Brief Relief: Online Resources May Ease the Pinch

BriefServe has Supreme Court briefs beginning with the 1984 term. It also offers all U.S. circuit court briefs since 1981 and a selection of California and New York appellate briefs. Briefs cost $25 each, but there is a two-brief minimum.

Supreme Court Briefs

A number of sites offer copies of briefs at no cost. Some provide briefs from a range of courts covering a variety of topics, and others are more focused.

For Supreme Court briefs, FindLaw's Supreme Court Center (http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/briefs) has briefs beginning with the 1999-2000 term. You can download them free in various formats.

American Law Sources On-Line (www.lawsource.com/also/usa.cgi?usb) does not provide direct copies of briefs but has assembled a useful collection of links to amicus curiae briefs available elsewhere on the Web. These include briefs filed in both state and federal courts.

Boalt Hall Law School's Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic maintains a bank devoted to law, technology and public policy. Its collection of briefs filed in U.S. courts is organized by case name. It can be found at http://briefbank.samuelsonclinic.org/notices.cfm.

More than 250 state and federal briefs covering a range of topics are available from Appellate.net (www.appellate.net/briefs).

All were written by lawyers in the Supreme Court and appellate practice group of Chicago-based Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw. Briefs are listed by case and subject matter and include citations to the appellate decision.

Stanford Law School's Securities Class Action Clearinghouse (http://securities.stanford.edu/) maintains an archive of filings in federal class-action securities fraud litigation. Its collection includes more than 2,000 litigation documents, including briefs.

Court Archives

A growing number of appellate courts are publishing the briefs they receive on the Web.

These include two U.S. circuit courts of appeals ' the 7th Circuit (www.ca7.uscourts.gov/briefs.htm) and the 8th Circuit (www.ca8.uscourts.gov/brfs/brFrame.html). The 7th Circuit site has briefs filed with the court beginning in 2001.

The 8th Circuit begins with cases filed in 2000.

Briefs filed in a handful of state supreme courts are also available:

• Florida: www.flcourts.org/pubinfo/summaries/archives.html
• Kentucky: www.nku.edu/chase/library/kysctbriefs.htm
• Michigan: http://courts.michigan.gov/supremecourt/Clerk/msc_orals.htm
• North Dakota: http://www.court.state.nd.us/
• Texas: www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/e-brief/current.htm
• Wisconsin: http://library.law.wisc.edu/elecresources/databases/wb

Federal Entities

The federal government is one of the best sources of free legal briefs.

The legal documents collection of the U.S. Department of Justice (www.usdoj.gov/05publications/05_2.html) includes all Supreme Court briefs filed by the solicitor general since 1988 and selected briefs beginning in 1982. It also includes a wide-ranging collection of appellate briefs filed by the Antitrust Division and dating to 1993, along with selected briefs filed by the Civil Division and the Civil Rights Division.

Other federal entities that publish their briefs on the Web are:

• Federal Trade Commission: www.ftc.gov/ogc/briefs.htm
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: www.eeoc.gov/litigation/appbriefs.html
• U.S. Office of Special Counsel: www.osc.gov/sitemap.htm
• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: www.sec.gov/litigation/briefs.shtml

Advocacy Groups

Advocacy organizations publish briefs filed in cases in which they appeared as parties or as amicus curiae. One of the best examples of this is the Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org/), a San Francisco-based organization that works to protect civil liberties in cyberspace. It maintains extensive collections of legal documents from cases in which it has been involved, including its own briefs and those of its opponents. To find them, follow the link labeled 'Cases.'

Another is the American Civil Liberties Union (http://www.aclu.org/). Follow the link 'In the Courts' for a library of documents related to Supreme Court cases in which the ACLU played a role dating to 1994. The library includes a number of briefs filed by the ACLU as amicus curiae. From that page, look for the link 'Legal Documents' to find documents filed by the ACLU in other courts. Here, too, are a number of briefs. Search by topic or ACLU affiliate.

Other groups with briefs on their sites include:

