Legal Information Institute

C tier on Legal Research SoftwareScore 6.8· #11of 32

Free plan: Yes
Runs on: Web

law.cornell.edu

Summary

The Legal Information Institute (LII) is a free web resource that publishes legal materials and creates explanations to help the public understand them. Its 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. Readers can also consult Wex, Supreme Court Bulletin previews, and case summaries in the Gender Justice Collection. Regulations from all 50 states and Washington, DC are available with enhanced features. Read It Online takes a formal case citation and returns 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. Coverage includes U.S. federal law, all 50 states, and selected world law, with case law and statute and regulation search, legal commentary, citation tools, and research alerts. LII does not provide legal advice, interpretations, or personalized research help.

Who it is for

LII suits people looking for public access to U.S. legal materials and explanatory resources. It is not a source of personalized legal advice or research assistance.

What is good

Legal collections are available free of charge.
Collections include federal and state legal materials.
Read It Online resolves formal case citations.
Basic Legal Citation is a free Bluebook alternative.
State regulations cover all 50 states and DC.

What to know first

Available on the web only.
LII does not provide legal advice.
No personalized legal research help is available.

Verdict

LII brings legal collections, explanatory materials, and citation tools together at no charge. It can help readers locate and understand legal information, but it does not interpret law for individual cases.

Legal Information Institute plans and pricing

All plans

Free access Free Legal information and collections available to the public free of charge about.law.cornell.edu · 4 Oct 2026

Compared on legal research software

Free plan: Yeslaw.cornell.edu
Case law search: Yeslaw.cornell.edu
Statute & regulation search: Yeslaw.cornell.edu
Legal commentary: Yeslaw.cornell.edu
Citation tools: Yeslaw.cornell.edu
Jurisdiction coverage: U.S. federal law; all 50 U.S. states; selected world lawlaw.cornell.edu
Research alerts: Yeslaw.cornell.edu

Facts

Purpose: LII publishes law online for free and creates materials to help people understand it.law.cornell.edu · 4 Oct 2026
Legal collections: The site provides collections including the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Code, Code of Federal Regulations, state regulations, Supreme Court opinions, and federal rules.about.law.cornell.edu · 4 Oct 2026
Enriched legal data: LII identifies, extracts, annotates, indexes, and presents features in government-published legal data.about.law.cornell.edu · 4 Oct 2026
Explanatory content: LII creates original materials including Wex, Supreme Court Bulletin previews, and case summaries in its Gender Justice Collection.about.law.cornell.edu · 4 Oct 2026
State regulations: LII makes regulations from all 50 states plus Washington, DC available with enhanced features and functionality.about.law.cornell.edu · 4 Oct 2026
Citation resolver: Read It Online lets users enter a formal case citation to get hyperlinks to free and paid resources for judicial opinions.about.law.cornell.edu · 4 Oct 2026
Legal citation guide: Introduction to Basic Legal Citation is a free alternative to the Bluebook and is maintained by LII co-founder Professor Peter Martin.about.law.cornell.edu · 4 Oct 2026
Audience: LII describes its work as making legal information more findable and understandable for the public.about.law.cornell.edu · 4 Oct 2026
Support limit: LII cannot provide legal advice, interpretations of law, or personalized help with legal research or school projects.law.cornell.edu · 4 Oct 2026
Technical help: Users can report site problems through the contact form, and LII says most problems with dysfunctional scripts or software are fixed right away.law.cornell.edu · 4 Oct 2026
Privacy and security: LII says it takes steps to safeguard personally identifiable information but cannot guarantee electronic data will never be accessed or released inconsistently with its policy.law.cornell.edu · 4 Oct 2026
Payments: LII says it does not sell products or services through the website, and PayPal collects donation credit card numbers rather than LII.law.cornell.edu · 4 Oct 2026
Licensing: Special licensing or redistribution terms can be requested through the permissions category in LII's contact form.law.cornell.edu · 4 Oct 2026