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Electronic Public Access Public User Group Meeting 

February 27, 2023

EPA Public User Group Members Present:

Jaime Miguel El Koury, Student, Harvard Law School

Brian R. Gallagher, Director of Content Acquisition, Thomson Reuters

Dana S. Griffin Robinson, Regional Docket Manager, Jones Day

Mark Harris, Investigative Technology Journalist, Wired, The Guardian, IEEE Spectrum, and The 

Economist

Michael Jay Lissner, Executive Director, Free Law Project

Benton C. Martin, Deputy Defender, Federal Community Defender Office, Detroit, Mich.

Roksana D. Moradi-Brovia, Partner, RHM Law

Lindsay A. Owen, Assistant Managing Clerk, White & Case

Janet Peros, Senior Research Analyst, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

Anna Liese Price, Senior Legal Reference Librarian, Law Library of Congress

Ken Rodriguez, Reference and Intellectual Property Law Librarian, George Washington 

University Law School

Blayne V. Scofield, Senior Product Manager/Dockets, Bloomberg Industry Group

Administrative Office of the United States Courts

Stephen Grant Group Chair and Division Chief, Programs Division, Court Services Office

James Cartwright Branch Chief, PACER Development Branch, Enterprise Operations Center

Anna Garcia Branch Chief, PACER Support Branch, Enterprise Operations Center

Ty Manuel Program Analyst, Case Management Branch, Court Services Office

Linda Melchor Program Analyst, EPA section, Court Services Office

Aicha Campbell Program Analyst, EPA section, Court Services Office

Michelle Gardner Attorney Advisor, EPA section, Court Services Office

Michael Djan Management Analyst, EPA section, Court Services Office

Jaculine Koszczuk Public Information Officer, Office of Public Affairs

Meeting Summary 

Stephen Grant, Public User Group chair and Division Chief within the Court Services Office,

welcomed the Electronic Public Access (EPA) Public User Group members and called the

meeting to order. 
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Unified Search Project

The AO provided a status update on the unified search project, which is an initiative to improve 

PACER search and reporting functionality. The goal of the project is to provide a modern, 

intuitive, user-friendly search interface, allowing the user to easily search across the federal 

courts for publicly available case data, documents, and docket entries. The AO is currently 

preparing for the solicitation process. 

Review of Interview Findings

EPA Public User Group members were invited to participate in individual interview sessions

conducted between November 28, 2022, and January 12, 2023, by the Administrative Office of 

the U.S. Courts’ (AO) User Research Coordinator, Ty Manuel. The semi-structured interviews 

were conducted virtually and included approximately 12 questions. The members were given 

the opportunity to openly share their opinions during their interviews.

Throughout the interviews, several themes and needs emerged. Members share many of the 

same general impressions as those provided by the previous EPA Public User Group members 

and PACER survey respondents. Those themes included the views that while PACER is a trusted 

and valuable source of information, it has an outdated appearance and limited search 

functionality and usability. Below are highlights of other themes:

• Search: Users predominantly use Advanced Search; the amount of information a user 

knows about a case determines user behavior and success; and the addition of full text 

search of document would be “groundbreaking.”

• Search Results: Too many results are returned, making it hard to find relevant matches;

better categorization of results is needed; and being able to preview a document would 

help users determine if it was the correct document. 

• Search Filters: The ability to filter by judge was widely requested, in addition to filters by 

document type (e.g., motions, court orders, search warrants), attorney, and law firm.

• Case Alerts/Tracking: Many expressed interest in the ability to follow cases and get 

updates when specific events occur (e.g., new order filed, document sealed/unsealed, 

etc.). There was also a suggestion to allow pre-payment for updates when documents 

are added to the docket and access to those documents.

• Consistency of Data: While many users understood why there may be variations 

between courts, most expressed frustration with data inconsistency (e.g., naming 

conventions, spelling of names, file size limit, rules for uploading files, etc.).
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• Human User and Data Consumer: There are two very distinct PACER users, human users 

and data consumers/miners, that use the system in different ways and for different 

purposes. 

• API: Data consumers/aggregators requested the development of an application 

programming interface (API) to allow for easier access to and consumption of data. 

Many believe system performance for human users could be improved by removing the

resource load some data mining efforts may cause on the system.

One member asked about what user research has been conducted regarding search results and 

use cases specific to the needs of the various PACER users that goes beyond best practices for 

search engines. The AO indicated that this group would be invited to participate in future user 

research sessions that will focus on defining search result use cases and other requirements.

One member reiterated that moving the data miners off the human user interface will improve 

the human user experience. Another member suggested that the APIs provided should be easy 

to use by anyone (e.g., academic researchers) and not just the big tech companies. The AO 

responded that it is working to address the needs of all its users. 

One member asked if there was a master list of all the requirements being considered that 

could be shared with the Group. The AO indicated that it is in the process of compiling a master 

list of requirements and would share with the group in the future.

Next Steps

The AO plans to conduct another user research session in the coming weeks to elicit case 

preview requirements.