State trial court dockets are official records that track filings, motions, rulings, and case activity at the local court level. These records provide critical insight into how cases progress, how judges make decisions, and how attorneys litigate.
Historically, accessing state trial court dockets at scale has been difficult. Unlike federal court data, which is relatively centralized, state trial court records are typically managed at the county level. This leads to:
- Fragmented systems across jurisdictions
- Inconsistent formatting and data quality
- Limited searchability and accessibility
As a result, legal professionals have traditionally lacked an efficient way to analyze trial court data across jurisdictions.
When it comes to dockets, the holy grail for many legal professionals has long been state trial court dockets. Nicole Clark, CEO and co-founder of Trellis, experienced this challenge firsthand while practicing law and set out to find a way to access and analyze state trial court data at scale.
Nicole sat down with The Geek in Review to share the story behind her mission to seek out local court information, clean up the data, and create a method of analyzing it.
She explains how Trellis works to expand access to state trial court data by continuously adding new courts and developing tools to analyze that information. This includes using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, like natural language processing (NLP), as well as building API access to support deeper analysis and integration into legal workflows.
She also highlights how customers are using state trial court data in practice, and why the value of trial court data extends beyond traditional legal research. As access to this once-elusive data improves, the opportunity to generate insights from trial court activity continues to grow.
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