The Legal Information Institute (LII) publishes legal information online for free and creates materials to help the public understand it. Its web collections include the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Code, Code of Federal Regulations, state regulations, Supreme Court opinions, and federal rules. LII enriches government-published legal data by identifying, extracting, annotating, and indexing its features. Explanatory resources include Wex, Supreme Court Bulletin previews, and case summaries in the Gender Justice Collection. Users can search case law and statutes and regulations, read legal commentary, and use citation tools. Read It Online accepts a formal case citation and provides links to free and paid judicial-opinion resources. Introduction to Basic Legal Citation, maintained by co-founder Professor Peter Martin, is a free alternative to the Bluebook. State regulation coverage includes all 50 states and Washington, DC, while overall jurisdiction coverage also includes U.S. federal law and selected world law. LII does not sell products or services through the site, and it does not provide legal advice or personalized research help.
Who it is for
LII suits members of the public looking for U.S. legal materials, citation resources, or plain-language explanatory content. It is not a source of personalized legal advice or research assistance.
What is good
- Free access to legal collections and explanatory materials
- Collections include federal rules and Supreme Court opinions
- State regulations cover all 50 states and Washington, DC
- Citation resolver links to judicial-opinion resources
- Offers legal commentary and research alerts
What to know first
- Does not provide legal advice or interpretations
- Does not offer personalized research or school-project help
Verdict
LII offers broad public access to legal collections, search tools, and explanatory material at no charge. Readers needing individualized legal guidance will need help beyond the site.
Legal Information Institute plans and pricing
All plansCompared on legal research software
- Free plan
- Yes
- Case law search
- Yes
- Statute & regulation search
- Yes
- Legal commentary
- Yes
- Citation tools
- Yes
- Jurisdiction coverage
- U.S. federal law; all 50 U.S. states; selected world law
- Research alerts
- Yes
