PACER provides access to federal district, bankruptcy, and appellate court dockets and filed documents. Access is fee-based per page with a quarterly waiver threshold.
It is the source underlying most commercial docket research and analytics products.
Alternative Names:
Public Access to Court Electronic Records
Why it Matters?
PACER is the data source behind litigation analytics products, which is why federal court analysis is substantially better developed than state court analysis. For practitioners the direct utility is docket monitoring and researching a judge's or opposing party's history. Commercial services layer search, alerts, and analytics on the same underlying data, which is what they charge for.
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Frequently asked questions
Why is federal analytics better developed?
What do commercial services add?
