Westlaw Pleadings and Motions

I saw an ad for Pleadings and Motions databases on Westlaw. I took a few minutes to play around. It looks interesting. The documents are from a variety of state and federal courts, and include a wide range. Here's a sample:

• Petitioner's Objections and Responses to Respondent's First Set of Interrogatories
• Post-Trial Brief of Joint Defendants
• Memorandum of Law in Support of the Deutsche Bank Defendants' Motion to Exclude the Expert Testimony
• Defendant's Motion to Compel Independent Psychiatric Examination in Accordance With Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 35(a)
• Plaintiffs' Brief in Support of Cross Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and a Reply to the Motion for Partial Summary Judgment of the Defendant
• Brief in Opposition to Petition to Open Non Pros Judgment

The ad suggests that you can use these databases "[t]o see how well-thought-out legal arguments are structured" or "[a]s a starting point for framing your own documents." Sure, but note that there is no quality control -- the motion you find might have been written by an attorney who's not very good or was having a bad day. Cutting and pasting is easy, but it isn't always wise. But, with that caveat, these databases do seem useful.

It appears that Washington federal court documents are included, but not state court filings -- yet.

Categories: motions, Westlaw,