Trellis MCP Server

Trellis is a litigation intelligence platform focused on U.S. state trial-court data, the largest court system in the world and the venue where the vast majority of civil litigation is filed and resolved. The Trellis MCP server (hosted at mcp.trellis.law) exposes that dataset to Claude and other MCP clients, covering all 50 states and D.C. across 1,923 counties, with case dockets, filings, tentative rulings, verdicts, judge analytics, attorney histories, and expert witness records.

The server is organized as a small set of "skills" plus three sub-namespaces: a top-level skills/instructions layer, a Search-* namespace for case, document, ruling, party, expert, and judge searches, and an Analytics-* namespace for judge analytics and aggregate verdict statistics. Callers are expected to invoke get_server_instructions first, then list_skills / get_skill to discover workflow guidance, before issuing search or analytics queries. Authentication is OAuth 2.0 against a user's existing Trellis account, with the connector included free for active Trellis subscribers and a free trial available through the Claude connector marketplace.

Trellis is notable because state trial-court records are poorly indexed by federal sources like PACER and CourtListener. The connector is one of the legal research connectors shipped with Anthropic's Claude for Legal plugin suite (notably the litigation-legal plugin), making it the canonical option inside Claude for state-level docket, motion, and verdict research.

Tools

Trellis is a provider-hosted remote MCP server. There is no package to install; you point your MCP client at https://mcp.trellis.law and authenticate via OAuth with your Trellis account.

Prerequisites

• A Trellis account. The connector is included with active Trellis subscriptions; new users can try it free through the Claude connector marketplace.

Claude (web, desktop, mobile)

1. Open Claude and go to Settings → Connectors.
2. Find Trellis in the directory and click Connect.
3. Sign in with your Trellis credentials to complete the OAuth flow.

Generic remote MCP client config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "trellis": {
      "url": "https://mcp.trellis.law",
      "transport": "http",
      "auth": "oauth2"
    }
  }
}

Claude for Legal (litigation-legal plugin)

Trellis ships as a default connector for the litigation-legal plugin in the anthropics/claude-for-legal repo and is invoked automatically by agents like docket-watcher, matter intake, and demand triage when configured with a valid Trellis account.

First call

Always call get_server_instructions first, then list_skills to discover available workflow skills, before issuing search or analytics tools.

• Profile a specific state-court judge's motion grant/denial rates and outcome patterns before drafting a motion.
• Pull comparable verdicts and damages awards for a given injury type, jurisdiction, or award range to support settlement negotiations.
• Research opposing counsel's full state-court litigation history, including wins, losses, and recurring practice areas.
• Find all California tentative rulings on a specific motion type or statute to predict likely outcomes.
• Vet expert witnesses by specialty and review every case in which they have appeared on the record.

• "Use Trellis to pull Judge Smith's grant rate on motions to compel arbitration in Los Angeles Superior Court over the last 3 years."
• "Find the last 25 California tentative rulings on anti-SLAPP motions in employment cases and summarize the reasoning."
• "Use Trellis to list every verdict over $1M for traumatic brain injury cases in Texas state court since 2020."
• "Profile opposing counsel Jane Doe: every state-court case she has filed, her win rate, and her most common practice areas."
• "Search Trellis for state court filings citing California Civil Code section 1542 in the last 12 months and return the complaints."

• Official, provider-hosted connector with OAuth, no self-hosting or API key management needed.
• Coverage that PACER and CourtListener do not provide: state trial courts across all 50 states and D.C., 1,923 counties.
• Distinct Search and Analytics namespaces, plus dedicated tools for verdicts, judge analytics, and California tentative rulings.
• Included free for existing Trellis subscribers; available as a free trial via the Claude connector marketplace.

• Requires a Trellis account; full-value usage typically requires a paid Trellis subscription.
• Read-only research dataset, no docket filing, no document drafting, no matter management.
• Tool surface is shaped around Trellis's product (e.g. California tentative rulings is a first-class tool, but equivalents for other states may not be), and detailed parameter schemas are not all publicly documented.

• CourtListener MCP (Free Law Project): federal court dockets, opinions, and PACER coverage.
• Midpage and Legal Data Hunter: alternative legal research connectors in the Claude for Legal connector directory.
• Everlaw connector: e-discovery and production data, complementary rather than overlapping with Trellis's docket dataset.