Free Law Project
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| Free Law Project | |
|---|---|
| Name | Free Law Project |
| Formation | 2013 |
| Type | Nonprofit |
| Purpose | Legal access, litigation analytics, public domain law |
| Headquarters | Berkeley, California |
| Language | English |
| Region served | United States |
Free Law Project is a nonprofit legal technology organization based in Berkeley, California dedicated to making primary legal materials and court data accessible to the public. It supports open access to court opinions, oral arguments, and electronic filing records, and collaborates with academic institutions, libraries, and legal technology projects. The organization operates tools and datasets used by litigators, scholars, journalists, and civic technologists.
History
Free Law Project was founded in 2013 amid broader efforts to increase transparency in the U.S. judiciary, contemporaneous with initiatives led by Cornell Law School, Harvard Law School, and Stanford Law School. Early work paralleled projects such as CourtListener and historical digitization efforts like Google Books and collaborations with Internet Archive. The group grew through partnerships with volunteer developers from communities around UC Berkeley, Yale Law School, and Georgetown University Law Center. Over time Free Law Project expanded its role into litigation research alongside entities like The New York Times, ProPublica, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Significant organizational milestones included hosting datasets related to matters appearing before the U.S. Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and other federal tribunals.
Mission and Activities
Free Law Project's mission emphasizes public access to judicial opinions and court data, coordinating with libraries such as the Library of Congress and repositories like the Harvard Library. Activities include collecting opinions from courts including the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and appellate panels like the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The project contributes to academic research involving scholars from Stanford University, Columbia University, University of Chicago, and University of Michigan. It supports journalists at outlets like The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times by providing datasets for accountability reporting on cases involving institutions such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, and state attorneys general. Free Law Project also engages with legal practitioners at firms from Latham & Watkins to public defenders associated with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Databases and Tools
Key offerings include a searchable corpus of opinions and oral argument recordings used alongside research platforms like HeinOnline and Westlaw. Tools and datasets interface with academic platforms such as SSRN and citation indexes maintained by Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic. The project provides APIs consumed by projects at Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and nonprofit initiatives like RECAP and OpenCorporates. Its resources are integrated into classroom curricula at University of California, Berkeley School of Law, Harvard Law School, and New York University School of Law for courses on litigation, statutory interpretation, and empirical legal studies. Collaboration partners have included the Brennan Center for Justice, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, and the Knight Foundation.
Impact and Notable Cases
Free Law Project's datasets have informed reporting and litigation on high-profile matters involving parties like Apple Inc., Facebook, Google LLC, Microsoft Corporation, and federal entities such as the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission. Researchers used its archives to analyze decisions in cases tied to the Affordable Care Act and immigration litigation linked to Department of Homeland Security proceedings. The project's materials contributed to scholarship cited in briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court and appellate filings in circuits including the Third Circuit and D.C. Circuit. Its audio archives of oral arguments have been used in coverage of landmark cases involving constitutional claims referencing precedents like Brown v. Board of Education and Miranda v. Arizona in comparative empirical studies.
Funding and Governance
Funding sources have included foundations and supporters such as the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and academic grant programs from institutions like National Science Foundation collaborations. Governance involves a board and advisory network with affiliations to institutions such as UC Berkeley School of Information, Stanford Law School, and nonprofit partners including Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public.Resource.Org. The organization’s volunteers and staff have backgrounds from legal and technical communities at entities like Mozilla Foundation, Google, and university research labs, ensuring alignment with standards observed by archives like Internet Archive and legal scholarship repositories including HeinOnline.