Legal Research for Beginners

This is a very brief and condensed explanation of how our court system is structured.  Let's start with Federal.  (And don't forget about the two parallel systems of government we mentioned at the outset of this presentation, both Federal and State).

• At the Federal level, court cases at the lowest or beginning level are called trial or district courts.  These are the types of courts most of us are familiar with from watching TV - They have a single judge and they may or may not have a jury.  There are 94 of these US District courts divided into 12 regions or circuits each with an appellate court. Federal, civil, and criminal trials take place here. 

• US Courts of Appeals – 12 regional or circuit courts plus one for the Federal circuit. Trial court decisions can be appealed here. Most often the court consists of a 3-judge panel.

• And then at the top level is the US Supreme Court – known as the court of last resort. Intermediate Appellate court decisions can be appealed here as well as certain trial court decisions. These courts have 9 Justices hearing all cases.

• Also, separately there are specialized courts such as bankruptcy courts, tax courts, etc.

Now the state gets a little trickier because most states are organized in custom ways but for the most part, it mirrors the Federal structure with the:

• Lower Trial Courts or district courts – which deal with traffic offenses, municipal or county level cases, magistrate court, etc.
• Then you have the Superior Trial Courts or district courts – which deal with more serious issues than lower courts.
• Next is the Intermediate Appellate level court where Trial court decisions can be appealed.
• And finally you have the court of last resort which is usually called State Supreme Court . Appellate court decisions can be appealed here as well as certain trial court decisions.
• Then, separate you have  specialized courts just like in the Federal system, but here they are courts such as family court, juvenile court, probate court, etc.