Service Terms: Stern Bench Search
Last updated: April 10, 2026
These Service Terms govern Your use of the Stern Bench Search tool (the "Case Search Service") and supplement the Platform Agreement. Capitalised terms not defined herein have the meanings given in the Platform Agreement.
1. SERVICE DESCRIPTION
1.1. The Case Search Service is a web-based legal research tool that enables users to search, browse, and analyse a curated corpus of publicly available judicial decisions from offshore and Commonwealth jurisdictions.
1.2. Core features of the Case Search Service include keyword and natural-language search, case summaries, extracted citations, and full-text case detail views.
2. DATA PROCESSING MODEL
2.1. Operational Processing. Search queries and case page requests submitted through the Case Search Service are processed in real time to deliver the Service. Stern Bench does not provide a user-facing search history and does not keep a page-by-page case-browsing history within the application. Stern Bench may maintain limited operational metadata needed for security, abuse prevention, debugging, attribution, analytics, and service operation, as described in the Privacy Policy.
2.2. Data We Hold. The only user data maintained by Stern Bench in connection with the Case Search Service is:
- (a) Account information: email address and authentication metadata required to operate Your account; and
- (b) Limited service metadata: short-lived security, rate-limit, and aggregate daily usage metadata necessary to operate, secure, and measure usage of the Service.
2.3. User-Controlled Deletion. You may delete your account through the Service. Upon account deletion, account information maintained by Stern Bench will be deleted within 30 days.
2.4. No Document Upload. The Case Search Service does not accept document uploads. All content searched and analysed through the Service is sourced from Stern Bench's curated corpus of publicly available judicial decisions.
2.5. Third-Party Search Processing. To deliver search results, Stern Bench sends queries and related request data to third-party infrastructure providers identified in the Privacy Policy. Such providers may process service data and technical metadata to operate, secure, and support their services in accordance with their terms and data-processing commitments. The Case Search Service is not intended for the submission of confidential, privileged, personal, or other sensitive information unless and until Stern Bench expressly agrees otherwise in writing for Paid Services.
3. CASE LAW CORPUS
3.1. The case law corpus made available through the Case Search Service consists of publicly available judicial decisions. This corpus is independently collected, processed, and maintained by Stern Bench and is not "Customer Data" or "DPA Data" as defined in the Platform Agreement or Data Processing Addendum.
3.2. Stern Bench does not guarantee the completeness of the corpus. The absence of a case or authority from the Service does not indicate that no such authority exists. You are responsible for independently verifying all information against primary sources.
4. AUTOMATED SEARCH AND CONTENT PROCESSING
4.1. Search ranking, extracted metadata, and other structured case information may be produced or enriched through automated processing of Stern Bench's case corpus and search infrastructure. Such content is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
4.2. Stern Bench does not store search activity as part of Your account as a user-facing research history. Stern Bench may nevertheless retain limited operational logs and related metadata for the purposes described in the Privacy Policy.