Reading the Record: Civil Litigation and Criminal Cases

Court records are one of the most powerful and underused tools in investigative reporting. In this workshop, MuckRock's Elizabeth Clemons and Kelly Kauffman will walk journalists through how civil litigation and criminal cases can reveal conflicts, behavior and decision-making that shape a subject’s public and private life.

Finding the cases that matter

Learn how to search state and federal court systems effectively, and how to identify cases involving individuals, businesses and related entities. We will discuss how to read complaints, motions, judgments and settlements with an eye for stories, and how these documents can surface difficult-to-obtain facts.

Adding context beyond the docket

In this session, we will also cover how to locate police reports, emergency calls and related records that help explain what led to legal action and what happened outside the courtroom. You’ll learn how to request these records and how to interpret them.

Join us for this practical…