Nicole Clark, CEO and founding father of Trellis, created the legal analytics platform to deal with challenges she faced as a litigator. Drawing from her experience in business litigation, she began aggregating state trial court data to tailor legal arguments and improve case outcomes. Recognizing its potential, she expanded Trellis to democratize access to legal insights.
With an unconventional background, including early college enrollment and degrees in journalism and law, Clark now shares her expertise widely while residing in Los Angeles together with her daughter and her love for plants.
Trellis is a legal analytics platform focused on improving accessibility to state trial court records and legal data. By providing tools to research judicial rulings, legal trends, and opposing counsel strategies, Trellis supports legal professionals in making informed decisions. Its mission centers on enhancing transparency and accessibility throughout the judicial system.
What role does democratizing access to legal data play in Trellis’ mission, and why is it so necessary?
Democratizing access to law by making state trial court records and legal data more accessible is central to our core mission at Trellis. The state court system is definitely the biggest court system on this planet, yet historically, it has been incredibly fragmented and difficult to navigate. This lack of transparency has created an uneven playing field where only those with substantial resources could access and analyze this significant data effectively.
By making this data searchable and accessible, Trellis brings greater transparency to our judicial system which advantages firms of all sizes, from solo practitioners to large firms. By providing access to state trial court data and insights, we empower attorneys to make more informed decisions, higher serve their clients, and ultimately contribute to a more equitable justice system. Our mission goes beyond accessibility – it’s about transforming how the legal career interacts with data to create lasting impact.
Your inspiration for Trellis got here from a late night spent writing a motion for summary judgment, where a past ruling by the judge became a game-changer on your case. Are you able to walk us through that moment and the way it evolved into the concept of constructing a platform to aggregate state trial court data?
That night was truly a turning point for me. While drafting a posh motion for summary judgment, I struggled because I wasn’t conversant in the judge assigned to the case. A colleague shared an old ruling from the identical judge and it was like landing an in depth study guide for a final exam.
The ruling gave me insights into how the judge thought, enabling me to tailor my arguments accordingly. I won that motion, and it was a lightbulb moment: if one document could transform my strategy, imagine the chances with greater access to trial court data.
This experience planted the seed for Trellis. I began aggregating state trial court data with the assistance of software developers for my very own practice, focusing initially on tentative rulings from judges in Southern California. The outcomes were so impactful that I knew this tool couldn’t remain my personal secret weapon.
Trellis was born to bring this same level of insight to attorneys in all places, making it easy for them to research judicial tendencies, craft winning strategies, and save countless hours of manual research.
Are you able to talk concerning the early days of developing the Trellis database and the way you identified the most precious features for attorneys?
The early days were driven by my firsthand experience as a litigator. I understood that attorneys face recurring pain points, and I knew we would have liked to unravel those first. Our initial focus was on making trial court records searchable and creating judge analytics to uncover ruling patterns.
From the start, it became clear that the true value lay in taking these foundational features to the subsequent level. Trellis now enables attorneys to do excess of just seek for cases, we help with strategic decisions throughout the lifetime of a case—from researching similar cases and understanding judge tendencies to tracking newly filed litigation and analyzing opposing counsel’s patterns.
We focused on constructing features that might help attorneys work more efficiently and make more informed decisions, all the time keeping in mind that point is an attorney’s most precious resource.
Trellis is a first-rate example of verticalized AI applications. How does specializing in legal analytics make Trellis AI different from more generalized AI tools like ChatGPT?
We recently launched Trellis AI, the one productivity platform tailored for trial court litigation. What sets Trellis AI apart is that it’s built specifically for litigators, by litigators, and is powered by the biggest state trial court database in existence. Unlike generalized AI tools, we’re not only applying language models to legal work – we’re combining AI with lots of of thousands and thousands of actual court motions, briefs, and documents that represent countless hours of attorney work product and judicial decisions.
Trellis AI is exclusive since it’s built upon trial court data—where 99.7% of cases actually happen. While other legal AI products might depend on appellate case law or general legal knowledge, we’re focused on the courts where litigators actually practice day-to-day. This focus allows us to offer actionable insights based on real-world litigation experience, not only theoretical legal principles. Trellis AI transforms trial court data right into a strategic advantage for attorneys.
Trellis offers tools like motion drafting, case assessments, and judge analytics. How do these tools transform the day-to-day workflows of attorneys?
Our tools are designed to deal with the true challenges attorneys face of their each day practice. For instance, our judge analytics allow attorneys to grasp a judge’s tendencies —how they’ve ruled on similar motions, their case duration averages, and tendencies in specific practice areas. This helps set realistic client expectations and develop effective strategies from day one.