• American Association of Law Libraries: www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/briefs.html. Selected amicus curiae briefs filed since 1997.
• American Intellectual Property Law Association: www.aipla.org/html/amicus.html. Amicus briefs since 1995.
• American Society of Association Executives: www.asaenet.org/publicpolicy/amicus.
• Anti-Defamation League: www.adl.org/Civil_Rights/ab. Amicus briefs in cases involving issues that range from the separation of church and state to racial discrimination to censorship.
• Atlantic Legal Foundation: www.atlanticlegal.org/briefs.html. Amicus briefs on issues that include courtroom science, charter schools and reverse discrimination.
• Cato Institute: www.cato.org/pubs/legalbriefs/lbriefs.html. Briefs cover a range of issues, including race-based preferences, school vouchers, drug testing and interstate commerce.
• Center for Democratic Communications: www.nlgcdc.org/briefs.html. This arm of the National Lawyers Guild has briefs related to Federal Communications Commission licensing of low-power radio transmissions.
• Children's Rights: www.childrensrights.org/publications.
• Electronic Privacy Information Center: http://www.epic.org/. Briefs on free speech and privacy.
• Harvard University Civil Rights Project: www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu/policy/legal_docs/legal_briefs.php. Small collection of briefs related to affirmative action and race-conscious admissions.
• Institute for Justice: www.ij.org/cases/school/facts/body.shtml. Its School Choice Information Center has briefs on both sides of the issue.
• Institute for Public Affairs: www.ou.org/public/publib/briefs.htm. Briefs filed by this division of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.
• Jewish Law: www.jlaw.com/Briefs. A collection of briefs filed by various Jewish organizations.
• Lambda Legal: www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/iowa/library?class=5. Briefs on issues of interest to lesbians and gays.
• NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund: www.nowldef.org/html/issues/whr/briefs.shtml. Briefs related to women's human rights.
• PsycLAW.org: www.psyclaw.org/amicus.html. Amicus briefs filed by the American Psychological Association on a surprisingly diverse array of topics, from confidentiality and competency to antitrust and employment. For older cases, only summaries are provided of the briefs.
• Public Citizen: www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs. This consumer organization founded by Ralph Nader in 1971 provides briefs on corporate accountability, union democracy, consumer rights, health and safety, and other topics.
• Society for American Archaeology: www.saa.org/Repatriation/kennewickbriefs.html. Fascinating but esoteric briefs filed in litigation concerning ownership of the remains of the 9,000-year-old Kennewick Man.
• University of Florida, Center on Children and the Law: www.law.ufl.edu/centers/childlaw/briefs.shtml. Briefs relating to custody and educational services.

Robert J. Ambrogi, the former editorial director of The National Law Journal, is the author of The Essential Guide to the Best (and Worst) Legal Sites on the Web, available through LawCatalog.com. He founded 'legal.online' which was first published in July 1995 and evolved into this newsletter.

If you do not mind paying for them, you can obtain copies of legal briefs over the Web from several sources. But where can you find free briefs?

Among the services that offer briefs for a price are Westlaw (http://www.westlaw.com/) and LexisNexis (http://www.lexis.com/), both of which have Supreme Court briefs. Westlaw includes briefs beginning with the court's October 1990 term, while Lexis has briefs in some cases beginning from January 1979.

Two other services that sell copies of briefs are Brief Reporter (http://www.briefreporter.com/) and BriefServe.com (http://www.briefserve.com/). Brief Reporter offers briefs from a variety of state and federal courts, contributed by the lawyers who wrote them. Briefs are arranged by topic. The price of a brief is $40, or you can subscribe for $35 a month and pay $10 per brief.

BriefServe has Supreme Court briefs beginning with the 1984 term. It also offers all U.S. circuit court briefs since 1981 and a selection of California and New York appellate briefs. Briefs cost $25 each, but there is a two-brief minimum.

Supreme Court Briefs

A number of sites offer copies of briefs at no cost. Some provide briefs from a range of courts covering a variety of topics, and others are more focused.

For Supreme Court briefs, FindLaw's Supreme Court Center (http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/briefs) has briefs beginning with the 1999-2000 term. You can download them free in various formats.

American Law Sources On-Line (www.lawsource.com/also/usa.cgi?usb) does not provide direct copies of briefs but has assembled a useful collection of links to amicus curiae briefs available elsewhere on the Web. These include briefs filed in both state and federal courts.

Boalt Hall Law School's Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic maintains a bank devoted to law, technology and public policy. Its collection of briefs filed in U.S. courts is organized by case name. It can be found at http://briefbank.samuelsonclinic.org/notices.cfm.

More than 250 state and federal briefs covering a range of topics are available from Appellate.net (www.appellate.net/briefs).

All were written by lawyers in the Supreme Court and appellate practice group of Chicago-based Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw. Briefs are listed by case and subject matter and include citations to the appellate decision.

Stanford Law School's Securities Class Action Clearinghouse (http://securities.stanford.edu/) maintains an archive of filings in federal class-action securities fraud litigation. Its collection includes more than 2,000 litigation documents, including briefs.

Court Archives

A growing number of appellate courts are publishing the briefs they receive on the Web.

These include two U.S. circuit courts of appeals ' the 7th Circuit (www.ca7.uscourts.gov/briefs.htm) and the 8th Circuit (www.ca8.uscourts.gov/brfs/brFrame.html). The 7th Circuit site has briefs filed with the court beginning in 2001.

The 8th Circuit begins with cases filed in 2000.

