Citizens and legal practitioners in New Jersey and around the world now may access key New Jersey and federal documents online, thanks to a free service provided by the Rutgers University School of Law at Camden.

The Law Library at the Rutgers-Camden law school now offers the decisions of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Attorney Disciplinary Review Board from December, 1998 onward. These decisions are online here.

“The posting of these decisions represents a significant change for the board,” notes John Joergensen, the online librarian at the Rutgers-Camden Law Library. “Traditionally, there has been some debate within the legal community as to whether these documents should be made public.” The final court orders accompanying each review board decision are included.

The Rutgers-Camden Law Library also recently launched the following online collections of public documents:

New Jersey Session Laws, which currently offers a complete compilation of session laws from 1703 to 1970. Joergensen notes that Rutgers-Camden plans to complete the collection “at least through 2000. This collection likely is of great interest to historians who can access archival legal and census information about New Jersey.” The documents are online here.

U.S. Congressional Documents, which offers digital access to congressional hearings and committee prints. “This is an ongoing project. Currently, we have more than 3,200 documents, consisting of almost 650,000 pages,” says Joergensen. The collection is online here.

The Rutgers-Camden Law Library continues to host the opinions of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Ethics Committee; the decisions of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey; and the opinions of the New Jersey Courts, including the Supreme Court, from March, 1994, to date, the Superior Court Appellate Division and the Tax Court from September, 1995, to date.

According to Rayman Solomon, dean of the Rutgers University School of Law at Camden, access to New Jersey court decisions, state history, and congressional records is an important service to the state’s citizens. “As New Jersey’s flagship public research university, Rutgers is honored to provide global online access to such valuable information,” says Solomon.