The North Western Reporter is the regional case reporter that compiles appellate opinions from seven states — Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin — into a single standardized publication produced by Thomson Reuters (formerly West Publishing).1Legal Information Institute. National Reporter System It has been in continuous publication since 1879 and is one of the seven regional reporters in the National Reporter System. Coverage includes each state’s supreme court and, where they exist, intermediate appellate courts such as the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.
The Three Series
As volumes accumulate, the reporter periodically resets its numbering by launching a new series. There are three.
- First Series (N.W.) ran from 1879 through 1941 and covers roughly 300 volumes of early state appellate opinions.2The Online Books Page. Northwestern Reporter
- Second Series (N.W.2d) began in 1942 and accumulated hundreds of volumes of mid-twentieth-century and later caselaw.2The Online Books Page. Northwestern Reporter
- Third Series (N.W.3d) is the current series, launched after the second reached its volume limit. New opinions from the covered states now appear in N.W.3d volumes.
West’s modern convention is to start a new series once numbering hits 999. The first series transitioned earlier than that under older publishing norms. The abbreviation on any given citation tells you which set of volumes to pull: N.W. for the oldest, N.W.2d for the middle decades, N.W.3d for recent decisions. Law libraries and digital databases carry all three.
Official Status Varies by State
The North Western Reporter is not just a commercial reprint. For several of the seven states it covers, it is the official publication of court opinions. Iowa, for example, has designated Thomson Reuters as the official reporter, so the N.W. citation is the authoritative one. Other states in the region have discontinued their own state-published reporters and now rely on the North Western Reporter as the primary or sole print source for their appellate decisions.
A few states still maintain their own official reporters alongside the regional one. Court rules in those states may require a parallel citation listing both the state report and the N.W. volume. Before filing, check the court’s local rules to see whether you need just the N.W. cite, just the state reporter cite, or both.
What a Case Entry Contains
Each case entry follows a consistent structure. It opens with the case name, the deciding court, and the date of the decision. A brief synopsis of the facts and holding follows. The synopsis is written by Thomson Reuters editors rather than the court, so it carries no legal authority, but it saves time when scanning volumes.
Below the synopsis are the headnotes. Each headnote distills one legal point from the opinion and is tagged with a topic and number under the West Key Number System. Find a headnote on, say, the standard for summary judgment, and the key number assigned to it will lead you to every other case in the National Reporter System addressing that same issue, in any state or region. The same key number means the same legal issue whether it appears in the North Western Reporter, the Southern Reporter, or the Pacific Reporter.
After the headnotes, the entry reproduces the full majority opinion, followed by any concurring or dissenting opinions.
How to Format a Citation
A standard citation to the North Western Reporter has five building blocks: the case name, the volume number, the reporter abbreviation, the first page of the opinion, and a parenthetical with the deciding court and year. Put together, a citation looks like this:
Czapinski v. St. Francis Hosp., Inc., 613 N.W.2d 120 (Wis. 2000)
The case name is italicized. “613” is the volume. “N.W.2d” identifies the second series. “120” is the page where the opinion begins. “(Wis. 2000)” tells you the Wisconsin Supreme Court decided the case in 2000.3Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. Basic Legal Citation – How to Cite Judicial Opinions
Court Abbreviations in the Parenthetical
The abbreviation inside the parenthetical identifies the court. For state supreme courts in the covered states, the standard Bluebook abbreviations are Iowa, Mich., Minn., Neb., N.D., S.D., and Wis. For intermediate appellate courts, add “Ct. App.” or the state-specific equivalent, as in “Mich. Ct. App.” for the Michigan Court of Appeals. This is one of the most common citation errors, and courts notice.
Pinpoint Citations
When you need to point a reader to a specific passage rather than the whole opinion, add a pinpoint page after the starting page, separated by a comma. If the language you want is on page 135 of an opinion starting on page 120, write 613 N.W.2d 120, 135. In digital databases, “star paging” marks where print page breaks fall in the electronic text, so you can cite the print page number even when reading on screen.3Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. Basic Legal Citation – How to Cite Judicial Opinions
Public Domain Citations in North Dakota and Wisconsin
Two of the covered states use vendor-neutral citation formats that don’t depend on the N.W. reporter. These use a sequential case number assigned by the court clerk rather than a volume and page number.
North Dakota adopted medium-neutral citations in 1997. A North Dakota Supreme Court opinion in this format looks like 2025 ND 42, ¶ 19. Court rules still require briefs filed in North Dakota courts to include the N.W. volume and page when available, but the medium-neutral cite comes first.4North Dakota Courts. Rule 11.6 Medium-Neutral Case Citations
Wisconsin adopted public domain citations effective January 1, 2000. A Wisconsin Supreme Court opinion uses 2000 WI 14, with paragraph numbering for pinpoint references. Court of appeals decisions use “WI App,” as in 2001 WI App 9.5Supreme Court of Wisconsin. Supreme Court of Wisconsin – Chapter 80 Wisconsin briefs typically require the public domain cite followed by a parallel N.W. cite.
If you are citing a case from either state, check whether the court you are filing in wants the public domain format, the N.W. format, or both.
Where to Find Opinions Today
Print volumes still fill law library shelves, but most research now happens digitally. Westlaw, owned by Thomson Reuters, carries full-text access to every opinion across all three series. Lexis and other platforms also carry the opinions, though they may use different citation formats or editorial enhancements. Westlaw’s star paging displays print page numbers within the digital text, so you can build an accurate N.W. citation without pulling a physical volume.
State court websites in the region also publish recent opinions for free. The free versions work for quick lookups but typically lack the headnotes and key number classifications that make the reporter useful for systematic research across states and issues.