Free Law Project
Free Law Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating CourtListener and the RECAP Archive, the largest open U.S. legal data infrastructure serving self-represented litigants, journalists, legal practitioners, governments, and legal technology companies.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersBerkeley, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Free Law Project does
Free Law Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2010 and headquartered in Berkeley, California, that operates one of the largest open legal data infrastructures in the world. Its core platform, CourtListener, hosts over 10 million court opinions from more than 2,000 state and federal courts, supplemented by the RECAP Archive (400M+ federal filings, growing daily via a 30,000+ user browser extension), the largest open collection of oral argument audio (2.5M+ minutes with AI-generated transcripts), and a unique judicial financial disclosure database covering 16,000+ judges and 250,000+ pages of disclosures. The technology stack is open-source and built on Python, PostgreSQL, Django, and Django REST Framework, with public REST APIs (v4), webhooks, and bulk database replication, plus a suite of proprietary libraries (Juriscraper, Eyecite, X-Ray, Doctor, Inception) that are reused across the broader legal tech ecosystem.
The organization serves five primary segments: self-represented litigants, legal practitioners and law firms, journalists and researchers, legal technology companies, and legal aid organizations, with law schools and government entities as secondary audiences. Revenue is diversified across individual donations, foundation grants (NSF, Knight Foundation, Columbia Library, AWS Imagine Grant of $150K in 2025), tiered memberships ($10-$2,500/month), corporate sponsorships up to $25K/year, data services and consulting ($70-$750/hour depending on client type), and data licensing to legal tech companies such as ProPlaintiff.ai. Notable customers and users include Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, ProPublica, Harvard, OpenAI, Anthropic, and more than 1,000 verified government users.
Distribution is primarily self-serve and product-led through CourtListener.com, RECAP browser extensions (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari), Bots.law across Slack/Discord/Teams/Google Chat/Bluesky/Mastodon, and the May 2026 CourtListener MCP connector embedded in Anthropic's Claude. HeinOnline resells CourtListener case law into its institutional base, while data licensing deals extend reach to legal tech startups. Recent strategic priorities include becoming foundational open legal data infrastructure for AI applications, scaling the Justice Partner Circle for law firm engagement, and launching the Litigant Portal to serve self-represented litigants with AI-assisted workflows.
Free Law Project firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Free Law Project
- Legal name
- Free Law Project
- Website
- https://free.law
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Free Law Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating CourtListener and the RECAP Archive, the largest open U.S. legal data infrastructure serving self-represented litigants, journalists, legal practitioners, governments, and legal technology companies.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Free Law Project industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Legal Research Software
- NAICS
- Legal Services (5411), Other Legal Services (54119)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741), Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Legal Practice Management & Case Management (BPAEAPAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- eDiscovery, Litigation Support & Legal Hold (BPAEAPAE), Legal & Regulatory Publishing (Case Law, Statutes, Treatises) (MPAJACAA), Law & Legal Studies Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAG)
Keywords
Where Free Law Project is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Berkeley
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Free Law Project business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Data Services and Consulting: Custom data gathering, research, and reports for organizations. Services include bulk PACER data, customized research, and data analysis. Billed hourly or by project milestones with rates varying by client type (researchers/academics: $140/hr, journalists: $70-180/hr, non-profits: $140-180/hr, for-profit: $170-750/hr).
- Membership Subscriptions: Tiered membership model providing premium access to CourtListener features including increased API rate limits, unlimited alerts, real-time alerts, and Pray & Pay requests. Individual tiers from $10-100/month ($100-1,000/year). Group tiers from $30-2,500/month based on organization size.
- Organizational Sponsorships: Platinum sponsors at $25,000/year ($20,000 with 3-year commitment), Gold at $10,000/year, Silver at $1,000/year, Bronze at $500/year. Provides visibility and partnership benefits for organizations supporting the mission.
- Individual Donations: Tax-deductible donations from individuals supporting the nonprofit mission. One-time and recurring donation options available.
- Data Licensing: Licensing of case law data to legal technology companies (e.g., ProPlaintiff.ai integration of 6.7 million case law records). Data is made available via API or bulk data downloads.
- Grants: Grant funding from foundations and organizations supporting access to justice and legal technology. Notable grants include AWS Imagine Grant ($150,000 in 2025), NSF grants, and Knight Foundation support for judicial database development.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Individual Tier 1 - $10/month or $100/year |
| Subscription | Monthly | Individual Tier 2 - $25/month or $250/year |
| Subscription | Monthly | Individual Tier 3 - $50/month or $500/year |
| Subscription | Monthly | Individual Tier 4 - $100/month or $1,000/year |
| Per seat | Monthly | Group Memberships - $30-2,500/month based on size |
| Freemium | Monthly | EDU Memberships - Free |
| Freemium | Monthly | LSO Memberships - Free |
| Subscription | Annual | Sponsorship Tiers |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Data Services Hourly Rates |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels8 records
Marketing channels9 records
Free Law Project product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Free Law Project operates CourtListener, a fully searchable archive of U.S. court opinions, oral arguments, judges, judicial financial records, and federal filings, supplemented by the RECAP Suite (browser extensions that liberate PACER documents into a free archive) and Bots.law (case-monitoring bots for chat and social platforms). The nonprofit organization also develops open-source legal data tools (Juriscraper, Eyecite, X-Ray, Doctor, Inception) and offers paid data services, tiered memberships, organizational sponsorships, and bulk data licensing to legal technology companies and researchers.
