The Oyez Project
The Oyez Project is a free, non-profit multimedia archive that provides transcript-synchronized Supreme Court audio, case summaries, and justice profiles since 1955, serving the general public, legal professionals, and educators via a partnership of Cornell LII, Justia, and Chicago-Kent College of Law.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1988
- HeadquartersChicago, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What The Oyez Project does
The Oyez Project is a free, non-profit multimedia archive dedicated to making the U.S. Supreme Court accessible to the general public, legal professionals, and students/educators. Founded in the late 1980s by Professor Jerry Goldman at Northwestern University and now operated collaboratively by Cornell's Legal Information Institute (LII), Justia, and Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Oyez holds the most complete and authoritative archive of Supreme Court audio since the Court's recording system was installed in October 1955. The platform delivers transcript-synchronized and searchable audio (14,000+ hours digitized and sentence-aligned), plain-English case summaries, illustrated decision information, full-text Supreme Court opinions via Justia, detailed justice profiles, and a panoramic Supreme Court building tour. Supporting offerings include the Oyez Lawyer Directory, the Top Advocates Report, and special projects such as Shifting Scales, Body Politic, Argument 2.0, and Brown Revisited.
The platform is built on a web-based multimedia architecture with sentence-level transcript alignment, audio streaming, and searchable case content distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Content is delivered through oyez.org as a direct self-serve product, supplemented by podcast distribution, social media channels (Facebook, X/Twitter), email newsletter integration with Justia, and academic citations. There is no sales team, no commercial pricing, and no paid tiers; revenue derives entirely from grants (National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Google, Knight Foundation) and financial contributions from major law firms including Mayer Brown, Sidley Austin, Jones Day, Morrison & Foerster, Jenner & Block, and Arnold & Porter. Reach is anchored by Cornell LII's 115+ million pages served annually to 30+ million unique visitors, providing unmatched organic distribution for a niche legal archival product.
The Oyez Project firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- The Oyez Project
- Legal name
- Oyez, Inc.
- Website
- https://oyez.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1988
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- The Oyez Project is a free, non-profit multimedia archive that provides transcript-synchronized Supreme Court audio, case summaries, and justice profiles since 1955, serving the general public, legal professionals, and educators via a partnership of Cornell LII, Justia, and Chicago-Kent College of Law.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
The Oyez Project industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Legal Information Services
- NAICS
- Libraries and Archives (519210), Court Reporting and Stenotype Services (561492)
- SIC
- Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Legal Reference (Statutes, Case Law, Practice Guides) (EDAGAGAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Law & Legal Studies (EDAGABAH), Court Services & Operations (Clerks, Records, Jury, Interpreters) (BPAIAFAH), Conference Proceedings & Research Reports Publishing (EDAGAFAL)
Keywords
Where The Oyez Project is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chicago
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
The Oyez Project business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others
Revenue model
- Donations and Grants: Funded through donations and grants from legal institutions, foundations, and law firms including National Science Foundation, Knight Foundation, Google, and major law firms. Operated as a non-profit initiative.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free access to all content |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels6 records
The Oyez Project product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Oyez Project is a free multimedia archive of the U.S. Supreme Court that provides transcript-synchronized, searchable audio recordings of every oral argument and opinion announcement since October 1955, plain-English case summaries, illustrated decision information, and full-text Supreme Court opinions via integration with Justia. It also offers justice profiles, a panoramic 360-degree tour of the Supreme Court building, an advocate/lawyer directory, and supporting content projects such as Shifting Scales, Body Politic, Argument 2.0, and the Top Advocates Report.
Product overview
The Oyez Project is a single unified multimedia platform that provides free public access to the United States Supreme Court. The core offering consists of the Oyez Multimedia Archive, which delivers transcript-synchronized searchable audio, plain-English case summaries, illustrated decision information, and full-text opinions. Supporting products include the Oyez Lawyer Directory (advocate profiles with case histories), the Top Advocates Report (numerical rankings of Supreme Court oral argument advocates), and two special projects (Shifting Scales and Body Politic). The platform also features Argument 2.0 for enhanced argument access and Supreme Court Term Previews & Reviews video content. The project is a collaboration between Cornell's Legal Information Institute (LII), Justia, and Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Shifting Scales: A project exploring constitutional law issues related to the balance of government power.
