US Case Law
Learn how to use US Case Law as a knowledge source in Harvey.
Last updated: Jun 3, 2026
Overview
The US Case Law knowledge source gives you AI-generated answers grounded in millions of public US court opinions directly within Harvey. You can pose legal research questions, receive citation-supported answers, and refine your results through follow-up queries for greater depth or specificity.
The US Case Law source includes over 9 million opinions from CourtListener, including:
- United States Supreme Court
- Federal Appellate Courts
- Federal District Courts
- State Supreme Courts
- State Appellate Courts
- State Trial Courts
- Bankruptcy, Tax, Military, and other specialized courts
Note: Case law data is refreshed on a weekly cadence.
Use US Case Law as a Knowledge Source
Note: US Case Law is available to most Harvey workspaces by default. Workspace admins can adjust which knowledge sources are enabled under Settings → Knowledge.
Once US Case Law is enabled in your workspace, follow the steps below to get started.
- When writing a query, select Sources and choose US Case Law.
- To select a specific jurisdiction, select Set filters and select the appropriate federal or state courts. By default, the knowledge source searches across all US courts.
Combine US Case Law with Other Sources
US Case Law supports multi-source searches — you can pair it with other knowledge sources in a single query. This is especially useful for research that draws on multiple inputs at once.
To use a multi-source query, select US Case Law, then add any additional sources from the knowledge source panel before submitting your query.
Using US Case Law Across Harvey
US Case Law is available in Assistant, Vault, Agent Builder, and the Word Add-In.
- US Case Law in Word Add-In: Ask Harvey to analyze the document and pull in case law insights.
- US Case Law in Agent Builder: Attach the US Case Law knowledge source as an embedded source in Agent Builder, and then reference it in specific agent instructions.
Review the Output
- Hover over any source in the output to display the case name, citation, and date.
- Click any source to open a clean, full-text version of the opinion in Harvey’s built-in case viewer. You do not need an external legal research tool to view cases.
- Within the case viewer, hover over footnotes to preview their source content, or click on them to open the full case text in the viewer.
Using US Case Law Effectively
Use the examples below as a guide to the types of work and queries that US Case Law is best suited for, and which ones may be less reliable for high-quality outputs.
Recommended Use Cases
Use Case | Recommended | Example Query |
|---|---|---|
Queries for legal standards, rules, and case analyses | Yes | What are the elements required to pierce the corporate veil under an alter ego theory in Delaware? |
Legal research for litigation | Yes | Can algorithmic pricing tools constitute an agreement in restraint of trade under Section 1 of the Sherman Act? Search all federal opinions. |
Summaries on basic jurisdictional trends | Yes | Explain the circuit split on this issue: does the Fourth Amendment require a warrant for law enforcement to access historical cell-site location information from a third-party provider? |
Comparative analysis | Yes | How do the Sixth and Ninth Circuits differ in their application of the mixed-motive framework versus the pretext framework in employment discrimination cases? |
Draft targeted legal memos | Yes | Draft a memo on how courts in Florida analyze whether a non-compete agreement is enforceable. |
Search by hypotheticals or fact patterns for analogous material facts | Yes | My client is a mid-level employee at a pharmaceutical company who reported suspected FDA violations to her supervisor. Two months later, she was terminated for alleged performance issues. Do we have a viable claim for prima facie retaliation under the whistleblower provisions, given the temporal proximity between her complaint and termination? |
Unsupported Use Cases
Use Case | Recommended | Example Query |
|---|---|---|
"Find every case on [topic]" research | No | Pull me every case analyzing standing and ripeness in challenges to federal environmental regulations between 2015 and 2023. |
Draft a full brief | No | Using the attached complaint, draft a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. |
Conduct a cite-check | No | Cite-check this brief in full. |