The docket sheet can confirm the existence of and provide identifying details for docket materials; you can check for availability in Westlaw's filings, briefs, and trial court orders collections (see section below under (View selected documents"), and if not found there, check other sources that may offer full-text documents, such as Bloomberg Law Dockets & Filings, RECAP or PACER Federal Court Dockets.
Go to Westlaw dockets
From the home page go to the "Content Types" tab and look for "Dockets" under "Specialty areas." Search across all docket materials or select jurisdiction(s). On any retrieved docket, click the “Update” button if needed.
Search tips
You can do a simple search from the search box at the top of the page (with or without limiting to selected courts by checking a box for various jurisdictions), or click on "Advanced Search" at the end of the search bar to see fields available for docket searching.
- Keep in mind you are generally searching only the docket sheet itself (mostly document captions), not full text documents
- Entries may vary in wording and level of detail—a complaint under the Alien Tort Statutes might be styled a "Complaint for Damages under Alien Tort Statute" or simply "Cmplt" in the docket sheet, so searching for the phrase "Alien Tort Statute" may not bring up all relevant cases.
- The Dockets home page offers an option to "Search dockets, available PDFs, and court filings" which as described in the "i" information icon near this checkbox option means your search will "also include results from Westlaw's collection of Trial Court Documents and Briefs" (see section below, under "View selected documents").
- If you limit to a specific court, the Advanced Search template may offer additional available fields relevant to that jurisdiction—for example, the Patent Trials & Appeals Board dockets collection offers a field to search by patent number.
- Searching by docket numbers: Docket number styles vary widely; try omitting the case type indicator (often letters indicating civil or criminal matters), lead zeroes, and/or the judge's initials (e.g., C-07-04771 EDL becomes 07-4771). For format tips, click through from the Dockets home page to the jurisdiction and specific court, and click the "i" information icon to pull up scope notes; click to expand the "Searching and Fields" section for information about the court's case/docket number formatting.
- KNOS (Key Nature of Suit): This Advanced Search field (also available for filtering docket search results) is based on a set of standardized categories/tags; different sets of KNOS terms may be available for different jurisdictional collections (e.g., for the U.S. Tax Court, the only available KNOS is "Tax."
View selected documents (limited)
When you view a retrieved docket sheet, you may see "View" or "Batch Download" icons next to docket entries, but this service is not available directly from dockets via Berkeley Law's academic subscription. Instead, the following are options to find any full-text documents:
- Click the “Filings” tab (in the tab row between "Document" and "Related Opinions/Dockets") to find any available full-text documents.
- Search Westlaw's collections separately: Return to the Westlaw home page and on the "Content Types" tab, select to search Trial Court Orders, Briefs, Trial Court Documents, or (under "Specialty areas") Trial Transcripts & Oral Arguments and include search terms (such as party names, document titles, and attorney or judge names) found from the docket sheet.
- Re-run your docket search with the checkbox "Search dockets, available PDFs, and court filings" selected, and include case-specific search terms found from the docket sheet.
- If you are searching for filings associated with a court decision available in Westlaw: find the decision document, by entering the decision's case reporter or WL numbered citation (for example, "704 f. supp. 2d 932" or "2007 WL 2852364"), and click on the “Filings” tab. Filings may include both materials that relate directly to the decision you looked up (e.g., the merits briefs about the issue decided in the opinion) and other documents filed in the same case; the tab may also include documents from courts above or below.
Coverage details
Coverage of federal and state courts varies widely. From the Dockets home page, look under "Dockets Resources" (right side of the screen):
- The docket Coverage Map summarizes state and federal scope and updating information in a table with filters for court type and jurisdiction (look for "Dockets" coverage information; "Court Wire" coverage is not available via Berkeley Law's academic subscription—you may see search results but will not be able to view docket information for "Court Wire Only" jurisdictions).
- The "Coverage Status" page lists current known outages and other issues with coverage and updating, sometimes with expected date for return to active updates.
Example of a Westlaw docket sheet
