As more time is spent conducting research from home, researchers
are considering digital alternatives to many resources traditionally consulted
in print. One of the many popular print resources in the UNC Law Library are
the advance sheets for the North Carolina Reports, including both the North
Carolina Reports of the Supreme Court and the North Carolina Court of Appeals
Reports.
Advance sheets are softbound booklets with recent
court decisions. They include reporter citation information, page numbers,
editorial enhancements, and finding aids. Advance sheets are published after
the slip opinion, but before there are enough cases to publish the final bound
reporter volume.
Students seek out advance sheets for cite checks.
Faculty peruse them for current awareness. Others consult them due to
formatting preferences. However, concerns about COVID-19 have limited access to
shared print resources in libraries.
Luckily, advance sheets for the North Carolina Reports are freely available online through the North Carolina Courts website.
You can view advance
sheets for over one year of recent court decisions by the North
Carolina Supreme Court and the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
If you need more recent opinions than the advance sheets
cover, you can view appellate
court slip opinions here. These opinions include the court’s decision
written by the judge without editorial enhancements or final publication
information.
If you need older opinions than the advance sheets cover,
you can view PDF
volumes for the North Carolina Reports here. Volumes one – present are
available for both the North Carolina Reports for the Supreme Court and the
North Carolina Court of Appeals Reports.
While it’s not quite the same as viewing the
softbound advance sheets, the digital version provides the formatting and
browsability benefits of the print reading experience. For those looking for
the most recent collection of opinions by the court or to verify citations, the
NC Courts website’s advance sheets collection can be a great online resource.
Posted by Nicole M. Downing on Thu. October 15, 2020 3:00 PM
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