In Print:
Pick a digest for the geographic region you are interested. Search the index for relevant key words and then navigate to the relevant volume for cases discussing that topic.
Search encyclopedias to find discussions on your topic and identify which cases they cite to.
Online:
Search LEXIS and WESTLAW using appropriate fields in relevant databases to find cases on topics of interest.
Search for articles on your topic on HEIN ONLINE.
Researchers often want to find new cases because they best explain a court's current position. Finding a case that has not yet been published requires some creative searching. The approach that will probably work best is some combination of news and case law searching.
First, try to get as much information as you can about the case with some news searching (either on Google (or another search engine) or on Lexis or Westlaw. Then, try to plug the details you know into an online source which contains cases.
Here's an example which may help illustrate this process.
The San Francisco Chronicle ran the following headline on June 15, 2011: "Prop 8 challenge to gay judge ruling rejected." Upon reading the article, we find that the ruling was by Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware. A bit of googling reveals that Judge James Ware is in the Northern District of California, a Federal District Court. At the court's website, http://www.cand.uscourts.gov , there is a listing on the right side of "Cases of Interest." The case we want is "Perry v Schwarzenegger" - click on that case. The court has set up a special page for documents relating to this high-profile case. Click on "Click Here for copies of high interest filings in this case." The filings are listed in chronological order. Since we want the most recent one, scroll to the bottom. Filing #797 looks promising.
A citator is a tool which lets you see which cases have discussed a case which was decided earlier. This is helpful both for determining if your case is good law, and for finding more recent cases which may have discussed the same issue.
In Print:
Shepard's is the name of the print resource. We no longer keep Shepard's up to date.
Online:
Use LEXIS to Shepardize your case.
Use WESTLAW to KeyCite your case.
See a librarian to discuss this topic in more detail.
In Print:
Shepard's Acta and Cases by Popular Names - located in the Law Library behind the Reference Desk.
The West Digests also contain volumes called Table of Cases where you can look up a case by name.
Online:
Use LEXIS to do a name segment search [name(party and party)], or click on "Get a Document" by party name.
Use WESTLAW and do a title field search [name(party & party)], or click on "Find a case by party name" and enter the party names.