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 knowledge 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 vegetation.
Trellis is a authorized analytics platform targeted on enhancing accessibility to state trial court docket data and authorized knowledge. By offering instruments to research judicial rulings, authorized traits, and opposing counsel methods, Trellis helps authorized professionals in making knowledgeable selections. Its mission facilities on enhancing transparency and accessibility throughout the judicial system.
What function does democratizing entry to authorized knowledge play in Trellis’ mission, and why is it so vital?
Democratizing entry to regulation by making state trial court docket data and authorized knowledge extra accessible is central to our core mission at Trellis. The state court docket system is definitely the most important court docket system on this planet, but traditionally, it has been extremely fragmented and troublesome to navigate. This lack of transparency has created an uneven enjoying area the place solely these with substantial assets may entry and analyze this significant knowledge successfully.
By making this knowledge searchable and accessible, Trellis brings larger transparency to our judicial system which advantages companies of all sizes, from solo practitioners to giant companies. By offering entry to state trial court docket knowledge and insights, we empower attorneys to make extra knowledgeable selections, higher serve their purchasers, and finally contribute to a extra equitable justice system. Our mission goes past accessibility – it’s about remodeling how the authorized career interacts with knowledge 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 grew to become a game-changer to your case. Are you able to stroll us via that second and the way it developed into the concept of constructing a platform to mixture state trial court docket knowledge?
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 acquainted with the decide assigned to the case. A colleague shared an previous ruling from the identical decide and it was like touchdown an in depth examine information for a remaining 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 may remodel my technique, think about the chances with larger entry to trial court docket knowledge.
This expertise planted the seed for Trellis. I began aggregating state trial court docket knowledge with the assistance of software program builders for my very own observe, focusing initially on tentative rulings from judges in Southern California. The outcomes have been so impactful that I knew this device couldn’t stay my private secret weapon.
Trellis was born to deliver this identical degree 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 discuss concerning the early days of growing the Trellis database and the way you recognized essentially the most useful options for attorneys?
The early days have 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 data searchable and creating decide analytics to uncover ruling patterns.
From the start, it grew to become clear that the actual worth lay in taking these foundational options to the subsequent degree. Trellis now allows attorneys to do way over simply seek for instances, we assist with strategic selections all through the lifetime of a case—from researching related instances and understanding decide tendencies to monitoring newly filed litigation and analyzing opposing counsel’s patterns.
We targeted on constructing options that may assist attorneys work extra effectively and make extra knowledgeable selections, at all times preserving in thoughts that point is an legal professional’s Most worthy useful resource.
Trellis is a primary instance of verticalized AI functions. How does specializing in authorized analytics make Trellis AI totally different from extra generalized AI instruments like ChatGPT?
We 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 tens of millions of precise court docket motions, briefs, and paperwork that signify numerous hours of legal professional work product and judicial selections.
Trellis AI is exclusive as a result of it is constructed upon trial court docket knowledge—the place 99.7% of instances truly happen. Whereas different authorized AI merchandise may depend on appellate case regulation or normal authorized data, we’re targeted on the courts the place litigators truly observe day-to-day. This focus permits us to supply actionable insights primarily based on real-world litigation expertise, not simply theoretical authorized rules. Trellis AI transforms trial court docket knowledge right into a strategic benefit for attorneys.
Trellis gives 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 each day observe. For instance, our decide analytics enable attorneys to know a decide’s tendencies —how they’ve dominated on related motions, their case period averages, and tendencies in particular observe areas. This helps set lifelike consumer expectations and develop efficient methods from day one.
Our AI instruments streamline time-consuming duties like doc assessment, creating timelines, and analyzing arguments. As an alternative of spending hours manually reviewing paperwork or researching related instances, attorneys can get prompt and actionable insights that assist them make strategic selections. These instruments don’t substitute legal professional 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 knowledge into actionable insights for attorneys?
At Trellis we’re targeted on making advanced knowledge accessible and actionable. After we mixture court docket knowledge, we’re not simply accumulating it – we’re structuring it in ways in which immediately reply essentially the most urgent questions attorneys face. For instance, an legal professional may need to perceive a decide’s grant charges on particular forms of motions, or see how usually opposing counsel has dealt with related instances together with their success charges.
The important thing has been to keep up the context that makes this knowledge useful. We’re not simply displaying 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 issues about AI “hallucination” in authorized outputs, how does Trellis preserve 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 knowledge. 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 data and actual case outcomes. When our system delivers insights or suggestions, they’re primarily based on an evaluation of instances, motions, and rulings which have truly occurred in state trial courts. Whereas we encourage customers to assessment the output, our method of mixing AI with precise court docket knowledge helps decrease the chance of hallucination that may happen with generic AI instruments.
To make sure reliability, our workforce of attorneys has rigorously examined our fashions with hundreds of paperwork. Trellis AI goes past offering solutions—it delivers instruments attorneys can belief. Each perception is backed by knowledge that’s verifiable, making Trellis AI not simply highly effective, but additionally reliable and indispensable for authorized professionals.
What have been the largest challenges in transitioning from authorized observe to constructing a know-how firm?
The transition required an entire mindset shift. As a litigator, I used to be educated to concentrate on particular person instances and particular authorized arguments. Constructing a know-how firm, nevertheless, required considering on a a lot bigger scale—growing options that would serve hundreds of attorneys throughout numerous observe areas and jurisdiction
One of the vital challenges was addressing the fragmented nature of state trial courts. Every jurisdiction operates with its personal distinctive programs, codecs, and processes, making it extremely advanced 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 know-how has been key to empowering attorneys to work smarter and extra effectively.
The place do you see Trellis within the subsequent 5 years, notably as AI continues to advance?
Our imaginative and prescient is to proceed revolutionizing how attorneys work with state trial court docket knowledge. We’re at present increasing our protection throughout extra jurisdictions whereas growing more and more subtle AI instruments to assist attorneys work extra effectively and successfully. We’ve protection for 45 states now, and we’re actively working to broaden our attain.
As AI know-how advances, we’ll have the ability to present much more nuanced insights and predictions about case outcomes, whereas sustaining our concentrate on accuracy and reliability. The longer term is not about changing legal professional judgment—it is about augmenting it with higher knowledge and extra subtle 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 purpose is to make training regulation smarter, fairer, and extra accessible.
What recommendation would you give to authorized professionals who’re contemplating leveraging AI instruments of their observe?
My recommendation is to view AI instruments as enhancers of your experience relatively than replacements for it. Give attention to options particularly designed for authorized professionals—instruments that ship tangible worth to your each day workflow. The most effective authorized AI instruments ought to prevent time, streamline duties, and help extra knowledgeable decision-making with out compromising the standard of your work.
Begin by figuring out ache factors in your observe the place higher knowledge or automation may make a distinction. Whether or not it’s conducting analysis, reviewing paperwork, or growing case methods, select instruments tailor-made to deal with these particular wants. Prioritize instruments that emphasize accuracy and supply transparency about their knowledge sources and methodologies.
Finally, the purpose of authorized know-how isn’t to redefine what attorneys do however to assist them do it extra effectively and successfully. Essentially the most profitable attorneys can be those that study 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 study extra ought to go to Trellis.