Case Law Search
Running a search
Enter your question
Type a natural language question into the search bar - for example:
"When can a court pierce the corporate veil in Delaware?"
The AI analyzes your question and generates an editable boolean query (e.g., "pierce the corporate veil" AND jurisdiction:Delaware). You can modify the boolean query before running the search or use it as-is.
Dual search runs in parallel
Two searches execute simultaneously:
- Keyword / boolean search - matches your query terms exactly against the CourtListener database.
- AI semantic search - interprets the meaning of your question and surfaces conceptually relevant cases even if they use different terminology.
Results from both searches are merged and ranked by relevance.
Review results
Each result appears as a case card showing:
- Case name, citation, court, and date.
- A relevance snippet highlighting the matching passage.
- Citation count and good law status indicator.
Jurisdiction selection
Click the Jurisdiction filter to narrow your search:
- All U.S. federal courts - Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, District Courts.
- All U.S. state courts - every state appellate and supreme court in CourtListener.
- Multi-jurisdiction - select multiple jurisdictions at once.
- Presets - quick-select groups such as "All Federal Circuits" or "All State Supreme Courts."
Filters
Refine your results with additional filters:
| Filter | Description |
|---|---|
| Date range | Limit results to cases decided within a start and end date. |
| Judge | Filter by authoring or concurring judge. |
| Topic | Narrow by legal topic or area of law. |
| Citation count | Surface highly cited cases by setting a minimum citation threshold. |
| Good law status | Exclude cases that have been overruled, reversed, or negatively treated. |
Reading a case
Click a case card to open the full opinion viewer:
- Text view - the opinion rendered as formatted text with headings and paragraph breaks.
- PDF toggle - switch to the original PDF from the court, if available.
- Search within - find specific terms inside the opinion using the in-document search bar.
Bookmarking and saving
Bookmarks
Click the bookmark icon on any case card to save it for later. Organize bookmarks into folders and attach notes to remember why a case is relevant.
Save to Library or Matter
- Save to Library - adds the case to your personal research library, accessible from any Matter.
- Save to Matter - links the case directly to a specific Matter so it appears alongside other case materials and is available to the AI for context.
Cases saved to a Matter are automatically included in the AI's context, improving the quality of drafting suggestions and research follow-ups.