Our AI tools streamline time-consuming tasks like document review, creating timelines, and analyzing arguments. As an alternative of spending hours manually reviewing documents or researching similar cases, attorneys can get easy and actionable insights that help them make strategic decisions. These tools don’t replace attorney judgment—they enhance it by offering higher tools to exercise that judgment more efficiently and effectively.
Could you elaborate on the method behind integrating Trellis’ state trial court data into actionable insights for attorneys?
At Trellis we’re focused on making complex data accessible and actionable. After we aggregate court data, we’re not only collecting it – we’re structuring it in ways in which directly answer essentially the most pressing questions attorneys face. For instance, an attorney might want to grasp a judge’s grant rates on specific forms of motions, or see how often opposing counsel has handled similar cases together with their success rates.
The important thing has been to take care of the context that makes this data useful. We’re not only showing numbers – we’re providing direct links to the underlying cases and documents, so attorneys can dive deeper when needed. This mixture of high-level analytics and granular detail allows attorneys to maneuver seamlessly between strategic overview and tactical implementation.
With concerns about AI “hallucination” in legal outputs, how does Trellis maintain accuracy and reliability in its recommendations?
Accuracy is non-negotiable for Trellis AI. Unlike generalized AI, which can generate speculative or unreliable outputs, Trellis AI is grounded in verified court data. Our insights are derived from real court rulings, motions, and filings—eliminating much of the guesswork that may result in hallucinations related to other AI models.
What sets Trellis AI apart is that it was built upon actual court records and real case outcomes. When our system delivers insights or recommendations, they’re based on an evaluation of cases, motions, and rulings which have actually occurred in state trial courts. While we encourage users to review the output, our approach of mixing AI with actual court data helps minimize the danger of hallucination that may occur with generic AI tools.
To make sure reliability, our team of attorneys has rigorously tested our models with hundreds of documents. Trellis AI goes beyond providing answers—it delivers tools attorneys can trust. Every insight is backed by data that’s verifiable, making Trellis AI not only powerful, but additionally dependable and indispensable for legal professionals.
What were the largest challenges in transitioning from legal practice to constructing a technology company?
The transition required an entire mindset shift. As a litigator, I used to be trained to concentrate on individual cases and specific legal arguments. Constructing a technology company, nonetheless, required pondering on a much larger scale—developing solutions that would serve hundreds of attorneys across diverse practice areas and jurisdiction
One of the significant challenges was addressing the fragmented nature of state trial courts. Each jurisdiction operates with its own unique systems, formats, and processes, making it incredibly complex to create a unified, searchable database. Solving these technical challenges while ensuring the platform remained intuitive for attorneys was a fragile balancing act.
We prioritized simplicity without sacrificing sophistication, constructing powerful analytics tools that provide deep insights yet remain accessible with just just a few clicks. This mixture of user-friendly design and advanced technology has been key to empowering attorneys to work smarter and more efficiently.
Where do you see Trellis in the subsequent five years, particularly as AI continues to advance?
Our vision is to proceed revolutionizing how attorneys work with state trial court data. We’re currently expanding our coverage across more jurisdictions while developing increasingly sophisticated AI tools to assist attorneys work more efficiently and effectively. We’ve got coverage for 45 states now, and we’re actively working to expand our reach.
As AI technology advances, we’ll have the option to offer much more nuanced insights and predictions about case outcomes, while maintaining our concentrate on accuracy and reliability. The longer term is not about replacing attorney judgment—it’s about augmenting it with higher data and more sophisticated analytics. Whether it’s helping a solo practitioner prepare for trial or equipping a big firm with data-driven insights, our goal is to make practicing law smarter, fairer, and more accessible.
What advice would you give to legal professionals who’re considering leveraging AI tools of their practice?
My advice is to view AI tools as enhancers of your expertise moderately than replacements for it. Concentrate on solutions specifically designed for legal professionals—tools that deliver tangible value to your each day workflow. The perfect legal AI tools should prevent time, streamline tasks, and support more informed decision-making without compromising the standard of your work.
Start by identifying pain points in your practice where higher data or automation could make a difference. Whether it’s conducting research, reviewing documents, or developing case strategies, select tools tailored to deal with those specific needs. Prioritize tools that emphasize accuracy and supply transparency about their data sources and methodologies.
Ultimately, the goal of legal technology isn’t to redefine what attorneys do but to assist them do it more efficiently and effectively. Probably the most successful attorneys can be those that learn to effectively mix their legal expertise with these recent tools while maintaining their skilled judgment and ethical obligations.
