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Legal Research

Three Levels

Every other state (as far as I know) has a 3-level court system, similar to the federal courts.  Trial-court decisions may well not be officially published, but most appellate decisions and decisions of the highest court in the state will be.  Unlike in New York, the highest court in the state is called the Supreme Court (except for Maine and Massachusetts, where it's the Supreme Judicial Court).  Here is a useful guide to citing decisions from the state courts.