Whatcom County Resources

Whatcom County Law Library Maintains a great collection of resources for all aspects of local law.

State Laws

Revised Code of Washington (RCW) The compilation of all permanent laws now in force in Washington State.

Washington Administrative Code (WAC) Regulations of executive branch agencies are issued by authority of statutes. Like legislation and the Constitution, regulations are a source of primary law in Washington State.

State Court

Washington Court Rules (print Reference KFW 529.A21 2026)

Washington Lawyers Practice Manual (ask in the Library)

Court Opinions

The written decision from a judge (or panel of judges) is referred to as a case, decision, or opinion.

Generally cases only from appellate courts are available. Selected state trial court decisions and verdicts are reported in the news; they are not available in traditional print or online sources.

• Washington State Judicial Opinions Public Access Website This free website provides complete coverage of cases from the Washington Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals.
• Washington Appellate Court Opinions This is a searchable database of cases decided by the Washington Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals from 1854 – to date
• Court Listener Contains daily information regarding all opinions issued by the 13 federal circuit courts and the Supreme Court of the United States.
• U.S. Court Opinions Includes links to judicial opinions from both federal and state courts.

Case Law is law that is derived from the decisions issued by judges in the cases before them in court.

The following resources offer the best tools for finding case laws.

• Caselaw Access Project The Caselaw Access Project (“CAP”) expands public access to U.S. law with the goal to make all published U.S. court decisions freely available to the public online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of the Harvard Law Library.
• Casetext: “Casetext is a public legal research tool and online community that’s quickly becoming the best place to discover and share legal knowledge. Search millions of cases and statutes, for free, annotated with insights contributed by the legal community. Linking commentary to a legal database gives authors a platform to demonstrate thought leadership to the roughly 250,000 people researching on Casetext each month. Together we’re changing legal research.”
• Google Scholar : this is a great way to find legal cases. Just click on the “Case law” button to ensure relevant material is found. You can also narrow your search to specific states and courts.