Federal Courts Vote for More Free Access

The Judicial Conference of the United States voted to increase free PACER access from $10.00 annually to $10.00 quarterly.  (Thanks to the Blog of Legal Times).  PACER is the docket for nearly all the federal courts, except for the U.S. Supreme Court.  For many cases, full text of filings are available.   PACER costs 8 cents per page for dockets and filings, but opinions are free.

Students are encouraged to set up a PACER account and try accessing a docket.   You will not be billed until the $10.00 quarterly limit is exceeded.  Attorneys use PACER not only for cases where they are representing a party in that case, but also to research whether a person or business has been involved in litigation or has filed for bankruptcy.  PACER is also used to find examples of pleadings and motions which an attorney is attempting to draft.  One can search PACER by party name docket number, court and type of action.   To find a case with a specific type of pleading or motion, you may want to find a case on point in a case opinion database first, and then go to PACER.