Fund a Record. Benefit Everyone.
The U.S. federal court system charges fees for access to public court records through PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records). These records belong to the public, but the access infrastructure costs money to operate. HelmLegal helps locate, retrieve, preserve, and organize these records so they remain searchable and useful for everyone.
Your contribution does not fund allegations or accusations. It funds:
| Item | Cost | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| PACER docket report | $3.00 (cap) | Retrieves the full docket sheet for a case |
| PACER document | $3.00 (cap per doc) | Retrieves a single filed document (motion, order, etc.) |
| Mirror & hash | $0 (infrastructure) | Preserves the document with SHA-256 verification |
| RECAP contribution | $0 (free tier) | Shares the document with the public RECAP archive |
When you contribute, your share is calculated pro-rata against the outstanding PACER balance. For example, a $150 contribution against a $1,500 balance represents 10% of the balance — and helps unlock approximately 50 documents at $3 each.
All PACER purchases require explicit human approval. HelmLegal machines never purchase documents autonomously. The acquisition queue is human-gated:
Use the existing donation flow to contribute to public record access. You can choose visible, discrete, or silent privacy.
Fund a RecordPublic records belong to the public. HelmLegal helps locate, verify, preserve, organize, and make public records more accessible so they remain searchable, understandable, and useful for everyone.
Donations help unlock public records, fund document retrieval, preserve legal history, reduce research costs, and support transparency throughout the justice system.
Find the Record. Verify the Source. Preserve the Truth.
HelmLegal is an independent investigative journalism and public records project. Donations support research, retrieval, and operating costs and are not tax-deductible. HelmLegal is not affiliated with any law firm, government agency, or sponsor.