This search parameter is the initial default for Quick Case Search, although you can change the default parameter in User Preferences. (See User Preferences for details.) Using this parameter will search for cases where at least one plaintiff OR the case number in SmartAdvocate matches the provided search string.

What qualifies as a match?

The search is not case-sensitive. For basic text or numeric searches (i.e. those without wildcards or commas), the search will return all cases where either a plaintiff organization's name, a plaintiff individual's last name, or the case number begins with the provided search string. To search both the last and first name of a plaintiff, use a comma to separate the two, putting the last name first. Spaces immediately before or after the comma do not matter. Both the last and first name can be partial (however, it will need to be the beginning of the respective names). You can search by first name only by starting the search string with just a comma.

For more flexibility in searching, you may use wildcards. These are symbols that represent either a single unknown character, or an unknown number (possibly zero) of unknown characters. The underscore character ("_") can be used in place of a single unknown character, and the asterisk character ("*") can be used in place of an unknown number of unknown characters. You may freely combine wildcards as needed. These wildcards are especially helpful if you aren't sure of the spelling of a name or want to search by a part of the name that is not at the beginning.

Case # Exact Search

If your search string exactly matches an existing case number, you will be redirected to the Case Summary page for that case instead of the search results. Note that this only occurs under this specific circumstance; it will not happen if wildcards are used or if the string exactly matches a plaintiff name, even if there is only one result from the search.