Page 314 - 2024 Orientation Manual

Louisiana State Bar Association
Opinion Service

General Information

The LSBA Online Opinion Service allows users to obtain the latest opinions released from
Louisiana appellate courts (first, second, third, fourth and fifth circuits) and the Louisiana
Supreme court. This free service includes the following:

Boolean Search Engine
Users are able to perform keyword search queries within the contents of the opinions. This
search feature will also include the ability to filter search results to show opinions from all or
any combination of courts.

Database Search Engine
Users are able to sort through all opinions within the database, filtering their results based on
month, year and any combination of courts.

Opinions Subscription Service
The LSBA Opinion Service now has new selectable category features. A lawyer can sign up
for any combination of the following categories:

All Civil
All Criminal
Contracts and Obligations
Corporate/Tax/Intellectual Property
Family/Estate Planning/Wills and Trust
Labor/Employment/Civil Rights/ADA
Malpractice/Discipline
Real Estate/Construction/Oil and Gas/Environmental
Torts and Personal Injury

For instance, a General Practitioner living in Jefferson Parish might be interested in all cases
dealing with Torts and Family Law coming out of the Fifth Circuit and the Louisiana Supreme
Court. Simply subscribe to the service on the Louisiana State Bar Association website, check
the appropriate courts and categories and ... Voila! The cases fitting that criteria will be
forwarded to you as they are made available by the courts on their websites.

The email you receive will have the case name, case number, court, date of decision and a
short excerpt from the opinion. A link will be provided if you wish to see the entire opinion.
Here is an example of a typical email:

Date - 7/16/03
Court Docket - 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal
Law Category - All Civil, Family/Estate Planning/Wills and
Trust
Docket Number - 03-016xx
---------------------------------------------------------------
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SUCCESSION OF SMITH vs. JOHN SMITH ET AL.
John Smith, individually and as trustee of The Smith Family
Living Trust (The Trust), appeals the trial court’s
determination that, pursuant to Louisiana law, The Trust is
invalid as to form and cannot inherit immovable property
situated in Louisiana. For the following reasons, we reverse.