How to Set an Alert to Track When a New Case Involving a Specific Attorney or Law Firm Is Filed

You can set an Alert to receive notifications whenever a new case involving a specific attorney is filed and the newly filed case Docket appears on Trellis.  Simply run a search of the attorney / law firm on Smart Search.  After running the search, if you click the Dockets tab, then click the “Track New Cases” button, we’ll email you when new Dockets that trigger your Alert appear on Trellis.

Setting an Alert by Running a Smart Search Query

1. First, enter the attorney or law firm name on Smart Search.  We recommend starting with the Boolean operator party:”party-name”.  
   
   
   

   🔎   Use party:”party-name” when you only want to be Alerted on new Dockets that have a specific attorney or law firm listed by the court as counsel of record on the Docket.  Keep in mind that every state and county lists attorney information differently on their Dockets (e.g., “first-name last-name,” “last-name, first-name”).  Moreover, some courts only list the attorney names without reference to their law firm, and others vice versa.  Please check how your jurisdiction/court lists this information – you may conduct an easy spot check using Smart Search.  Alternatively, you may search variations of the attorney or law firm name in quotation marks rather than using party:”party-name”:  

   

2. Second, you may use Boolean operators (like AND) with other keywords to focus your search.  For example, you may try narrowing by practice area / case type so that you’re notified whenever a new case of a particular practice area / case type is filed involving a specific party.  
   
   
   

   🔎   If you opt to include keywords pertaining to a case type, keep in mind that every state and county lists this information differently on their Dockets.  Some states and counties don’t list this information at all.  We’ll only send you Alert emails when newly filed case Dockets contain your exact keyphrases.  Please check how your jurisdiction/court lists this information – you may conduct an easy spot check using Smart Search. Alternatively, try using variations of case type wording if you’re unsure how your state / county lists such information on their Dockets.  

3. Third, select one or more states you want to search in (CA, NY, TX, etc.) using the dropdown menu to the right of the search bar.  When you have a particular state selected, you are searching across the state trial courts of that state.  
   
   
4. Fourth, run the search, click the Dockets tab, then click the “Track New Cases” button underneath the search bar. 
   
   

Adding Alert Recipients / Excluding Yourself from Notifications  

1. Once you click the “Track This Topic'' button, we’ll display a pop-up notification that your Alert has been confirmed.  
   
   
2. Here, you’ll have the option of setting this Alert for other recipients as well.  Simply click the “Add other recipients'' button and input their email address.  If adding multiple recipients, use commas to separate the email addresses.    
   
   You’ll also have the option of setting the Alert for someone else but excluding yourself from any Alert notifications.  Simply click “Exclude myself from this Alert.”