Research Guides: Researching Judges: Background Information

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Researching a judge’s background can provide you with valuable information about the judge’s record on the bench and how the judge is rated by practicing attorneys. It can also help you locate key decisions authored by the judge or reversals of the judge’s previous opinions.

Judicial Record & Rating Information

Alliance for Justice (AFJ) Reports on the Judiciary Provides information on the appointment process for federal judges based on AFJ research. This site also includes information about sitting judges and detailed case history. Reports are available in PDF format. Note: The reports provided are not unbiased and do express opinions as to the quality of the judicial nominee being discussed.
The Almanac of the Federal Judiciary Provides judicial profiles of every federal judge (Volume 2) and all key bankruptcy judges and magistrate judges (Volume 1). For every federal trial judge and appellate judge in the nation, it also includes: Each judge's academic and professional background, experience on the bench, noteworthy rulings, and media coverage. It also includes commentary by lawyers, based on first-hand experiences before their local federal judges. The Almanac is also available in the Westlaw database AFJ.
League of Women Voters A nonpartisan political organization, there are Leagues in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Hong Kong, in addition to the hundreds of local Leagues nationwide. The Smart Voter site provided by the League (http://www.smartvoter.org) includes profiles of judicial candidates with information about the responsibilities of the position sought, associated salary, length of term and the candidate’s party information. It also includes other information like biographical highlights, the candidates “top priorities if elected,” key endorsements and campaign contact information as supplied by the candidate.

Legal Collection This database contains full text for nearly 250 of the world's most respected¸ scholarly law journals. The Legal Collection is an authoritative source for information on current issues¸ studies¸ thoughts and trends of the legal world. Coverage: 1965 - present

Local/State Bar Associations These sites may provide ratings, candidate questionnaires, and surveys about local judges.
News (Westlaw) This database is available to UC LAW students and faculty. The ALLNEWS database contains newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters, government press releases, transcripts of television and radio shows and congressional testimony.
U.S. Supreme Court Cases (Westlaw) This database is available to UC LAW students and faculty.

Concurrences, Dissents & Other Opinions

Lexis Segments for Caselaw Databases

This database is available to UC LAW students and faculty using Lexis.

Use JUDGES to search by the name of the Judge, CONCURBY to search for concurring opinions and DISSENTBY to search for dissenting opinions.

Westlaw Fields for Caselaw Databases
This database is available to UC LAW students and faculty using Westlaw.

Use JU to search by the name of the Judge, CON to search for concurring opinions and DIS to search for dissenting opinions. Note: If the judge is a state court trial level judge, many written opinions may not be available online. However, the state trial level judge's name will be mentioned in the synopsis field (SY) as part of the case's procedural history.

Reversals

Litigation Analytics (Westlaw) Discover relevant, data-driven insights from federal and select state dockets and cases.
Litigation Analytics (Bloomberg Law) View powerful analytics for federal district court judges, including how often a judge grants certain motions and is affirmed or reversed on appeal.
Litigation Analytics (Lexis)