- Body Politic
- Argument 2.0
- Lawyer Directory
- Top Advocates Report
- Brown Revisited
Products and services
- Oyez Multimedia Archive
Quantifiable outcome
- Serves over 30 million unique visitors annually through LII partnership
Companies that use The Oyez Project
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
The Oyez Project technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
The Oyez Project partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Cornell's Legal Information Institute (LII)coreCornell LII is the current home of Oyez since 2016. LII is the oldest and largest free law site on the internet, founded in 1992, serving over 115 million pages annually to 30+ million visitors. LII provides the institutional backing and content infrastructure for Oyez.
- JustiacoreJustia operates and supports Oyez's engineering backend and manages the editorial content including case summaries. Justia provides full-text Supreme Court opinions and operates the Oyez website infrastructure.
- Chicago-Kent College of LawcoreChicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Institute of Technology hosted Oyez from 2011-2016 before the move to Cornell. Professor Jerry Goldman (founder) was a research professor there and developed the project at this institution.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights4 records
The Oyez Project competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- FindLaw: Long-standing free legal information portal hosting Supreme Court opinions and case summaries; a historical institutional supporter of Oyez (per 2003 grants) and a directly overlapping publisher of free case law.
- Justia: Justia operates Oyez's engineering backend and edits Oyez case summaries, while also providing free case law, codes, regulations, and a lawyer directory. Direct operating partner and the broadest overlapping free legal information platform.
- Westlaw (Thomson Reuters): Premier legal research platform with the deepest case law archive, KeyCite citator, and analytics. Anchors the paid legal research segment alongside LexisNexis that Oyez positions against as a free public alternative.
- LexisNexis: Premium legal research platform with comprehensive case law, citator tools, and analytics used by most large law firms. Broad incumbent providing overlapping SCOTUS content but behind a paid wall for most users.
- Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII): Oyez's host institution and primary distribution partner since 2016; LII publishes the full text of Supreme Court opinions, the US Code, CFR, and the Federal Rules. It is the most direct functional analog as the oldest and largest free law site on the internet.
Emerging players
- Quimbee: Provides plain-English case summaries, video explainers, and study aids for law students, including Supreme Court cases. Closest competitor to Oyez's plain-English case summary functionality for the legal education segment.
Direct peers
- CourtListener: A free, open-source archive of U.S. court opinions and oral argument audio maintained by Free Law Project, with overlapping oral-argument audio, searchable transcripts, and an editorial/community model.
- SCOTUSblog: An independent blog covering the Supreme Court of the United States, with live blogs of oral arguments, in-depth case analysis, and statistics on advocates and justices. It is the most cited counterpart for doctrinal commentary and breaking SCOTUS news.
- Casetext (Acquired by Thomson Reuters): AI-driven legal research platform offering case summaries, brief analysis, and citator functionality for U.S. case law. Closest peer in digital-first legal research and case summarization, though commercial and broader in court coverage.
Others
- Supreme Court of the United States (Official Site): The primary source for Oyez's audio recordings and opinion text via the HERMES data feed. Operating licensee and content originator; not a competitor but the upstream authoritative publisher.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
The Oyez Project social profiles
Digital presenceThe Oyez Project compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance4 records
The Oyez Project financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
The Oyez Project leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
The Oyez Project funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
The Oyez 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 The Oyez Project
What does The Oyez Project do?
The Oyez Project is a free multimedia archive of the U.S. Supreme Court that provides transcript-synchronized, searchable audio recordings of every oral argument and opinion announcement since October 1955, plain-English case summaries, illustrated decision information, and full-text Supreme Court opinions via integration with Justia. It also offers justice profiles, a panoramic 360-degree tour of the Supreme Court building, an advocate/lawyer directory, and supporting content projects such as Shifting Scales, Body Politic, Argument 2.0, and the Top Advocates Report.
Is The Oyez Project a public or private company?
The Oyez Project is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was The Oyez Project founded?
The Oyez Project was founded in 1988. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is The Oyez Project based?
The Oyez Project is headquartered in Chicago, United States, in the North America region.
How does The Oyez Project make money?
One revenue line is on record: donations and Grants.
Who are The Oyez Project's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are FindLaw, Justia, Westlaw (Thomson Reuters), LexisNexis and Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII). Quimbee is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are CourtListener, SCOTUSblog and Casetext (Acquired by Thomson Reuters). Supreme Court of the United States (Official Site) is listed as an others.
Does The Oyez Project have an API?
No public API is recorded for The Oyez Project.
What industry is The Oyez Project in?
The Oyez Project's product category is Legal Information Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAGAGAB, Legal Reference (Statutes, Case Law, Practice Guides), with a secondary code of EDAGABAH, Law & Legal Studies. Its NAICS code is 519210 and its SIC code is 2741.