ADVANCE SHEETS

Pamphlets containing recently decided opinions of federal courts or state courts of a particular region.

Cases appearing in advance sheets are subsequently published in bound volumes containing several past pamphlets, usually with the same volume and page numbers as appeared in the advance sheets. Sometimes a court will publish an individual opinion soon after it has been rendered by the court. This is called a slip opinion, which later may appear in an advance sheet.

Advance Sheets in the National Reporter System

The National Reporter System, published by the West Group, St. Paul, Minnesota, is the most comprehensive collection of the decisions of the appellate courts of the states and each of the courts of the United States. Eighteen reporters comprise the National Reporter System. Eight units cover federal courts, including the Supreme Court Reporter (cited as S. Ct.); the Federal Reporter, as of 2003 in its third series; the Federal Supplement, as of 2003 in its second series; the Federal Rules Decisions (cited as F.R.D.); the Military Justice Reporter (cited as M.J.); and the Bankruptcy Reporter.

Ten reporters cover the 50 states and the District of Columbia. These reporters, each of which is in its second or third series, include the following: Atlantic Reporter (A., A.2d); North Western Reporter (N.W., N.W.2d); Pacific Reporter (P., P.2d, P.3d); South Eastern Reporter (S.E., S.E.2d); Southern Reporter (So., So.2d); South Western Reporter (S.W., S.W.2d, S.W.3d); California Reporter (Cal. Rptr.); Illinois Decisions (Ill. Dec.); and New York Supplement (N.Y.S., N.Y.S.2d).

Advance sheets in the National Reporter System are published 50 times each year (weekly, except for the last week of September and first week of October) for the regional units reporting state cases. Three units report federal cases 52 times per year. The remaining units are published biweekly, monthly, or semi-monthly, depending on how many cases are issued by the courts covered by the various reporters.

cross-references

Opinion; Reporter.

Advance Sheets After the slipdecisions, advance sheets are the next preliminary form of publication of decisions from a particular court or jurisdiction. Each of these paperback volumes contains a group of decisions in roughly chronological order. The contents of several such pamphlets (anywhere from three to six) are combined to make up a single bound volume, usually retaining the same page numbers as in the advance sheet. Since judges can make changes in their opinions before the bound volume is published, minor differences in the pagination may occur. Advance sheets are issued for both official and unofficial reports and are typically discarded after the bound volume appears.

See also Reporting of Opinions.

Morris L. Cohen