Finding Cases by Party Name or Citation

If you know a case's citation, such as 13 Cal. 3d 804 or 544 U.S. 460, you can use this information to locate the case on Lexis Advance, Westlaw, or Google Scholar.  You can also find the case in print publications if you do not have access to online resources.

You can use Google Scholar to find cases by citation.  From the Google Scholar page, type the case citation in the search box. Make sure the "Case Law" button is activated below the search box, then click the search button. You can select your case's jurisdiction if you know it on the search results page -- note that you can filter by jurisdiction using the menu on the left-hand side of the page. 

On Lexis Advance, follow these steps to find a case by citation:

• Type the case citation in the search box, then click on the search button. For example, typing "193 Cal. App. 3d 1069" in the search box will bring up the California Court of Appeal case, "Gray v. Kircher." You don't have to be precise with your citation punctuation.  You can type "193 cal app 3d 1069" and get the exact same results.  
  
  

On Westlaw:

• At the Westlaw home page, type your citation in the search box. 

• Click on "Search" to the right of the search box when you are finished.  As with Lexis Advance, you can skip periods and capital letters in the citation that you type into the search box, and your search should still be successful. 

If you do not have access to online resources, you can use print case reporters to look up your case by citation.

First, it's important to understand the main parts of a case citation. 

For example, the U.S. Supreme Court case, Granholm v. Heald, has the following citation:  544 U.S. 460 (2005). 

• The first number, 544, refers to the volume number of the print reporter in which Granholm appears. 

• The abbreviation, "U.S.," stands for the name of the print reporter in which Granholm appears, United States Reports. 

• The number, 460, refers to the first page number of the Granholm decision. 

• The year in parentheses at the end of the citation tells you that Granholm was decided in 2005.  

Sometimes, you'll run into a reporter abbreviation that is unfamiliar to you. You can use the following resources to decipher the reporter's title:

• Prince's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations: a reference guide for attorneys, legal secretaries, paralegals, and law students, KF 246 .B46 2017, shelved on the main floor in LAW OPEN RESERVE. 

• The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, KF 245 .U5, which you can find in LAW OPEN RESERVE. There are also copies available on reserve behind the Circulation Desk. The reference desk has a copy of the Bluebook as well.

• Ask a law librarian for help - we are familiar with lots of publication abbreviations.

We've prepared a chart displaying common print reporters with their abbreviations and locations within the law library: