Free Law Project at IRE 2025: Covering Courts with William Palin
Alongside journalists and legal experts, William shared how Free Law Project’s tools help reporters, researchers, and the public overcome barriers to court transparency.
Why This Matters:
Court transparency is a cornerstone of democracy, but access is often complicated by outdated systems, high fees, and inconsistent practices across jurisdictions. William highlighted how Free Law Project works to address these challenges by:
- CourtListener: Our free legal research platform with millions of opinions, docket alerts, and advanced search features.
- RECAP Archive: The largest open collection of federal court filings—crowdsourced from PACER and freely available to the public.
- New Tools: Search Alerts, Oral Argument transcripts, APIs, and webhooks that make it easier than ever to follow cases and investigate issues.
By making the law accessible to everyone—not just those with deep pockets—we’re helping journalists shine a light on the courts and keep the public informed.
Resources from the Session:
Want to dive deeper? Here are the materials from the panel:
Looking Ahead:
Free Law Project will continue to innovate and advocate for open access to the courts. We’re grateful to IRE for convening this important conversation and to all the journalists who use our tools to hold institutions accountable.
