Using filters

Filters let you narrow CourtAid's database before you search or chat, so results focus on the jurisdiction, court, and document types relevant to your matter.

Filters panel on the landing page

Where to find filters

Filters appear in several places:

Location	How to open
Landing page / Chat	Click the Filters button (flag + funnel icon) on the right side of the input bar
Search page (desktop)	The filter panel is shown at the top — click Hide filters / Show filters to toggle
Search page (mobile)	Tap the Filters button in the header

On mobile, filters open in a bottom sheet. On desktop, they appear as a popover or inline panel.

Available filters

The filters you see depend on your selected country:

Document Type

Restrict to specific kinds of legal material.

Country	Options
Australia	Judgements, Legislation, The Constitution
New Zealand	Judgements, Legislation
United Kingdom	Judgements, Legislation
United States	Case Law (Opinions), Legislation

Jurisdiction

Available for Australia, UK, and US. Narrows results to a specific state, territory, or region.

• Australia: Federal, NSW, Victoria, Queensland, WA, SA, ACT, Tasmania

• UK: UK, Scotland, Northern Ireland

• US: Federal + all 50 states and DC (searchable dropdown)

Court

Available for Australia, New Zealand, and UK. Only appears when Document Type is set to Judgements.

Courts are grouped by jurisdiction. If you've selected a jurisdiction, the court list narrows to courts in that region.

Examples for Australia:

• High Court of Australia

• Federal Court of Australia

• Supreme Court New South Wales

• Fair Work Commission

Categories

Available for Australia, New Zealand, and UK. A searchable list of legal topic areas (e.g. Contract Law, Criminal Law, Employment Law) to focus your research.

How to apply filters

1. Open the Filters panel

2. Set your Country if needed (see Changing countries)

3. Choose values from each dropdown — the default All means no restriction

4. Click Apply if the button appears (when you have pending changes)

5. Run your search or send your chat message

Active filter badges

When filters are active, coloured badges appear below the input or search bar showing what's applied — e.g. Jurisdiction: Victoria, Court: Supreme Court Victoria.

• Click the × on a badge to remove that filter

• Click Clear All to reset everything

The Filters button also shows a count badge when filters are active.

Filter behaviour

Court depends on Document Type

The Court filter only appears when Document Type includes Judgements. If you select only Legislation, the court filter is hidden.

Court narrows by Jurisdiction

If you select a jurisdiction (e.g. Victoria), the court dropdown only shows courts in that jurisdiction.

Filters persist in your URL

Active filters are saved in the page URL. You can bookmark or share a filtered search link with colleagues.

Search page auto-refreshes

On the Search page, changing a filter automatically re-runs your search (after a short delay).

Filters on Search vs Chat

Context	Filters available
Chat (landing page, chat page)	Country, Document Type, Jurisdiction, Court
Search (casenotes page)	Country, Jurisdiction, Court, Categories

The Search page also has a separate Content Type toggle (All / Judgements / Legislation) below the search bar, which works alongside the filter panel.

Example workflows

NSW Supreme Court contract cases

1. Country: Australia

2. Document Type: Judgements

3. Jurisdiction: New South Wales

4. Court: Supreme Court New South Wales

5. Search for your topic in Smart mode

Federal legislation only

1. Country: Australia

2. Document Type: Legislation

3. Jurisdiction: Federal

4. Chat or search for the provisions you need

UK employment law

1. Country: United Kingdom

2. Document Type: Judgements

3. Categories: search for Employment or related topics

4. Run your query

Tips

• Start broad, then narrow — if you get too few results, remove one filter at a time

• Use Categories on Search — especially helpful when you don't know which court decided a case

• Check the badge count — the number on the Filters button tells you how many filters are active without opening the panel