Legal Research: Pennsylvania

Judicial Materials

Pennsylvania case reporters can generally be divided into two categories: appellate reports and side reports. The appellate reports are those decisions from the Commonwealth, Superior, and Supreme courts published in either official case reporters, in the West regional Atlantic Reporter, on the Internet, or in the compact disk services offered by West and Michie. The concept of side reports is probably foreign to most attorneys from other states. The "side reports" consist of the various county reporters publishing trial decisions from the Courts of Common Pleas, the District and County Reports, some sets of administrative agency reports, a few topical reports like the Fiduciary Reports, and a number of miscellaneous old reporters. Side reports traditionally are those volumes of reports not included in an official compilation. In Pennsylvania it is a term used to describe this hodgepodge of reporters.