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Sports Law Resources: Case Law

General resources on sports law

Case Law

Case law research in Sports Law will focus on jurisdiction to find useful precedent. Searchers can utilize Westlaw for access to its extensive case law databases and Key Number System for the latest case materials.  In addition to the resources available on Westlaw, state and federal court opinions may also be found on LexisBloomberg Law, and FastcaseJustia is also a free source for caselaw and has a handy Sports Law Topical Guide.   Additionally, to follow specific federal cases (especially to obtain relevant pleadings) the federal court Dockets search service on Bloomberg Law is also a very useful resource available to subscribers.  for those without access to Bloomberg, Federal court case dockets and filings can be researched in PACER but an account is needed for access.  Additionally, full text opinions can also be found on Google Scholar back to 1923. U.S. Court Opinions are available on court and other websites.  

For a basic introduction to case law and using digests to locate case law, see the Digests and Finding Case Law on the Eckstein Law Library Research Guides list.  

In addition to the techniques explained in the above guides and tutorials, the legal sources on the secondary sources page of this guide will include citations to relevant cases.  

Finally, casebooks and online compilations can be useful for finding court opinions dealing with sports law as well as commentary on the decisions.  Note these titles for court decisions in this area.