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Federal Court Monitoring (PACER)

Automatic federal court docket monitoring with three-tier retrieval: free RECAP first, paid PACER second, manual upload last. Cost-optimized with spend caps and full client billing integration.

Federal court monitoring with PACER and RECAP integration showing case filings and automated alerts
PACER and RECAP integration brings federal filings directly to your dashboard

The Problem

Monitoring federal cases on PACER is manual and expensive. You log in, check each case, download new filings, and pay per page. Miss a filing and you could miss a deadline. Download too aggressively and PACER costs add up fast — especially across multiple cases.

The Solution

Attorney Workbench monitors your federal cases automatically with a three-tier cost optimization strategy. First, it checks the free RECAP database (CourtListener) — if someone else already downloaded the document, you get it for free. Only when RECAP does not have the filing does it fall back to paid PACER. Configurable spend caps per case prevent runaway costs. Every download is tracked with exact cost for client billing pass-through.

How It Works

1

Check Free First

The system checks CourtListener's free RECAP database before touching PACER. If the document has already been downloaded and contributed by another RECAP user, you get it for free.

2

PACER Fallback

When RECAP does not have the filing, the system downloads directly from PACER with your credentials. Every download is tracked with the exact PACER charge for client billing.

3

Full Pipeline

Downloaded filings go through the complete analysis pipeline: text extraction, citation verification, deadline detection, AI summary, and issue identification — all automatic.

What's Included

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Three-Tier Retrieval

Tier 1: Free RECAP database (CourtListener). Tier 2: Paid PACER direct download. Tier 3: Manual upload fallback. The system always tries free sources before incurring charges.

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Cost Optimization

Configurable spend caps per case prevent runaway PACER costs. Set a maximum monthly or per-case budget. When the cap is reached, automatic downloads stop and you are notified.

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Nightly Sync

Automatic docket checks run on a configurable schedule (default 2 AM). New filings are downloaded, processed, and ready for your review by morning.

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Cost Tracking

Every PACER download is logged with the exact charge. See costs per case, per month, or per filing. Costs flow directly into client billing for pass-through.

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Manual Trigger

Force an immediate sync from the dashboard for any case. Useful when you know a filing was just submitted and do not want to wait for the nightly check.

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Full Analysis Pipeline

Downloaded filings automatically go through text extraction, citation verification, deadline detection, AI summary generation, and legal issue identification. No manual processing required.

See It in Action

Product screenshots showing Federal Court Monitoring (PACER) in Attorney Workbench.

Federal docket feed showing recent filings with AI-generated summaries and cost tracking
Federal filings flow through the same analysis pipeline as state court filings

Frequently Asked Questions

RECAP is a free, open-source project by the Free Law Project (behind CourtListener). When anyone downloads a PACER document using the RECAP browser extension, it gets contributed to a free public database. Attorney Workbench checks this database first — if the document is already there, you get it for free instead of paying PACER fees.
Yes. You need PACER credentials (username and password) for Tier 2 downloads when a document is not available in the free RECAP database. Attorney Workbench uses your credentials securely to download filings on your behalf.
You can set a maximum PACER spend per case. When the cap is reached, automatic downloads stop and you receive a notification. You can increase the cap or manually download specific filings. This prevents unexpected PACER bills on high-volume cases.
Every PACER download is tracked in the client billing ledger with the exact charge. You can configure markup percentages for cost pass-through. When generating a billing report for a case, PACER costs appear as line items with document descriptions and amounts.
All US District Courts accessible through PACER are supported. The system uses standard PACER APIs for docket retrieval and document download.

Works Great With

Court Monitoring (State)

CourtPlus integration for South Carolina state courts.

Client Billing

PACER costs flow into client billing for pass-through.

AI Filing Summaries

Downloaded filings are automatically summarized by AI.

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