There are two steps to obtaining current information about a case, and keeping up-to-date with developments in that case:
- Viewing the online docket via PACER
- Registering for email announcements through CM/ECF
1. Viewing the Online Docket via PACER
PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) is the judiciary’s method of providing on-line access to federal court records. PACER provides the public with instantaneous access to more than 1 billion documents filed at all federal courts. There is no fee to register for PACER online.
With PACER, you can examine the docket for a particular case, which will provide the names of all parties, the names and contact information for the attorneys of record and an itemization of every document filed in the case by name, filer and date. Case documents are accessible from the docket via hyperlinks.
The Judicial Conference of the United States has established a user fee to be collected for access to PACER; however, if usage in a quarter is $30 or less, PACER fees are waived. For more information on PACER fees, and circumstances in which PACER use is free, see PACER Pricing: How fees work.
2. Registering for Email Notifications through CM/ECF
The court also makes it possible for journalists and interested members of the public to register for so-called "Special Mailing Group (SMG)" accounts within the court's Electronic Filing System (ECF).
Once you have your ECF account, you can sign up for Notices of Electronic Filing ("NEFs") in particular cases and receive email notification when a document related to that case is available to be viewed electronically via PACER.
Notices of Electronic Filing (NEFs)
If you are an attorney of record in the case, you should be receiving emails automatically. If you are not receiving emails, please confirm that you have properly appeared in the case and are shown on the docket. See Civil Local Rule 5-1(c)(2) for more information on appearance.
If you are not an attorney of record in the case but rather a journalist or interested member of the public (which can, of course, include an attorney not associated with the case), the information that follows is for you. If you have not yet set up a Special Mailing Group account, see Self-Registration Instructions for Special Mailing Groups.
NEFs will tell you:
- Who filed the document
- Who was served with electronic (e-mail) notice of the filing electronically
- Date and time of filing
- Document(s) title(s)
- Docket text associated with the document(s)
- On which party's behalf the document was submitted
- A hyperlink to open a Adobe PDF copy of the document. (If you open the hyperlink, you will be prompted to log into PACER to view/download the document.)
- Select the e-mail address at which you would like to receive email notifications on the case; if you are an attorney, please use your primary e-mail address.
- In the “Case-specific options” section, look for the field for “Add additional cases for noticing“:
- Enter the case number and click “Find This Case“.
- Select the correct case and click “Add case(s)“.
- The case will now appear in the section under “These cases will send notice per filing”.
- When finished, click on the “submit all changes” button.
- When presented with a list of all of your cases, keep “*** Update All ***” selected and click Submit.
- You will next see a confirmation screen stating that the update was successful.
The email will contain a hyperlink to the case number linking to the case docket) and the docket number of the new document (e.g. 423) linking to the document. When you click one of the hyperlinks, you will be prompted for your PACER login. You will be charged for accessing dockets and documents over PACER’s quarterly maximum number of free pages (but you can save or print them for future reference). You will not be able to access restricted filings, such as under seal documents, but you will be notified of them.
- Log into PACER.
- Go to Manage My Account > Maintenance > Update E-File Email Noticing and Frequency.
- Select the courts that these changes are applicable to. Then select the Click to apply changes to this court checkbox.
- Enter a Primary Email address and type the same address in the Confirm Email field.
- Select your preferred Email Frequency. The most common option is “At the time of filing”.
- Select your preferred Email Format which is typically .html.
- Click Submit to send the update to the courts you have selected. Please allow some time before those changes are updated.
An attorney should not be listed as a secondary e-mail address for another attorney. Per Civil Local Rule
5.1, each attorney is required to register for his or her own ECF account.
- Go to Utilities > Your Account > Maintain Your Account.
- Click the Email Information button.
- Click the add new e-mail address link.
- Enter the e-mail address in the text field to the right of Primary e-mail address. As you enter the e-mail address, more options will appear – select any you deem appropriate.
- When finished, click the “Return to Person Information Screen button followed by Submit on the following page.
- You will next see a confirmation screen indicating that the update was successful.
- Go to Utilities > Your Account > Maintain Your Account.
- Click the Email Information button.
- Click the link to the Secondary e-mail address to be modified.
- The e-mail address will appear under Configuration Options. Modify the address in the text box.
- When finished, click the Return to Person Information Screen button and the Submit button on the following page.
- You will next see a confirmation screen that the update was successful.
- Go to Utilities > Your Account > Maintain Your Account.
- Click the Email Information button.
- Click the link to the Secondary e-mail address to be deleted.
- In the Configuration Options text field highlight the e-mail address and press the BACKSPACE key.
- When finished, click the Return to Person Information Screen button and the Submit button on the following page.
- You will next see a confirmation screen that the update was successful.
Yes, but then that email address will only receive notices on cases specified; new cases that the primary email address is added to will not appear for that secondary email address.
- Click on the e-mail address you want to make changes to.
- On the right, look for the following item and change it to No
- Also on the right, find the box that lists the cases.
- Click on the number of the case you do not want NEFs sent in and click Remove.
- When finished, click on the “submit all changes” button.
- You will get a confirmation screen that the update was successful.

