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Pros
It helps us extend our legal coverage and provides a very useful api access.
Nice looking and easy-to-use user interface, extensive databases of legal decisions, nice filters to narrow them, and properly named files when we download.
The feature I like most is the expanded search ability which allows you to narrow down cases or find the exact documents you are looking for with ease.
It has streamlined the process and delivered better results. The search and alert functionality has been a good way to stay current on cases and topics.
Cons
More details in the initial query, so I don't have to get the full case just to find it's not about the person I was looking for. Mainly in Docket Alarm end point.
The only problem I had with the software at first was finding certain cases that were older, but there is a date filter that fixes that problem.
The patent office's website can be difficult to navigate, and if you need to get updates for a dozen court cases, it could take an hour or more to check each one.
I am a paralegal at Banner Witcoff and have used Docket Alarm for almost a year. My specialty is in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, a relatively new court set up in Washington D.C. that.
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Showing 13 of 13 reviews
"Innovative user-interface for legal research"
Overall: Generally positive experience.
Pros: Nice looking and easy-to-use user interface, extensive databases of legal decisions, nice filters to narrow them, and properly named files when we download.
Cons: I wish the alerts for new case filings could come faster. At the moment I use Dinger Alerts, which appear to be among the fastest in the industry.
"Avid users of the api to find legal data about individuals"
Overall: It helps us extend our legal coverage and provides a very useful api access.
Pros: The extensive coverage and querying options, the access via api.
Cons: 1. More county courts coverage - especially NY and Massachusetts 2. The ability to filter by dates in the api query - in both pacer and docket alarm. 3. More details in the initial query, so I don't have to get the full case just to find it's not about the person I was looking for. Mainly in Docket Alarm end point.
"Docket Alarm is Okay"
Pros: Easy to use and there are a broad range of cases available
Cons: Some legal documents have a paywall; I wish that there was some way to inform the user of that before the user clicked on it
"Docket Alarm - Great for Research"
Overall: Docket Alarm has been beneficial in searching for specific types of cases for clients. It has streamlined the process and delivered better results. The search and alert functionality has been a good way to stay current on cases and topics.
Pros: Docket Alarm has provided good coverage of federal cases. It's limited state coverage has proven to be good where available. The feature I like most is the expanded search ability which allows you to narrow down cases or find the exact documents you are looking for with ease. It is a time saver when searching for specific types of cases.
Cons: There were a few hiccups with downloading information but Docket Alarm's customer service was fast and responsive. They updated me on progress and solved the issue in a timely manner. I couldn't ask for better customer service.
"Docket Alarm"
Pros: Accessing the documents and that they come with the email saves time and resources!
Cons: nothing at this time it works well for what I use it for
"Review by Neil"
Pros: The software is user friendly. It has helped my office become more efficient
Cons: The data does not always appear in an easily processable format. Its fine most of the time.
"Easy Litigation Alerts for the PTAB and Other Courts"
Overall: I am a paralegal at Banner Witcoff and have used Docket Alarm for almost a year. My specialty is in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, a relatively new court set up in Washington D.C. that focuses on inter partes reviews and Covered Business Method reviews. Some of my main responsibilities at work are to keep the attorneys notified of new cases, as well as distribute updates to the team whenever anything occurs in an active case. Before Docket Alarm, the only way to track a case was to go to the Patent Office's website manually, every day, and see if anything new posted to the docket. This was very time consuming and laborious. The patent office's website can be difficult to navigate, and if you need to get updates for a dozen court cases, it could take an hour or more to check each one, download any documents, and distribute them to a team. Docket Alarm makes this process really easy. I just sign up for alerts, and they send me email alerts whenever anything new posts to the docket. The new documents are attached to the email alert, so I do not even need to log in to download anything, I just save the attachment into the team folder. Docket Alarm probably saves me several hours a week of monotonous work, so I can focus on higher level research and trial assistance.
"Good case retrieval option, but beware of double charges."
Overall: Mostly very good, with the exception of the double-charging, which is unfortunately a deal-breaker.
Pros: For a non-frequent user, the per-document fee option is quite useful.
Cons: I get double-charged for the same document ALL THE TIME. Don’t want to make big fuss about it, as it is possible that I have retrieved the documents twice. But this is extremely unattractive, so I stopped using the service. I will feel more confident to use it if the system remembers what I have retrieved and does not charge me again for the same document. Or any other solution to the problem would be welcome. For now, I am done with it.
"Very User Friendly"
Pros: Far more user-friendly than PACER; ability to keyword search dockets is a game-changer; very much like how i can tailor/personalize docket email alerts
Cons: Occasionally takes a long time for PDFs filings to load
"Easy Research"
Overall: I would recommend Docket Alarm to anyone in the legal field.
Pros: Docket Alarm makes my job of researching the latest ADA cases extremely easy. The layout is easy to use and there are so many court documents for each case making my job of writing a concise legal commentary faster and less stressful!
Cons: The only problem I had with the software at first was finding certain cases that were older, but there is a date filter that fixes that problem. There is a slight learning curve but in the end the product is incredibly user friendly!
"Keeping in Touch"
Overall: It saves me work. When there is something I need to know it tells me.
Pros: I don't have to do anything but just wait for notifications.
Cons: Sometimes it's unstable. I have to manually reload.
"Easy to Use"
Overall: I am tracking the filings for cases and it's very easy to just press the update icon to see all the new filings and download what I need.
Pros: I like that it's very easy to use, it's simple to search for your case and be updated on the filings.
Cons: It's an additional cost to set up alerts for your cases.
"Okay value for the price"
Pros: The breadth of information available is impressive.
Cons: Very easy to get caught up pulling a bunch of information and can be quite costly on a per document basis.