New Docket Research Tool: Search Advisor on Bloomberg Law

What is Search Advisor?

There’s a new feature on Bloomberg Law that can help you with your docket searches! Over the summer, Bloomberg launched a new Dockets Home Page. The redesigned page includes an option to track dockets, as well as an interactive U.S. map that allows you to quickly view Bloomberg’s extensive docket coverage in courts across the country.

The most notable new feature is Search Advisor, which is an AI tool currently in its Beta stage. You can toggle this tool off if you don’t want to use it, but I recommend giving it a try because it simplifies the searching process. Traditionally, performing a docket search requires you to carefully consider filters. But with Search Advisor, you can search using natural language, and Search Advisor will automatically create filters for you. For example, instead of choosing the filters myself, I can simply do a natural language search for “all landlord tenant cases in Durham District Court from the last 60 days.” After directing Bloomberg to perform this search, I can click “see the filters on the search form,” and see that Search Advisor automatically searched the keywords “landlord tenant,” chose the North Carolina District Court for Durham County as the court, and narrowed the date range to apply to the last 60 days.

You can use the natural language search tool to help you find cases with a specific party, judge, resolution, time period, filing type, or keywords. For example, if you wanted to see how Judge Swain in the Southern District of New York generally ruled on antitrust cases, you could search “antitrust cases in SDNY decided by Swain.” Search Advisor would automatically apply filters to find cases in which the court is the Southern District of New York, the judge is Judge Swain, and the nature of the suit is antitrust. If you wanted to take this further and look at examples of motions to certify a class in antitrust cases in SDNY, you could search “Find example motions to certify class in antitrust cases, SDNY,” and the appropriate filters would be automatically applied. 

Search Advisor is a helpful tool because it streamlines the search process for searching dockets. Obviously, you might want to find a docket if you’re an attorney or a party involved in an ongoing case. However, dockets can also be useful for other types of research. If you are studying a case, dockets contain records and briefs that provide facts and arguments that might not be discussed in a judge’s opinion. Additionally, as noted above, docket research can be useful to find examples of court filings.

Why might you want to use Bloomberg’s traditional docket search?

Although Bloomberg’s new feature is a helpful tool, don’t dismiss the traditional method of searching Bloomberg Law Dockets, Advanced Docket Search. This search function offers many filters that you might not consider when doing a natural language search, which can help you further narrow down your findings. In addition to the more obvious filters, like keywords, courts, and topics, you can filter by filing type for all civil cases in all U.S. District Courts. There is a list of 20 filing types you can choose from, including things like “Minute Entry,” “Pro Se Filing,” and “Stipulation.” You can also filter your results based on the nature of the suit and choose from dozens of listed options, including “Forfeiture/Penalty- Agriculture,” “Contract – Defaulted Student Loans,” and “Civil Rights- Disabilities – Employment.” There are many other filters to choose from, as well. 

Additionally, you might want to use the traditional search method because sometimes Search Advisor might apply the wrong filters. For example, I did a natural language search for “4th Circuit disability insurance cases filed in the last year” and got zero results (see screenshot below, left). If I look at the filters Search Advisor automatically applied, I can see that it chose the topic “long-term disability insurance.” However, if I was actually interested in cases in which the nature of the suit is Social Security Disability Insurance, I could choose that filter in the Advanced Search option, and be presented with six results (see screenshot below, right). Given the discrepancy in results, it’s important to think critically when conducting your searches. If your natural language search doesn’t produce any results, try rerunning the search and choosing your own filters. Alternatively, if a natural language search yields too many results, try browsing the filter options and seeing if there are any filters you can add.

Bloomberg Law contains updated dockets for all federal courts and most state courts (Bloomberg Law). If you need additional help finding court records and briefs, check out UNC Law Library’s Research Guide.