Website: Court Reporters: Home

What Are Reporters?

Court opinions are published in reporters. If you're interested in learning about how courts work, the American Bar Association's website has an in-depth explanation.

Reporters contain the full text of published court opinions. Before publication in bound volumes, a court opinion goes through several stages: from a "slip opinion" or "slip decision" to "advance sheets." Judges decide which opinions will be "published."

With the exception of court reporters from the U.S. Supreme Court and Washington State courts, Gallagher Law Library's collection of court reporters is now primarily historical. The Library's subscriptions to the bound volume series (and their advance sheets) have been canceled.

Official reports are published under the authority of the courts and may be printed by a government agency or a commercial publisher. Unofficial reporters are printed by private publishers (such as West) with or without authority from the courts. The National Reporter System, developed by West, covers both federal and state courts. All West reporters - i.e., all of the following, except U.S., L.Ed., Wash., and Wash. App. - are part of the National Reporter System.

For more information about reporters see:

The National Reporter System (PowerPoint slideshow)
Using West's National Reporter System (PDF)

or one of the basic legal research guides in the Library (KF240 at Reference Area).

**Reporters Quick Guide**
Rptr Abbrev.	Last Volume	Call Number	Location
A., A.2d, A.3d	A.3d v. 75 (2013)	KF135 .A7 A8	L2 Reporters
Am. Tribal Law	Current	KF8204.5 .W47	Reference
B.R.	v. 402 (2008)	KF1515 .A2 W47	Reference
Cal. Rptr., 2d, 3d	Cal. Rptr.3d v. 137 (2003)	KFC47 .C32	Compact Stacks
Ct. Cl., Ct. Cl., Fed. Cl.	Fed. Cl. v. 112 (2013)	KF125 .C5 C53	L2 Reporters
Ct. Int’l Trade	Current	KF6698 .A512	Compact Stacks
F., F. 2d., F. 3d	F.3d v. 728 (2013)	KF105 .F432	L2 Reporters
F.R.D.	v. 291 (2013)	KF8839 .F4	Compact Stacks
F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d	F. Supp. 2d, v. 939 (2013)	KF120 .F42	L2 Reporters
L. Ed., L. Ed.2d	L. Ed. 2d v. 186 (2013)	KF101 .A312, KF101 .A313	L2 Reporters
M.J.	v. 71 (2013)	KF7605 .A2W4	Compact Stacks
N.E., N.E.2d	N.E.2d v. 993 (2013)	KF135 .N6 N62	L2 Reporters
N.W., N.W.2d	N.W.2d v. 837 (2013)	KF135 .N7 N6	L2 Reporters
N.Y.S., N.Y.S.2d	N.Y.S. 2d v. 959 (2013)	KFN5045 .A33	Compact Stacks
P., P.2d, P.3d	P.3d v. 312 (2013)	KF135 .P2 P32	L2 Reporters
S. Ct.	Current	KF101 .A322	Reference
S.E., S.E.2d	S.E2d v. 750 (2013)	KF135 .S6 S6	L2 Reporters
So., So.2d, So.3d	So.3d v. 122 (2013)	KF135 .S8 S6	L2 Reporters
S.W., S.W.2d, S.W.3d	S.W.3d v. 409 (2013)	KF135 .S7 S6	L2 Reporters
T.C.	Current	KF6280 .C6	Reference
U.S.	Current	KF101 .A212	Reference; L2 Reporters
Wash.,Wash. 2d	Current	KFW45 .A22	Reference; Compact Stacks
Wash. App.	Current	KFW48 .A5 W3c	Reference; Compact Stacks

Major U.S. Court Reporters

This table identifies the major reporters for cases from the U.S. (federal) courts that are available in the Law Library. This list does not include courts that no longer exist and some specialized courts. Note: Only the United States Reports and the Supreme Court Reporter are being updated, that is, the Library continuously receives new volumes.

Title	Abbreviation	Call Number	Volume, Year	Location
United States Reports	U.S.	KF101 .A212	vol. 1, 1754 - date vol. 1, 1754 - vol. 528, 1998	Reference Area L2 Reporters Area
Supreme Court Reporter	S. Ct.	KF101 .A322	vol. 1, 1883 - date	Reference Area
United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition	L. Ed. L. Ed. 2d	KF101 .A313	vol. 1, 1790 - vol. 186, 2013	L2 Reporters Area

Title	Abbreviation	Call Number	Volume, Year	Location
West's Federal Reporter, 3d Series	F.3d	KF105 .F432	vol. 1, 1988 - vol. 728, 2013	L2 Reporters Area
Federal Reporter, 2d Series	F.2d	KF105 .F432	vol. 1, 1924 - vol. 830, 1988	L2 Reporters Area
Federal Reporter	F.	KF105 .F432	vol. 1, 1880 - vol. 300, 1924	L2 Reporters Area

The Law Library does not subscribe to the Federal Appendix, which includes cases from the U.S. Courts of Appeals that are not selected for publication.

Title	Abbreviation	Call Number	Volume, Year	Location
West's Federal Supplement, 2d Series	F. Supp. 2d	KF120 .F42	vol. 1, 1988 - vol. 939, 2013	L2 Reporters Area
Federal Supplement	F. Supp.	KF120 .F42	vol. 1, 1933 - vol. 670, 1988	L2 Reporters Area
Federal Rules Decisions	F.R.D.	KF 8839 .F4	vol. 1, 1941 - vol. 291, 2013	L2 Compact Stacks

U.S. Court	Title	Abbreviation	Call Number	Volume, Year	Location
Bankruptcy Courts	West's Bankruptcy Reporter	B.R.	KF1515 .A2 W47	vol. 1 - vol. 402 2008	Reference Area
Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims	West's Veterans Appeals Reporter	Vet. App.	KF7745 .A518	vol. 1, 1991 - vol. 25, 2012	L2 Compact Stacks
Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces	West's Military Justice Reporter	M.J.	KF7605 .A2W4	vol. 1, 1978 - vol. 71, 2013	L2 Compact Stacks
Court of Claims	Federal Claims Reporter	Fed. Cl.	KF125 .C5 C53	vol. 1, 1982 - vol. 112, 2013	L2 Reporters Area
Court of International Trade	United States Court of International Trade Reports	Ct. Int'l Trade	KF6698 .A512	vol. 1, 1980 - date	L2 Compact Stacks
Tax Court	United States Tax Court Reports	T.C.	KF6324 .A512	vol. 1, 1943 - date	Reference Area

Note:

Note: Most print reporters and digests were cancelled in 2013. The Law Library maintains print subscriptions to the official U.S. Reports and the commercially published Supreme Court Reporter and its companion digest, as well as the official reporters for Washington State appellate cases, Washington Reports and Washington Appellate Reports. Visit the Introduction to Legal Research page to locate sources of current court opinions. UW Law students should use Bloomberg Law, Lexis, and/or Westlaw for current cases.