A newsletter from West providing Westlaw® search tips for corporate counsel and staff

When you need federal court dockets involving a particular cause of action, e.g., foreclosure, you can search electronically using Nature of Suit (NOS) codes—a system approved in 1974 by the U.S. Judicial Conference for the purpose of classifying civil dockets in U.S. district courts. NOS codes are not available for searching state court dockets.

The good news is that now on Westlaw and CourtExpress, you can use West's exclusive Key Nature of Suit (KNOS) codes to search state or federal court dockets. KNOS codes create a uniform classification system for identifying dockets of the same or similar subject matter in both federal and state courts.

The search template for a Dockets database in Westlaw makes it especially easy to restrict your search by KNOS codes. Click Available KNOS Codes at the search template. A directory of KNOS codes available for that database is displayed. Select as many as 25 codes using the check boxes provided, then click Save to return to the search template. Complete the rest of the search template as desired and click Search Westlaw.