Many attorneys at the conclusion of a difficult appellate case throw their brief aside and never look at it again. Unknown to them, another attorney may use that brief as a starting point for research on a similar case.

How do attorneys find these briefs and why are they helpful? Enter the research realm of briefs and records.

This article discusses the rich legal resource of appellate court briefs and records and provides tips on where to find them.

The Components

There is not a brief and record for every case. The majority of cases are not appealed and litigation in many trial level courts does not produce any written submissions on points of law.

But at the appellate level of litigation, attorneys present their arguments in written briefs. They must also file a record of the proceedings that includes the trial transcript, and pre-trial and post-trial documents.

The printed briefs and records of the parties in cases before appellate courts are often available for research. These documents are a valuable source for the legal researcher.

Offering a wealth of background information on cases that may explain the reasoning behind judicial opinion, they may be used to develop arguments in similar cases or to learn about earlier stages of particular litigation. Each brief and record is labeled with the same docket number as the appellate case so a researcher can easily locate these resources.

There are many valuable components of a brief and record that would draw the attention of the legal researcher.

In addition to being an excellent step-by-step example of how to prepare an appellate brief, from the statement of jurisdiction right through to the conclusion, the brief also contains a table of citations or authorities that affords the researcher relevant cases on a specific point of law.

Often attached to the brief are appendices or exhibits where one can find documents such as the opinion of the trial court and various reports. If not attached to the brief, the lower court opinion is usually in the record along with court orders.

These related opinions and orders are often unreported and unobtainable elsewhere, making the appellate record a very valuable resource.

The appellate record also contains a docket listing, which is an entry of all the proceedings and filings in the case. Copies of relevant documents such as the complaint, answer and preliminary objections also can be found in the record. Transcripts of any oral testimony taken by a court reporter during the trial or hearing as well as depositions are included.

Finally, the record may also contain exhibits that were entered as evidence in the case.

Unfortunately, appellate records are usually organized with no more than a table of contents. Trying to find something specific in a case where the record spans many volumes can prove daunting.

All of the these components of a brief and record make these documents a part of the bank of research materials with which every legal researcher should be familiar. But where can they be found?

Finding briefs and records

Briefs and records may be accessible for a time at the appellate court that heard the case. Thereafter they are maintained at selected law libraries and at commercial companies that specialize in legal research or the selling of legal documents.

In Pennsylvania, Rule 3191 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure governs the distribution of "paperbooks" - the popular expression for briefs and records in Pennsylvania. This rule lists the libraries that receive copies of appellate briefs and records.

The following Pennsylvania libraries are listed:

• The Jenkins Law Library of Philadelphia (http://briefs.jenkinslaw.org).
• The Allegheny County Law Library.
• The University of Pennsylvania Law Library.
• The Dickinson Law School Library.
• The University of Pittsburgh Law Library.
• The Duquesne University Law Library.
• The Temple Law School Library.
• The Villanova University Law School Library.

In addition to paper copies of briefs, many briefs can now be found on legal databases or on the Internet.

Lexis has U.S. Supreme Court briefs back to the October 1979 term in its "BRIEF" file of the "GENFED" library. Also available is a federal and state brief bank, of more than 3,000 appellate briefs dating back to 1990 in the "BRREP" file of the "LITGAT" library.

These briefs come from the Brief Reporter, described below. Full-text searching is available.

Westlaw has U.S. Supreme Court briefs in its "SCT-ORALARG" database. Coverage starts with the 1990-91 term.

Brief Reporter is a commercial company that offers, for a fee, the appellate briefs and trial memoranda written by authoritative attorneys for important cases in all federal and state jurisdictions. This database offers a subject index and searching is free.

Briefserve.com, also a commercial company, offers a comprehensive collection of U.S. Supreme Court briefs and records. Free searches by docket number are available from the company's Web page. The price of a full-text document is $25.

Findlaw has the U.S. Supreme Court briefs from the 1999-2000 term only. The briefs can be viewed and printed free of charge in portable document format (PDF) by using the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Before you sit down to write your next brief, check out any of the above services or visit a law library in your area to take advantage of the wealth of research available to you in briefs and records.