Michigan State CourtsMichigan Supreme CourtMichigan Court of AppealsMichigan Trial Courts (Via SCAO website)Michigan LegislatureMichigan LegislatureMichigan Federal CourtsUnited States District Court Eastern District of MichiganUnited States District Court Western District of MichiganUnited States Court of Appeals for the Sixth CircuitUnited States Supreme Court Resources
United States Supreme Court Official WebsiteSupreme Court Database. The U.S. Supreme Court Database by Professor Harold J. Spaeth houses 247 pieces of information for each U.S. Supreme Court decision/order case, roughly broken down into six categories: (1) identification variables (e.g., citations and docket numbers); (2) background variables (e.g., how the Court took jurisdiction, origin and source of the case, the reason the Court agreed to decide it); (3) chronological variables (e.g., the date of decision, term of Court, natural court); (4) substantive variables (e.g., legal provisions, issues, direction of decision); (5) outcome variables (e.g., disposition of the case, winning party, formal alteration of precedent, declaration of unconstitutionality); and (6) voting and opinion variables (e.g., how the individual justices voted, their opinions and interagreements).
SCOTUS Blog. Great discussion on current cases before the United States Supreme. Supreme Court briefs are available on its Wiki.
Supreme Court Criminal Docket. A nice summary of upcoming oral arguments in the US Supreme Court. The list is compiled by the conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation
Public ResourcesState Appellate Defender’s OfficeMichigan Government TV ScheduleUnited States Sentencing Commission. The website of the United States Sentencing Guideline Commission. This this a great research resource including many of the Commission’s reports, commentaries, proposed amendments, and the text of old versions of the guidelines.
Innocence Projects
Cooley Innocence ProjectU of M Innocence Project Clinic. The Nation’s first non-DNA Innocence Project. The U of M clinic focuses on claims of innocence based in cases not involving DNA such as cases based on bad expert testimony in arson cases, child abuses, and other forensic matters. The clinic also considers cases where a defendant did not have effective representation of counsel. The only restriction in their selection is that the accused must be actually innocent of the crime. They are not interested in cases involving individuals who were overcharged, received too much time, or received an unfair trial (but were guilty).
Other Innocence Projects (via the Wisconsin Innocence Project)Of Counsel and Affiliated Firms
Law Offices of Lauri Longo (michigancivilappeals.com). A practitioner focusing on Michigan civil appeals.
Kirsch and Satawa. A boutique law firm specializing in defense of false allegations of sexual abuses, challenges to prosecution cold case prosecutions, and flawed forensic evidence.
Other Law FirmsThe Injustice Line. Attorney James Sterling Lawrence’s website outlining cases he believes to be particularly unjust.
Hulka/Porter. Canadian immigration law. Drew Porter has been a friend for years and a great lawyer.
Frankel & Cohen. A Chicago law firm that I do a lot of work with. Highly recommended.
Patrick Levine Rose. A lansing area appellate attorney who handles a number of different types of appeals.
Criminal Law OrganizationsThe State Appellate Defender’s Office. Michigan appellate defender’s office with a top rated website
Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan. Michigan’s criminal defense organization
National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. The oldest and most respected criminal law organization in the country.
Public Records
ICHAT -- Michigan State Police Criminal Records Search EngineMichigan Attorney Directory (via MichBar.org)Michigan Department of Corrections Inmate LocatorMichigan Sex Offender RegistryFederal Bureau of Prisons Inmate LocatorOther Resources
Google Scholar. Google Scholar contains many scholarly works which are out of copyright. Starting in November of 2009 it also includes many court decisions and law reviews. According to Google’s content page, “
Currently, Google Scholar allows you to search and read opinions for US state appellate and supreme court cases since 1950, US federal district, appellate, tax and bankruptcy courts since 1923 and US Supreme Court cases since 1791 (please check back periodically for updates to coverage information). In addition, it includes citations for cases cited by indexed opinions or journal articles which allows you to find influential cases (usually older or international) which are not yet online or publicly available.”
Adam Walsh Resource Center. A comprehensive collection of resources about the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act maintained by Professor Corey Rayburn Yung at the John Marshall School of Law in Chicago.
Cap Net. The Capital Defense Network. This website contains a huge amount of information about habeas corpus and post-conviction petitions from the capital defense perspective.
CrimeLynx. Links to legal research, experts, investigation and forensic sites, crime policy; designed for criminal defense practitioners.
Netlawtools Links to legal research, experts, investigation and forensic sites, crime policy; designed for criminal defense practitioners
Foreign Law by Jurisdictions. A great collection of foreign law resources courtesy of New York University Law School.
