Nicole Clark, CEO and founding father of Trellis, created the authorized analytics platform to deal with challenges she confronted as a litigator. Drawing from her expertise in enterprise litigation, she started aggregating state trial court docket information to tailor authorized arguments and enhance case outcomes. Recognizing its potential, she expanded Trellis to democratize entry to authorized insights.
With an unconventional background, together with early school enrollment and levels in journalism and regulation, Clark now shares her experience extensively whereas residing in Los Angeles together with her daughter and her love for crops.
Trellis is a authorized analytics platform centered on bettering accessibility to state trial court docket information and authorized information. By offering instruments to research judicial rulings, authorized developments, and opposing counsel methods, Trellis helps authorized professionals in making knowledgeable choices. Its mission facilities on enhancing transparency and accessibility throughout the judicial system.
What position does democratizing entry to authorized information play in Trellis’ mission, and why is it so essential?
Democratizing entry to regulation by making state trial court docket information and authorized information extra accessible is central to our core mission at Trellis. The state court docket system is definitely the most important court docket system on the planet, but traditionally, it has been extremely fragmented and troublesome to navigate. This lack of transparency has created an uneven enjoying discipline the place solely these with substantial sources might entry and analyze this important information successfully.
By making this information searchable and accessible, Trellis brings better transparency to our judicial system which advantages corporations of all sizes, from solo practitioners to massive corporations. By offering entry to state trial court docket information and insights, we empower attorneys to make extra knowledgeable choices, higher serve their purchasers, and in the end contribute to a extra equitable justice system. Our mission goes past accessibility – it’s about reworking how the authorized occupation interacts with information to create lasting affect.
Your inspiration for Trellis got here from a late evening spent writing a movement for abstract judgment, the place a previous ruling by the decide turned a game-changer to your case. Are you able to stroll us via that second and the way it advanced into the concept of constructing a platform to mixture state trial court docket information?
That evening was really a turning level for me. Whereas drafting a posh movement for abstract judgment, I struggled as a result of I wasn’t accustomed to the decide assigned to the case. A colleague shared an previous ruling from the identical decide and it was like touchdown an in depth research information for a ultimate examination.
The ruling gave me insights into how the decide thought, enabling me to tailor my arguments accordingly. I gained that movement, and it was a lightbulb second: if one doc might remodel my technique, think about the chances with better entry to trial court docket information.
This expertise planted the seed for Trellis. I began aggregating state trial court docket information with the assistance of software program builders for my very own follow, focusing initially on tentative rulings from judges in Southern California. The outcomes had been so impactful that I knew this device couldn’t stay my private secret weapon.
Trellis was born to deliver this identical stage of perception to attorneys in all places, making it straightforward for them to research judicial tendencies, craft successful methods, and save numerous hours of guide analysis.
Are you able to speak in regards to the early days of creating the Trellis database and the way you recognized essentially the most precious options for attorneys?
The early days had been pushed by my firsthand expertise as a litigator. I understood that attorneys face recurring ache factors, and I knew we wanted to unravel these first. Our preliminary focus was on making trial court docket information searchable and creating decide analytics to uncover ruling patterns.
From the start, it turned clear that the actual worth lay in taking these foundational options to the following stage. Trellis now permits attorneys to do way over simply seek for instances, we assist with strategic choices all through the lifetime of a case—from researching comparable instances and understanding decide tendencies to monitoring newly filed litigation and analyzing opposing counsel’s patterns.
We centered on constructing options that will assist attorneys work extra effectively and make extra knowledgeable choices, at all times maintaining in thoughts that point is an lawyer’s most precious useful resource.
Trellis is a major instance of verticalized AI functions. How does specializing in authorized analytics make Trellis AI completely different from extra generalized AI instruments like ChatGPT?
We just lately launched Trellis AI, the one productiveness platform tailor-made for trial court docket litigation. What units Trellis AI aside is that it is constructed particularly for litigators, by litigators, and is powered by the most important state trial court docket database in existence. In contrast to generalized AI instruments, we’re not simply making use of language fashions to authorized work – we’re combining AI with a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of precise court docket motions, briefs, and paperwork that symbolize numerous hours of lawyer work product and judicial choices.
Trellis AI is exclusive as a result of it is constructed upon trial court docket information—the place 99.7% of instances truly happen. Whereas different authorized AI merchandise would possibly depend on appellate case regulation or common authorized information, we’re centered on the courts the place litigators truly follow day-to-day. This focus permits us to supply actionable insights based mostly on real-world litigation expertise, not simply theoretical authorized ideas. Trellis AI transforms trial court docket information right into a strategic benefit for attorneys.
Trellis affords instruments like movement drafting, case assessments, and decide analytics. How do these instruments remodel the day-to-day workflows of attorneys?
Our instruments are designed to deal with the actual challenges attorneys face of their day by day follow. For instance, our decide analytics enable attorneys to grasp a decide’s tendencies —how they’ve dominated on comparable motions, their case length averages, and tendencies in particular follow areas. This helps set reasonable consumer expectations and develop efficient methods from day one.
