The Law Library is a depository for duplicate records and briefs of the Louisiana Supreme Court and also the Louisiana Courts of Appeal, Circuits 1-5.  All deposited records and briefs remain the property of the courts. The Law Library receives court records at the discretion of the courts. There are gaps in our holdings. Holdings include cases for which the appeal process has been exhausted. Dates of coverage:

Louisiana Supreme Court, 1912-2009
Louisiana Courts of Appeal, 1960-2009

Louisiana R.S. 13:4686 authorizes the Law Library to dispose of civil appeal (not Supreme Court) records on deposit here for five years or longer. The weeding of civil records is an ongoing process dependent upon date of receipt rather than docket date, but as a rule of thumb one may expect that all civil records docketed five or more years before today’s date have been discarded.

The Law Library is required to retain appellate criminal records in perpetuity. The civil cases we have discarded will only be available through the clerks of the district courts, to whom the ‘originals’ of the cases are sent by the courts of appeal.

The court records and briefs are stored off-site, but may be checked out for a period of twenty days, beginning on the date the record is mailed. Send requests via the Court Records Request Online Form, email to Melanie Sims, melanie.sims@law.lsu.edu or send fax on official letterhead to 225/578-5773. Include the following information:

• Name of case requested
• Appellate or Supreme Court docket number (records cannot be located by local judicial district docket number)
• Requesting party's Federal Express account number
• Written agreement that the requesting party will be responsible for returning the records within the loan period.
• Bar roll numbers (attorney's only)

Requests must be received no later than noon on Tuesday. Requests received after that time will be held for retrieval on Tuesday of the following week.

This digital collection, part of the LOUISiana Digital Library, is comprised of papers collected by Paul M. Hebert during his tenure as a judge at the United States Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. The bulk of the papers comprise the transcripts of the trial of United States vs. Carl Krauch (the I.G. Farbenindustrie Trial) along with the prosecution and defense exhibits from that trial. Click here to view this collection or the link from the Library's catalog.

Louisiana materials, a special assemblage of about 13,000 volumes, is now shelved on the second and third floors. Louisiana legal materials are collected mainly through the state depository program and direct agency contact. Core items include legislative calendars, journals, résumés, bills and acts, as well as agency reports and administrative decisions. Non-depository materials found in this collection include a complete set of Louisiana case reporters dating back to 1809 including Louisiana Reports, Southern Reporter, and the Louisiana Courts of Appeals Reports. Nominative reporters such as Martin and Robinson are found here. Older editions of the Louisiana civil code, statutes and digests, and older editions of legal treatises and final law school exams are also included.

The Louisiana Collection is split into two parts, classified materials shelved on the second floor behind the state statutes collection and the unclassified materials shelved on the third floor north wall. The unclassified materials include reporters (early reporters and the Southern Reporter), acts, and statutes. Unclassified materials do not circulate.

The general microform collection is housed on the first and third floor and is available to patrons during all library hours. Government Documents in microform are located on the fourth floor. The general microform collection includes the following:

• 18th, 19th and 20th century American legal treatises
• International collections and materials
• Legal newspapers
• Louisiana legislative materials
• Native American Indian law
• Selected urban documents for major Louisiana cities
• Special reports
• State Attorney General opinions
• State bar exams
• State bar journals
• State session laws
• Supreme Court Records and Briefs/CIS (Current)

To find a title in the microform collection, search the Library Catalog to find the filing title, then search the Microform Index to find the physical location of the microform.

There is a microform reader/printers available in the Microform Reading Room on the 1st floor and in the Government Documents Department on the fourth floor. A microform reader/scanner is available in the office located behind the stairwell on the third floor.

The law library’s rare book collection of approximately 4,500 volumes contains an impressive range of local imprints from the early days of Louisiana’s existence, first as a Territory and then as a State.  It, also, includes titles covering early French, Spanish and Roman legal traditions. 

This fine collection of rare legal materials from Louisiana and the European legal tradition is available only during weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  The librarian on duty at the Reference Desk can assist you. These materials do not circulate.