Revolutionizing Legal Access: The Journey of the Caselaw Access Project

Revolutionizing Legal Access: The Journey of the Caselaw Access Project

The Caselaw Access Project (CAP), a visionary initiative spearheaded by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, represents a monumental leap towards democratizing access to United States case law. In 2018, CAP finally completed their three-years of effort meticulously digitized their entire case law holdings. By converting 38.6 million pages from 39,796 law books into machine-readable text files, CAP has made available a staggering collection of over 6.4 million published cases, spanning 360 years of legal history, from 1658 to approximately 2019.

A Strategic Partnership: CAP and Ravel Law

The ambitious goal of digitizing the entirety of U.S. case law was made possible through a strategic collaboration with Ravel Law, a legal research startup. This partnership, which later included LexisNexis following its acquisition of Ravel, was instrumental in the project’s success. Ravel Law’s commitment to underwrite the digitization’s cost in exchange for a temporary exclusive license to use data from restricted jurisdictions facilitated the realization of this monumental task.

Lifting Restrictions: A New Chapter for CAP

A significant development in CAP’s journey is the recent lifting of commercial restrictions on the use of the case law data. Until today, March 13, 2024, these restrictions, stemming from the agreement with LexisNexis, limited the commercial exploitation of the digitized cases. With these constraints now removed, the data opens new avenues for legal analysis, innovation, and commercial development, further expanding the project’s impact on the legal ecosystem and beyond.

Open Access Licensing: Ensuring the Free Flow of Legal Information

In line with Harvard’s commitment to openness, the caselaw data and metadata are made available under the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Designation. This licensing ensures that the data can be copied, modified, distributed, and used, even commercially, without seeking permission.

A Future Built on Openness

The Caselaw Access Project stands as a testament to the power of collaboration, innovation, and open access in transforming legal scholarship and public access to law. By providing a vast archive of U.S. case law to the public and removing previous commercial usage restrictions, CAP not only enhances legal research and education but also fosters a more informed and engaged society. As we move forward, the project’s legacy will continue to influence the development of legal resources and the promotion of justice through open access to information.