Natural Language Search in Trellis

• Why Use Trellis Natural Language 

• How to Use Natural Language Search

• What You Can Accomplish

• Example Searches to Try

• Tips 

Natural Language Search allows you to search Trellis the same way you ask questions in Google. Instead of relying on Boolean logic, keywords, or complex filters, you can simply describe what you’re looking for, and Trellis returns the most relevant cases, dockets, and court documents.

This makes legal research faster, more intuitive, and accessible to all users.

Why Use Natural Language Search?

Traditional legal research tools demand precise queries and technical skill. They’re powerful, but they can slow you down when you simply need clear answers.

Trellis Natural Language Search eliminates that friction by allowing you to:

- Ask questions in full sentences, just like you would in conversation

- Skip Boolean operators, connectors, and rigid query syntax

- Instantly surface the most relevant results from across the Trellis database

You focus on the issue and the outcome you care about. Trellis interprets your intent and handles the complexity behind the scenes.

Pro tip: You can toggle Natural Language Search on or off to switch between conversational queries and Boolean operators, making it easy to adjust and refine your research as needed.

How to Use Natural Language Search

Getting started is simple:

- Go to the Trellis search bar.

- Enter your question or describe your issue in plain English.

- Review the ranked results across relevant cases, dockets, and documents.

- Refine your query by adding more detail or context as needed.

You can begin with a broad question and narrow your focus over time, no Boolean operators or special formatting required.

What You Can Accomplish

Natural Language Search supports a wide range of research workflows:

• Find relevant precedent quickly
  Locate cases, rulings, and filings that support litigation strategy.

• Retrieve the right documents with less effort
  Reduce manual searching and pull exactly what you need for case preparation.

• Identify legal, financial, or reputational risk
  Surface lawsuits, judgments, and court activity tied to specific parties.

• Spot patterns, trends, and opportunities
  Explore court data to uncover insights across jurisdictions and time periods.

Example Searches to Try

Copy and paste one of the following directly into the search bar:

• Find recent breach of contract lawsuits in California where the defendant is a tech company

• Show me foreclosure cases filed against business tenants in Cook County

• Find complaints involving breach of fiduciary duty in Delaware courts

• Have there been any judgments against XYZ Corp in the last 12 months?

• What types of claims are most common in wrongful termination suits in Los Angeles?

• List cases where the judge denied a motion to dismiss in a consumer protection lawsuit in Florida

If you can describe it, you can search it.

Tips for Stronger Results

- Use full sentences or clear, conversational descriptions.

- Add helpful context such as jurisdiction, timeframe, court, judge, party, or claim type.

- Once you have your results, you can then ask questions using Chat with Results on the right-hand side. 

- Don’t worry about perfect syntax—Natural Language Search is built to interpret how you naturally ask legal research questions.