Briefs filed in a handful of state supreme courts are also available:

• Florida: www.flcourts.org/pubinfo/summaries/archives.html
• Kentucky: www.nku.edu/chase/library/kysctbriefs.htm
• Michigan: http://courts.michigan.gov/supremecourt/Clerk/msc_orals.htm
• North Dakota: http://www.court.state.nd.us/
• Texas: www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/e-brief/current.htm
• Wisconsin: http://library.law.wisc.edu/elecresources/databases/wb

Federal Entities

The federal government is one of the best sources of free legal briefs.

The legal documents collection of the U.S. Department of Justice (www.usdoj.gov/05publications/05_2.html) includes all Supreme Court briefs filed by the solicitor general since 1988 and selected briefs beginning in 1982. It also includes a wide-ranging collection of appellate briefs filed by the Antitrust Division and dating to 1993, along with selected briefs filed by the Civil Division and the Civil Rights Division.

Other federal entities that publish their briefs on the Web are:

• Federal Trade Commission: www.ftc.gov/ogc/briefs.htm
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: www.eeoc.gov/litigation/appbriefs.html
• U.S. Office of Special Counsel: www.osc.gov/sitemap.htm
• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: www.sec.gov/litigation/briefs.shtml

Advocacy Groups

Advocacy organizations publish briefs filed in cases in which they appeared as parties or as amicus curiae. One of the best examples of this is the Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org/), a San Francisco-based organization that works to protect civil liberties in cyberspace. It maintains extensive collections of legal documents from cases in which it has been involved, including its own briefs and those of its opponents. To find them, follow the link labeled 'Cases.'

Another is the American Civil Liberties Union (http://www.aclu.org/). Follow the link 'In the Courts' for a library of documents related to Supreme Court cases in which the ACLU played a role dating to 1994. The library includes a number of briefs filed by the ACLU as amicus curiae. From that page, look for the link 'Legal Documents' to find documents filed by the ACLU in other courts. Here, too, are a number of briefs. Search by topic or ACLU affiliate.

Other groups with briefs on their sites include:

• American Association of Law Libraries: www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/briefs.html. Selected amicus curiae briefs filed since 1997.
• American Intellectual Property Law Association: www.aipla.org/html/amicus.html. Amicus briefs since 1995.
• American Society of Association Executives: www.asaenet.org/publicpolicy/amicus.
• Anti-Defamation League: www.adl.org/Civil_Rights/ab. Amicus briefs in cases involving issues that range from the separation of church and state to racial discrimination to censorship.
• Atlantic Legal Foundation: www.atlanticlegal.org/briefs.html. Amicus briefs on issues that include courtroom science, charter schools and reverse discrimination.
• Cato Institute: www.cato.org/pubs/legalbriefs/lbriefs.html. Briefs cover a range of issues, including race-based preferences, school vouchers, drug testing and interstate commerce.
• Center for Democratic Communications: www.nlgcdc.org/briefs.html. This arm of the National Lawyers Guild has briefs related to Federal Communications Commission licensing of low-power radio transmissions.
• Children's Rights: www.childrensrights.org/publications.
• Electronic Privacy Information Center: http://www.epic.org/. Briefs on free speech and privacy.
• Harvard University Civil Rights Project: www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu/policy/legal_docs/legal_briefs.php. Small collection of briefs related to affirmative action and race-conscious admissions.
• Institute for Justice: www.ij.org/cases/school/facts/body.shtml. Its School Choice Information Center has briefs on both sides of the issue.
• Institute for Public Affairs: www.ou.org/public/publib/briefs.htm. Briefs filed by this division of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.
• Jewish Law: www.jlaw.com/Briefs. A collection of briefs filed by various Jewish organizations.
• Lambda Legal: www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/iowa/library?class=5. Briefs on issues of interest to lesbians and gays.
• NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund: www.nowldef.org/html/issues/whr/briefs.shtml. Briefs related to women's human rights.
• PsycLAW.org: www.psyclaw.org/amicus.html. Amicus briefs filed by the American Psychological Association on a surprisingly diverse array of topics, from confidentiality and competency to antitrust and employment. For older cases, only summaries are provided of the briefs.
• Public Citizen: www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs. This consumer organization founded by Ralph Nader in 1971 provides briefs on corporate accountability, union democracy, consumer rights, health and safety, and other topics.
• Society for American Archaeology: www.saa.org/Repatriation/kennewickbriefs.html. Fascinating but esoteric briefs filed in litigation concerning ownership of the remains of the 9,000-year-old Kennewick Man.
• University of Florida, Center on Children and the Law: www.law.ufl.edu/centers/childlaw/briefs.shtml. Briefs relating to custody and educational services.

Robert J. Ambrogi, the former editorial director of The National Law Journal, is the author of The Essential Guide to the Best (and Worst) Legal Sites on the Web, available through LawCatalog.com. He founded 'legal.online' which was first published in July 1995 and evolved into this newsletter.