Legal Expert – Federal Court Records at Mercor

Legal Expert (PACER / Federal Court Records) | $70–$120/hr | Worldwide Remote

Mercor is seeking an experienced federal litigation professional to serve as a Domain Expert for AI agent evaluation and quality assurance. This role is ideal for litigation paralegals, docket specialists, legal-research librarians, or litigators who use PACER and CM/ECF on a weekly basis and have deep familiarity with federal court dockets and procedures.

What You'll Do

• Review and QA completed AI agent runs, verifying accuracy against actual federal dockets — correct case, court, parties, procedural posture, and outcome
• Identify failure modes in AI agent behavior, flagging tasks that are too easy or solvable without genuine PACER use
• Improve task realism and difficulty by refining prompts to reflect authentic federal docket research challenges
• Sharpen grading guidance so correct answers pass and incorrect ones fail, including gating failures such as wrong case identification or misread procedural posture
• Catch plausible-but-wrong answers that a non-expert reviewer might miss

Required PACER Knowledge

• Reading dockets fluently: parties, attorneys, assigned judge, filed/terminated dates, case status, and procedural posture
• Searching effectively: PACER Case Locator vs. court-specific CM/ECF searches; party-name variants, corporate suffixes, and common search traps
• Court structure: district, appellate (circuit), and bankruptcy courts; consolidated cases, MDL lead vs. member cases, and transfers
• Case classification: civil, criminal, and bankruptcy types; Nature of Suit codes; cause of action; party roles
• Document types: complaints, answers, motions, briefs, orders, judgments, and exhibits; understanding sealed, restricted, and redacted records

Requirements

• Frequent, hands-on PACER/CM/ECF use in a current or recent professional role (weekly or more)
• 2+ years of federal litigation support experience as a litigation paralegal, docket/court clerk, legal-research librarian, or litigator
• Ability to decode case numbers, trace procedural posture, and distinguish open vs. terminated cases on sight
• Strong command of PACER search mechanics and name-variant pitfalls
• Confident judgment on what constitutes a correct, complete answer

Bonus Qualifications

• Bankruptcy docket experience
• Complex or multidistrict litigation (MDL) background
• Experience across multiple federal courts beyond a single firm's home district

Note: A J.D. and bar admission are welcome but not required. Experienced litigation paralegals and docket specialists are strongly encouraged to apply.