Our AI instruments streamline time-consuming duties like doc overview, creating timelines, and analyzing arguments. As an alternative of spending hours manually reviewing paperwork or researching comparable instances, attorneys can get on the spot and actionable insights that assist them make strategic choices. These instruments don’t substitute lawyer judgment—they improve it by providing higher instruments to train that judgment extra effectively and successfully.
Might you elaborate on the method behind integrating Trellis’ state trial court docket information into actionable insights for attorneys?
At Trellis we’re centered on making complicated information accessible and actionable. Once we mixture court docket information, we’re not simply amassing it – we’re structuring it in ways in which straight reply essentially the most urgent questions attorneys face. For instance, an lawyer would possibly wish to perceive a decide’s grant charges on particular kinds of motions, or see how usually opposing counsel has dealt with comparable instances together with their success charges.
The important thing has been to take care of the context that makes this information precious. We’re not simply exhibiting numbers – we’re offering direct hyperlinks to the underlying instances and paperwork, so attorneys can dive deeper when wanted. This mix of high-level analytics and granular element permits attorneys to maneuver seamlessly between strategic overview and tactical implementation.
With considerations about AI “hallucination” in authorized outputs, how does Trellis keep accuracy and reliability in its suggestions?
Accuracy is non-negotiable for Trellis AI. In contrast to generalized AI, which can generate speculative or unreliable outputs, Trellis AI is grounded in verified court docket information. Our insights are derived from actual court docket rulings, motions, and filings—eliminating a lot of the guesswork that may result in hallucinations related to different AI fashions.
What units Trellis AI aside is that it was constructed upon precise court docket information and actual case outcomes. When our system delivers insights or suggestions, they’re based mostly on an evaluation of instances, motions, and rulings which have truly occurred in state trial courts. Whereas we encourage customers to overview the output, our method of mixing AI with precise court docket information helps decrease the chance of hallucination that may happen with generic AI instruments.
To make sure reliability, our crew of attorneys has rigorously examined our fashions with 1000’s of paperwork. Trellis AI goes past offering solutions—it delivers instruments attorneys can belief. Each perception is backed by information that’s verifiable, making Trellis AI not simply highly effective, but additionally reliable and indispensable for authorized professionals.
What had been the largest challenges in transitioning from authorized follow to constructing a expertise firm?
The transition required a whole mindset shift. As a litigator, I used to be skilled to concentrate on particular person instances and particular authorized arguments. Constructing a expertise firm, nevertheless, required considering on a a lot bigger scale—creating options that would serve 1000’s of attorneys throughout numerous follow areas and jurisdiction
One of the vital challenges was addressing the fragmented nature of state trial courts. Every jurisdiction operates with its personal distinctive methods, codecs, and processes, making it extremely complicated to create a unified, searchable database. Fixing these technical challenges whereas guaranteeing the platform remained intuitive for attorneys was a fragile balancing act.
We prioritized simplicity with out sacrificing sophistication, constructing highly effective analytics instruments that present deep insights but stay accessible with just some clicks. This mix of user-friendly design and superior expertise has been key to empowering attorneys to work smarter and extra effectively.
The place do you see Trellis within the subsequent 5 years, significantly as AI continues to advance?
Our imaginative and prescient is to proceed revolutionizing how attorneys work with state trial court docket information. We’re presently increasing our protection throughout extra jurisdictions whereas creating more and more refined AI instruments to assist attorneys work extra effectively and successfully. We’ve protection for 45 states now, and we’re actively working to increase our attain.
As AI expertise advances, we’ll be capable of present much more nuanced insights and predictions about case outcomes, whereas sustaining our concentrate on accuracy and reliability. The long run is not about changing lawyer judgment—it is about augmenting it with higher information and extra refined analytics. Whether or not it’s serving to a solo practitioner put together for trial or equipping a big agency with data-driven insights, our objective is to make working towards regulation smarter, fairer, and extra accessible.
What recommendation would you give to authorized professionals who’re contemplating leveraging AI instruments of their follow?
My recommendation is to view AI instruments as enhancers of your experience slightly than replacements for it. Concentrate on options particularly designed for authorized professionals—instruments that ship tangible worth to your day by day workflow. One of the best authorized AI instruments ought to prevent time, streamline duties, and assist extra knowledgeable decision-making with out compromising the standard of your work.
Begin by figuring out ache factors in your follow the place higher information or automation might make a distinction. Whether or not it’s conducting analysis, reviewing paperwork, or creating case methods, select instruments tailor-made to deal with these particular wants. Prioritize instruments that emphasize accuracy and supply transparency about their information sources and methodologies.
Finally, the objective of authorized expertise isn’t to redefine what attorneys do however to assist them do it extra effectively and successfully. Essentially the most profitable attorneys might be those that be taught to successfully mix their authorized experience with these new instruments whereas sustaining their skilled judgment and moral obligations.
Thanks for the nice interview, readers who want to be taught extra ought to go to Trellis.
