Research Assistants

For some courts, you can locate a court website. There may be dockets freely available. 

You can also access documents via PACER. This costs money. First check Bloomberg, as it pulls directly from PACER. 

Both Westlaw and Lexis provide annotated versions of the federal and many of the state rules. Use the annotated versions for guidance, and to locate relevant cases. 

These can often be located with a good Google search. For example, search Philadelphia municipal court rules allows you to locate a number of rules, forms, and guidance located here: http://www.courts.phila.gov/publications/. 

You can also often browse Westlaw or Lexis for state court rules. The added perq: they are annotated, and you can quickly link to citing cases, secondary sources, trial documents, etc. 

Other vendors, such as Westlaw, also have Public Records databases --law students do not have access to them. Ask your employer if they have access to a public records system. Alternatively, determine where the public records you need are kept (Google should solve this most of the time). Then contact the appropriate office to retrieve them.