There are two items that may be of interest in your research. The first is the "Court Docket," also called a case docket or docket sheet. This is a chronological record of all of the parties and attorneys in a case -- usually listed first -- and every action taken in a case and document filed in a case. Typically, if an attorney or firm is representing a party in a case, the case file, whether paper or electronic, will include a copy of the court docket at the beginning of most files and folders. This court docket will be updated regularly. If you are just getting involved in a case, or are researching a case in which you are not representing a party, you will want to locate the court docket in order to get acquainted with the history and standing of the case.
Ideally, electronic court dockets will include links to copies of documents filed in the case, such as the complaint, the answer, and motions and briefs, and so on. If you are working on a current federal case, you will likely be able to access such linked documents. State court dockets are trickier to find and are much less likely to include linked full-text documents. If they are not linked and not in your firm's files, you may need to engage an attorney service (which also might be called a court service, runner service, or something else depending on local custom). Usually your firm will have a service like this on retainer, or a paralegal or clerk at the firm who can work with you to obtain these documents.
PACER is the online system used to retrieve federal court filings. It works best if you have a specific case you are looking for so try to get as much information as you can before starting on PACER, such as the exact party names, the names of attorneys, and the court where the case is or was pending.
Formatting of docket numbers on PACER can vary tremendously. If you can't find the case you are looking for through the docket number, try to search with party names or other information instead.
Remember, you CANNOT search full-text of documents in PACER. Your goal is to find a case, and then look at the docket sheet to find particular documents/filings you may need.
Coverage: virtually all current federal court filings below the Supreme Court level are available via PACER. For Supreme Court filings, click HERE. If a case (or filings) are sealed, they will not be available.Filings more than 5-10 years old may not be posted to PACER, depending on the court.
PACER charges a small fee for each document viewed or downloaded. There are no special accounts for law students. If you are in a class that requires PACER use, your professor should provide you with the log-in information that you need. For work outside of law school, you will need to inquire with your firm about their account, log-in, and billing practices.
Once you have chosen your court, you may need to click an additional link such as “Document Filing System.” From there, look at the blue bar across the top of the screen for the “QUERY” link.
After you run your search, keep an eye out for the links with the letter “R” in a blue box next to them. You can download these documents for free from the RECAP archive.
Screenshots on how to use PACER
Each hyperlinked number in the docket will lead you to the full text of the document. Remember that you will be charged for each document you view or download.
Bloomberg Law provides access to all materials available via PACER, but does so with an interface that is much easier to use. While PACER charges a small fee for viewing and downloading documents, accessing federal court filings via Bloomberg Law is free with your law school Bloomberg account. Screenshots below show how to use Bloomberg Law to access federal court dockets and filings.
The easiest way to access dockets, including the federal court docket coverage provided through PACER, is to click the "Browse All Content" menu on the left side of the Bloomberg home page:
From the expanded menu, choose Litigation & Dockets, then Docket Search.
On the docket search page, be careful when selecting courts, as it can be easy to accidentally search more courts than you want. Put in whatever information you have in the various search fields. This screen shot shows the search fields to find cases filed in any federal District Court in Tennessee, against the University of Tennessee, for medical malpractice:
This resulted in five cases to browse through. Here is part of the docket for one of them:
Clicking the "View" link in the Action column will let you download the associated full text document. If you see a link that says "Request," that means you are the first Bloomberg Law user to access the document. You will get a pop-up box about charges, which will just be telling you that download charges are waived while you are in law school. For non-law school people, this will tell you the amount of charges incurred. Click the green ACCEPT button to download the document.