AltLaw
Encyclopedia
AltLaw was an American
academic project from 2007 to 2010 aimed at making federal appellate
and Supreme Court case law publicly available, "to make the common law
a bit more common." The project was a collaboration between Columbia Law School
's Program on Law and Technology and University of Colorado School of Law
's Silicon Flatirons program.
After Google Scholar added legal case documents to its collection in November 2009, the project announced that its mission was achieved, and it shut down permanently on May 3, 2010.
When AltLaw was launched, digital access to US case law was dominated by LexisNexis
and Westlaw
, charges for access to which can run in the hundreds of dollars per hour.
The data in AltLaw contained roughly 716,000 cases decided between 1950 and 2007, made available on US Circuit Appeals and Supreme courts web sites, all linked to from uscourts.gov, and collected by Prof. Paul K. Ohm at University of Colorado Law School and by Public.Resource.Org
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
academic project from 2007 to 2010 aimed at making federal appellate
United States courts of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
and Supreme Court case law publicly available, "to make the common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
a bit more common." The project was a collaboration between Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
's Program on Law and Technology and University of Colorado School of Law
University of Colorado School of Law
The University of Colorado Law School is one of the professional graduate schools within the University of Colorado System. It is a public law school, with more than 500 students attending and working toward a Juris Doctor or Master of Law. The Wolf Law Building Located in Boulder, Colorado, and...
's Silicon Flatirons program.
After Google Scholar added legal case documents to its collection in November 2009, the project announced that its mission was achieved, and it shut down permanently on May 3, 2010.
When AltLaw was launched, digital access to US case law was dominated by LexisNexis
LexisNexis
LexisNexis Group is a company providing computer-assisted legal research services. In 2006 it had the world's largest electronic database for legal and public-records related information...
and Westlaw
Westlaw
Westlaw is one of the primary online legal research services for lawyers and legal professionals in the United States and is a part of West. In addition, it provides proprietary database services...
, charges for access to which can run in the hundreds of dollars per hour.
The data in AltLaw contained roughly 716,000 cases decided between 1950 and 2007, made available on US Circuit Appeals and Supreme courts web sites, all linked to from uscourts.gov, and collected by Prof. Paul K. Ohm at University of Colorado Law School and by Public.Resource.Org
Public.Resource.Org
Public.Resource.Org is a 501 non-profit corporation dedicated to publishing and sharing public domain materials in the United States. It was founded by Carl Malamud and is based out of Sebastopol, California. Their motto is “Making Government Information More Accessible”...
.