State courts often follow the Federal court structure, but there are variations. Visit the official state website and search court system to learn more about the court structure in a specific state.
Published court opinions appear chronologically in case reporters for the case jurisdiction. The citation consists of the volume number of the case reporter, an abbreviation for the case reporter, and the page number where the opinion begins in the reporter.
vLex offers a wide range of titles and collections containing thousands of exclusive documents with daily updates, all available on a single AI-powered legal research platform. It includes comprehensive federal and state case law, real-time legislative updates, and an advanced citator. vLex replaced Fastcase in Spring 2025.
vLex's primary purpose is to search case law. You can navigate to the related statutes, cited cases, and other resources right from the case or court opinion.
Begin a search by selecting Advanced Search. Then choose the Jurisdiction (select Federal or use "Select More Jurisdictions" to choose a specific state). In the Content area, select Cases.
Scroll down the page to view the Words area. Type your keyword in the All the Words textbox. Tip: Click on the question mark on the right of the textbox for a description of the search capabilities of that textbox.
Scroll down the page to use Filters if interested. Then click Search.
Read through the results and click on cases of interest to view the full text. Cited cases, statutes, and other legal resources are linked in the case.
For more information about vLex, see the Legal Databases page in this guide.
