5.3

Court Flow Chart

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INTRODUCTION

Your instructor can help you determine the proper titles for courts within your jurisdiction. Don't be afraid to ask.



Paralegal Perspective . . .


TRIAL & APPELLATE LEVEL COURTS
As a paralegal, you will never have to decide what court a case will be filed in. In order to fully understand more advanced concepts later, it is especially important to understand the differences between trial and appellate level courts.

DISCOVERY
Discovery documents look a lot like pleadings. They are in 'Pleading Form.' But they serve a different purpose. In fact, as a paralegal, you will soon realize that discovery is very closely related to investigation. Discovery and investigation are both about finding (or discovering) facts.

STARE DECISIS
Stare decisis is the doctrine that a court's decision will stand and be followed by subsequent decisions unless there is a compelling reason for the court to hold otherwise. In other words, it sets a precedent. When a paralegal conducts legal research, he or she is always looking for a precedent to guide the court.

The titles of courts change from state to state. It is not important that you learn the names of courts in every state, just yours!

COURT STRUCTURE FLOWCHART

Student-specific Information The answers to the court structure flowchart will differ depending on the jurisdiction you reside in. For instance, in Nevada there is no State Court of Appeals. So any appeal from the State Trial Court must go straight to the State Supreme Court.

Students should research online to help them determine the court structure in their state. Use the Google, Bing, or Yahoo search engines at the right of this page.

You may also use the PDF below to view court structure from every state. (Thanks to the National Center for State Courts for permission.) Open it up and click on the link for your state.

CLICK HERE FOR COURT LINKS FOR ALL STATES

In addition, the Law Library Lab on this site will provide assistance as to specific state authority and you can certainly ask your instructor for help!

Lecture Notes . . .

COURT STRUCTURE TERMINOLOGY

Branches of Government
You need to know the branches and their functions. This will become important when you start researching, because, as mentioned above, each branch issues different kinds of law.

Federal Courts
The U.S. District Court is the federal trial court. There are two appellate level federal courts, the U.S. Courts of Appeal (also called the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals), and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Stare decisis
(Pronounced: star-ay di-see-sis)
Means precedent.



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Commonly Asked Questions

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Exercises

Exercises
Court Levels | Litigation | Mixed Bag