Analyses of the federal civil docket
Research notes built on the same data the product runs on — 9.1 million federal civil cases from the FJC Integrated Data Base. Every note is pinned to a dataset snapshot, free to cite with attribution, and states its own limitations.
The venue lottery
District-level variation in federal civil case duration, 2014–2026
Holding case type fixed, median time to resolution differs 2–30× between the fastest and slowest federal districts. S.D. Fla. is the fastest major docket in the country (0.58× the national median across 12 case types) — and E.D. Va., the storied "rocket docket," now ranks second slowest of 26 districts in patent. Includes the full sortable 30-district matrix.
Read the note →How long federal civil cases take
Duration, dispersion, and disposition in 9.1 million federal filings, 2014–2026
The median federal civil case resolves in well under a year. Duration risk concentrates in the tail — up to 5× the median, past eight years in antitrust — and much of the variation is associated with facts observable at filing: case type, venue, and jury demand. Includes the waiting paradox: expected residual duration rises with time already elapsed.
Read the note →Press and researchers: every chart in these notes carries its own source stamp and the underlying benchmark tables are public at /benchmarks. For questions about the data or methodology, write to research@usetertius.com.