How to Locate Free Case Law on the Internet

There's a good post on the Law Librarians of Congress In Custodia Legis blog this morning titled How to Locate Free Case Law on the Internet:

One of the defining features of the common law system is the emphasis placed on the precedential value of case law. Until recently, case law has not been widely available on the Internet, leaving researchers with no choice but to seek out print reporters and commercial electronic databases to locate cases of interest. This situation has started to change, however, and now researchers have several free, online databases at their disposal. These resources do not replace the use of commercial print and electronic resources, since they are often limited in coverage, do not provide a digest, and do not contain a quick and effective citator, but researchers’ use of free online materials as a starting point can save them time and money. 

The Nevada Supreme Court posts its advance opinions online for a limited period of time (as of today they go back one year to February 2012).  Earlier opinions are available on Findlaw (back to January 1997).

Supreme Court Docket Online

The Court's case management system is now available via a public portal.

All Supreme Court case documents, with rare exceptions, can now be accessed through the court’s website, announced Tracie Lindeman, Clerk of the Court. Nevada is one of only a few appellate courts nationally to offer such access to case records at no cost.

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On the right side of the home page of the Supreme Court website (www.nevadajudiciary.us) is a box labeled “Supreme Court Cases” with a subheading of “Case Search.” After clicking on the “Case Search” link, a viewer can access a file by typing in the name of a party or the case number.