its own finding aids and system (called Findex) that categorizes cases by each federal rule and then by sub-issue under each rule.
Local Rules-Federal
Compiles the local rules for all Federal District Courts. Arranged by state. This is a looseleaf, though it appears to be updated only once or twice a year. Some district courts do have their local rules online (see the link from the course homepage), but many do not.
Published by West Group, this is a nice, one-volume compilation of federal rules for the 9th Circuit, federal district courts in California, and Bankruptcy Courts in California. It is replaced every six months (January 1 and July 1 Revised issues). Compact and relatively inexpensive paperback.
Looseleaf set, produced by the Los Angeles Daily Journal Corporation. Updates local rules in all California courts (municipal, superior, and federal district court) regularly. Also includes California appellate court and supreme court rules.
Lexis: Legal > Federal Legal - U.S. > Court Rules Westlaw: Main Directory - U.S. Federal Materials - Court Rules & Orders
Generally
http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/court_rules.html
Supreme Court
http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/supct/
Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcrmp/
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/
Federal Rules of Evidence
http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/
Court Rules, Forms and Dockets (LLRX)
http://www.llrx.com/courtrules/
800 sources for state and federal court rules, forms and dockets.
Federal District Court Rules
Only some Federal District courts have web sites but those that do generally make their court rules available.
http://www.findlaw.com/10fedgov/judicial/district_courts.html
- Central District of California Local Rules
- Northern District of California Local Rules
- Eastern District of California Local Rules
- Southern District of California Local Rules
PACER
http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/
An electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case
and docket information from Federal Appellate, District and Bankruptcy
courts. Users need to sign up individually and there is a charge of
$.08 per page for downloading or printing.
Local Rules-California State Courts
This is a companion set to the West Group Federal and State Court Rules. There are similar volumes covering local rules for most other California geographic areas.
Looseleaf set, produced by the Los Angeles Daily Journal Corporation. Updates local rules in all California courts (municipal, superior, and federal district court) regularly. Also includes California appellate court and supreme court rules.
Published by West Group, this is a one volume compilation of California Supreme Court and Appellate Courts rules. It also includes general (but not local) rules for municipal and unified superior courts, and many specialized court rules (e.g. juvenile court, ADR Rules, Rules for Fax Filing and Service). It is replaced every six months (January 1 and July 1 Revised issues). Compact and relatively inexpensive paperback.
Westlaw: All Databases > U.S. State Materials > California > Court Rules & Orders
(includes court rules governing state, local state and local federal practice in California)
Also a new Westlaw service - KeyRules -
All Databases > U.S. State Materials > KeyRules
"an outline of the applicable rules of practice, timing requirements,
filing and service requirements, hearing information, checklists and
other pertinent documents related to pleadings, motions, requests,
notices, and applications."
Lexis
Legal > States Legal - U.S. > California > Cases > Find
Statutes, Regulations, Administrative Materials & Court Rules
(includes Federal Court Local Rules)
SmartRules (Subscription Database)
http://www.smartrules.com
"It gives detailed, step-by-step instructions for handling procedures in state and federal courts throughout the country."
Official California Courts web site.
http://www.courts.ca.gov/rules.htm - California Rules of Courts and to local court rules if available.
http://www.courts.ca.gov/3027.htm - links to California trial courts and to local court rules if available.
Treatises-California Procedure
This is just a limited selection. There are many CEB and Rutter Group books, as well as treatises published by Matthew Bender and others, that are extremely useful in helping you to understand the way rules are applied.
Extremely useful treatise for getting the basics of procedure (Witkin also deals with Criminal Procedure and Rules of Evidence in other volumes). This set is great for getting the most important cases and statutes, and for stating the general legal rules straightforwardly. Subject and tables access.
A nice guide to handling civil trails in California courts, though not exactly a full blown treatise. Good for getting an overview of the process. Published by West Group.
As with all CEB publications, this is oriented towards the practicing lawyer. A step by step guide to taking a case through the trial process.
This is the famous Rutter Group treatise that takes you step by step through the lower California state courts. It is extremely good and if you follow the steps you will probably not go wrong. Lawyering by numbers.
Another Rutter Group treatise.
Directories
Contains much important and useful information about federal courts, including profiles of judges and discussion of procedures in individual courts. Arranged by state.
A great resource for finding telephone numbers and addresses for all US courts. Describes court system in each jurisdiction. It also includes a list of state court website addresses, and information about finding vital statistics in all states.
Includes more court offices than the Want directory, below. Includes charts setting out court system in each jurisdiction. Also has a discussion of Electronic Case Files service (ECF) and PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) services that are available for federal district and bankruptcy courts.