Product overview
Free Law Project operates a platform-plus-modules architecture centered on CourtListener as the primary research and monitoring interface, supplemented by the RECAP Suite for PACER data liberation, Bots.law for case notification delivery, and a suite of open-source tools (Juriscraper, Eyecite, X-Ray, Doctor, Inception) for data collection, citation extraction, document processing, and semantic search. The organization curates and provides access to multiple legal datasets (case law, RECAP archive, judge/disclosure database, reporters, courts, oral arguments, judicial portraits, court seals) and offers data services for custom research and consulting. Recent additions include an MCP integration connecting CourtListener to Anthropic's Claude AI and the Litigant Portal for self-represented litigants.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- CourtListener: Fully-searchable and accessible archive of court data including opinions, oral arguments, judges, judicial financial records, and federal filings. Hosts over 10 million court opinions and serves millions of users.
- RECAP Suite
- Bots.law
Products and services
- CourtListener Flagship legal research platform providing fully searchable access to over 10 million court opinions from 2,000+ courts, oral argument recordings, judge biographies, judicial financial disclosures, and federal filings; serves over 1 million visitors weekly and offers tiered membership plans.
- RECAP Suite Collection of PACER-liberation tools including browser extensions for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari that automatically upload PACER purchases into the public RECAP Archive, plus docket alerts, search alerts, and the @recap.email notification handler for attorneys.
- Bots.law Case-monitoring bot system that posts updates to Slack, Discord, MS Teams, Google Chat, Bluesky, and Mastodon; Big Cases Bot follows important federal cases and Little Cases Bot enables custom topic-based tracking.
- Data Services and Consulting Custom data gathering, research, and reports for organizations, including bulk PACER data acquisition and customized legal data analysis; billed hourly or by project milestones with rates ranging from $70-$750/hour depending on client type.
- Litigant Portal Next-generation web application providing personalized legal guidance to self-represented litigants using AI, AI-assisted form preparation, document automation, and integrated eFiling workflows.
- CourtListener MCP Integration Model Context Protocol connector that enables Claude and other AI assistants to query CourtListener data in real time, including federal and state court decisions, PACER data, citation networks, and oral argument audio.
Quantifiable outcome
- 500,000+ weekly users on CourtListener
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Free Law Project
Customer profileNamed customers17 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles6 records
Free Law Project technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration8 records
AI capability8 records
Feature14 records
Free Law Project partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- AnthropiccoreCourtListener MCP integration for Claude AI, providing AI assistants native access to case law, PACER data, citation analysis, oral arguments, and judge data. The integration is free to anyone, positioning CourtListener as foundational legal data infrastructure for AI applications.
- Justice Technology AssociationcoreFLP named as access to justice partner in Anthropic's Claude for Legal launch, alongside Courtroom5, BoardWise, and Descrybe. First time a leading AI company explicitly named access to justice as a foundational pillar.
- Thomson ReuterscoreBoth Thomson Reuters and Free Law Project announced MCP integrations with Anthropic's Claude on the same day, connecting their databases to AI assistants. Thomson Reuters connects CoCounsel to 1.9 billion documents.
- HeinOnlinecoreHeinOnline announced a new case law offering powered by CourtListener, making FLP's open legal data available through HeinOnline's platform.
- Civil Rights Litigation ClearinghousecorePartnership to explore how AI can unlock court data and make legal research smarter, faster, and more accessible. FLP is partnering with the Clearinghouse to look at ways AI can improve access to civil rights litigation data.
- Harvard Law School (Caselaw Access Project)coreHarvard Caselaw Access Project data (millions of digitized case law records) incorporated into CourtListener, completing coverage of American case law.
- vLexcorePartnership to build a complete, updated, and audited open case law database. With vLex's support, FLP is working to create the first comprehensive free collection of American case law.
- Pre/DictaminorCollaboration on judicial analytics database, combining Pre/Dicta's expertise with FLP's judicial financial disclosure data.
- JustiaminorCollaboration on judicial database, contributing to the comprehensive structured database of judges and their financial interests.
- Elliott Ash (Princeton University)minorAcademic collaboration on judicial analytics research, working with FLP's comprehensive judicial database.
- Harvard Library Innovation LabcoreCollaboration on Eyecite citation extraction tool development, combining FLP's reporter database with Harvard's caselaw data.
