Court Records Scraper

Search and extract federal court records from CourtListener. Find court opinions, dockets, and case parties. No API key needed.

⚖️ What does Court Records Scraper do?

Court Records Scraper searches millions of federal court records via the CourtListener database (the largest open collection of U.S. legal data). Three modes:

🔹 Opinions — Search court opinions and judicial rulings by keyword, court, and date 🔹 Dockets — Search case dockets with filing details, parties, attorneys, and law firms 🔹 Parties — Extract party-level data from cases (names, attorneys, firms)

❓ Why use Court Records Scraper?

🔹 No API key needed — Uses CourtListener's public REST API, no registration required 🔹 Millions of records — Access opinions from 400+ courts, PACER dockets via RECAP archive 🔹 Rich data — Judges, attorneys, law firms, parties, citation counts, and case documents 🔹 Fast and cheap — Pure HTTP API calls, no browser needed 🔹 Multiple courts — Supreme Court (SCOTUS), Circuit Courts, District Courts, and more

💡 Use cases

🔹 Legal research — Search case law by topic, court, or date range 🔹 Due diligence — Check if companies or individuals are involved in litigation 🔹 Competitive intelligence — Monitor competitors' patent and antitrust cases 🔹 Compliance — Track regulatory enforcement actions and SEC cases 🔹 Journalism — Investigate public court filings and legal trends 🔹 Law firm research — Find which firms handle specific types of cases

📊 Sample output

Opinion data

Field	Example
caseName	Automotive Parts Antitrust Litig.
court	Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
docketNumber	20-2260
dateFiled	2022-05-12
judge	Judge Kollar-Kotelly
citeCount	5
status	Published

Docket data

Field	Example
caseName	Apple Inc. Smartphone Antitrust Litigation
court	District Court, D. New Jersey
docketNumber	2:24-md-03113
cause	15:2 Antitrust Litigation
suitNature	410 Anti-Trust
assignedTo	Julien Xavier Neals
parties	Apple Inc., United States of America

💰 Pricing

Event	Price
Start (per run)	$0.005
Record scraped	$0.002

Free plan estimate: ~100 court records per month on the Apify Free plan.

🔢 How to search court records

1. Go to the Court Records Scraper page on Apify
2. Select mode (opinions, dockets, or parties)
3. Enter your search query (company name, legal topic, or keyword)
4. Optionally filter by court, date range, or status
5. Click "Start" and download results as JSON, CSV, or Excel

📥 Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
mode	string	opinions, dockets, or parties
query	string	Search query (company name, legal topic, keyword)
court	string	Court ID filter (e.g. scotus, ca9, nysd)
dateFrom	string	Filed after date (YYYY-MM-DD)
dateTo	string	Filed before date (YYYY-MM-DD)
status	string	Publication status (published, unpublished)
maxResults	number	Maximum records to return (default: 50)

📤 Output fields

Opinion output

type, caseId, caseName, court, courtId, docketNumber, dateFiled, dateArgued, judge, status, citeCount, snippet, url, downloadUrl, searchQuery, scrapedAt

Docket output

type, docketId, caseName, court, courtId, docketNumber, dateFiled, dateTerminated, cause, suitNature, jurisdictionType, juryDemand, assignedTo, referredTo, attorneys, parties, firms, url, searchQuery, scrapedAt

Party output

type, partyName, caseName, court, courtId, docketNumber, dateFiled, cause, suitNature, attorney, firm, docketUrl, searchQuery, scrapedAt

💡 Tips

🔹 Court IDs — Common courts: scotus (Supreme Court), ca1-ca11 (Circuit Courts), cadc (D.C. Circuit), cafc (Federal Circuit), nysd (S.D. New York), dcd (D.C. District). 🔹 Boolean search — Use AND, OR, NOT in your query: "patent infringement" AND apple NOT samsung. 🔹 Exact phrases — Use quotes for exact phrases: "securities fraud". 🔹 Citation tracking — The citeCount field shows how many other opinions cite this one, indicating its legal significance. 🔹 PACER data — Docket results include RECAP archive data from PACER, providing free access to documents that normally cost $0.10/page.

🔗 Integrations

Export court records to Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make, or any webhook. Connect via the Apify API for automated court monitoring. Schedule daily runs to track ongoing litigation.

💻 API usage

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/court-records-scraper').call({
    mode: 'dockets',
    query: 'patent infringement',
    court: 'cafc',
    maxResults: 50,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_TOKEN')
run = client.actor('automation-lab/court-records-scraper').call(run_input={
    'mode': 'opinions',
    'query': 'antitrust technology',
    'dateFrom': '2024-01-01',
    'maxResults': 100,
})
items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
print(items)

cURL

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~court-records-scraper/runs" \
  -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"mode": "dockets", "query": "securities fraud", "maxResults": 50}'

⚖️ Legality

Court Records Scraper accesses publicly available data through CourtListener's official REST API. CourtListener is a project of the Free Law Project, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All court records are public under the First Amendment and common law right of access to court proceedings.

❓ FAQ

Q: Do I need an API key? A: No. CourtListener's search API works without authentication. No registration needed.

Q: What courts are covered? A: Over 400 courts including the Supreme Court, all Circuit Courts of Appeals, and most federal District Courts. Coverage spans from founding-era cases to present day.

Q: Can I find state court records? A: CourtListener primarily covers federal courts and some state supreme courts. For comprehensive state court coverage, check individual state court websites.

Q: How current is the data? A: CourtListener updates continuously. New opinions are typically available within hours of publication. RECAP docket data depends on community contributions.

Q: Can I get full opinion text? A: The scraper returns a snippet. For full text, use the downloadUrl field to access the PDF, or the url field to view on CourtListener.

🔗 Related scrapers

🔹 Company Funding Tracker — Track startup funding from SEC EDGAR filings 🔹 Financial Statements Scraper — Extract financial data from SEC EDGAR 🔹 SAM.gov Contract Scraper — Search federal contract opportunities