How to Access Court Records, by State is a crowdsourced investigative resource that helps journalists, researchers, investigators, legal advocates, and OSINT researchers locate and access state court records across the United States. Created by Tyler McBrien using a community maintained source document originally started by investigative reporter Ally Jarmanning, the project provides a centralized guide for navigating the often fragmented and confusing landscape of state level court systems.
The platform features an interactive United States map that allows users to click individual states and quickly locate information about court access rules, docket systems, public record databases, fees, search limitations, online portals, and document retrieval procedures. Because court access varies dramatically between states and counties, the guide is especially valuable for investigative journalists, watchdog organizations, legal researchers, and open source investigators working across multiple jurisdictions. The resource also includes links to nationwide legal databases and cross jurisdictional case search systems that can help investigators trace litigation, criminal filings, civil disputes, corporate lawsuits, and public corruption cases.
The project is particularly useful for investigative workflows involving corporate accountability, organized crime research, trafficking investigations, political corruption tracking, extremist violence monitoring, and public records investigations. Many state court systems are difficult to navigate or poorly indexed, making this guide an important reference tool for anyone conducting serious legal or investigative research. Because it is community updated, the resource evolves as court systems change policies, move databases, or alter public access rules.