Scale indicators17 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Free Law Project competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
- CourtListener (Harvard Caselaw Access Project): Harvard Law School Library Innovation Lab project that digitized millions of historical American case law records and partnered with Free Law Project in 2024 to integrate data into CourtListener. Comparable as a large-scale open case law initiative with shared mission and overlapping academic/journalist audience.
Broad incumbents
- Westlaw (Thomson Reuters): Premier legal research platform operated by Thomson Reuters; on the same day as FLP's MCP announcement, Westlaw's CoCounsel was also integrated with Claude AI. Comparable as the dominant paid legal research platform and the primary commercial competitor to CourtListener for legal AI infrastructure.
- LexisNexis: Largest commercial legal research incumbent alongside Westlaw. Comparable in aggregating case law, dockets, and judicial information at massive scale, but as a paid, proprietary platform serving large law firms and corporate legal departments — represents the traditional model FLP's open infrastructure is disrupting.
Direct peers
- Pre/Dicta: Legal analytics startup collaborating with Free Law Project on the judicial database. Comparable as a judicial analytics and litigation prediction platform using FLP's underlying data — overlapping technology category and customer base (law firms, litigators).
- vLex: Global legal research platform and Free Law Project's strategic partner (2022) co-developing a complete, updated, and audited open American case law database. Comparable in that both aggregate large-scale case law and offer APIs, but vLex is a commercial incumbent with broader international coverage and paid subscription model.
- Justia: Free legal information platform collaborating with Free Law Project on the judicial database. Comparable as a mission-driven legal information provider offering free case law, codes, and judge data, with a freemium model and audience of self-represented litigants and lawyers.
- HeinOnline: Legal research database that partnered with Free Law Project in December 2025 to power a new case law offering from CourtListener data. Comparable as a long-form legal publisher/research platform; both serve law schools, libraries, and legal professionals with comprehensive case law coverage.
- Casetext (Thomson Reuters): AI-powered legal research platform acquired by Thomson Reuters; now part of CoCounsel. Directly comparable as an AI-native legal research competitor leveraging large case law corpora, and a potential future distribution channel or competitor to Free Law Project's open MCP approach.
Regional players
- Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse: Nonprofit organization partnering with Free Law Project in 2025 to explore AI applications for civil rights litigation data. Comparable as a mission-driven legal data organization targeting public-interest litigation, with shared nonprofit ethos and overlapping user base of legal aid organizations and researchers.
Emerging players
- Courtroom5: Guided self-representation platform named alongside Free Law Project as an access-to-justice partner in Anthropic's Claude for Legal launch. Comparable as a direct-to-litigant legal technology targeting the same self-represented market segment, with overlapping mission and AI-enabled workflows.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Free Law Project social profiles
Digital presenceFree Law Project financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Free Law Project leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
Free Law Project funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Free Law Project M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Free Law Project
What does Free Law Project do?
Free Law Project operates CourtListener, a fully searchable archive of U.S. court opinions, oral arguments, judges, judicial financial records, and federal filings, supplemented by the RECAP Suite (browser extensions that liberate PACER documents into a free archive) and Bots.law (case-monitoring bots for chat and social platforms). The nonprofit organization also develops open-source legal data tools (Juriscraper, Eyecite, X-Ray, Doctor, Inception) and offers paid data services, tiered memberships, organizational sponsorships, and bulk data licensing to legal technology companies and researchers.
Is Free Law Project a public or private company?
Free Law Project is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Free Law Project founded?
Free Law Project was founded in 2010. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Free Law Project based?
Free Law Project is headquartered in Berkeley, United States, in the North America region.
How does Free Law Project make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Data Services and Consulting is the primary driver. The others are membership Subscriptions, organizational Sponsorships, individual Donations, data Licensing and grants.
Who are Free Law Project's main competitors?
CourtListener (Harvard Caselaw Access Project) is listed as an others. Broad incumbents are Westlaw (Thomson Reuters) and LexisNexis. Direct peers are Pre/Dicta, vLex, Justia, HeinOnline and Casetext (Thomson Reuters). Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse is listed as a regional player. Courtroom5 is listed as an emerging player.
Does Free Law Project have an API?
Yes. CourtListener provides a public REST API (v4) for accessing opinions, filings, judges, financial disclosures, and more. The API is available via membership tiers with rate limits ranging from 5/minute (free tier) to 25/minute (Tier 4), with daily limits from 125/day to 1,400/day. Free tier provides community support while higher tiers include private support. The API is for small law firms, governmental bodies, legal service organizations, small media outlets, academics, and pre-revenue organizations — not for large or funded organizations. Bulk data and database replication are also available. Webhooks are supported for triggering workflows in external systems. Developer documentation is at wiki.free.law/c/courtlistener/help/api.
What industry is Free Law Project in?
Free Law Project's product category is Legal Research Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAEAPAC, Legal Practice Management & Case Management, with a secondary code of BPAEAPAE, eDiscovery, Litigation Support & Legal Hold. Its NAICS code is 5411 and its SIC code is 7370.