CourtListener MCP. Audit case law, dockets, and judge records instantly.
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CourtListener MCP Server helps you manage legal research. Your agent searches court opinions, dockets, and judge records using open, accessible legal data.
It lets you audit case law, track litigation filings in real-time, and retrieve detailed judge financial information without logging into multiple legal portals.
What your AI agents can do
Get court
Retrieves detailed information for a specific court.
Get judge
Retrieves detailed information for a specific judge.
Get opinion
Retrieves the full details for a specific legal opinion.
Your agent finds specific legal opinions based on keywords and retrieves metadata like the court and filing date.
Your agent queries court dockets to give you a real-time overview of ongoing litigation and case filings.
Your agent retrieves detailed information about judges and lists their financial disclosures for due diligence.
Your agent lists all citations associated with a specific legal opinion, mapping out legal precedents.
Your agent provides a complete list of courts and their metadata, ensuring your search jurisdiction is correct.
Your agent pulls a list of judges, which you can then use to check specific details.
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Supported MCP Clients
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CourtListener MCP Server: 10 Tools for Legal Research
These tools allow your agent to search, list, and retrieve structured legal data, including court dockets, opinions, judge records, and legal citations.
019d842aget court
Retrieves detailed information for a specific court.
019d842aget judge
Retrieves detailed information for a specific judge.
019d842aget opinion
Retrieves the full details for a specific legal opinion.
019d842alist citations
Lists all legal citations connected to a given opinion.
019d842alist courts
Provides a complete list of all available courts.
019d842alist financial disclosures
Lists the financial disclosure records for a judge.
019d842alist judges
Provides a list of all judges in the system.
019d842alist opinions
Provides a list of all available legal opinions.
019d842asearch dockets
Searches the court dockets for active or past litigation filings.
019d842asearch opinions
Searches for legal opinions using keywords and date ranges.
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Build Your Own
Turn any API into an MCP. Import a spec, define Agent Skills, or deploy with MCPFusion.
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Make Your AI Do More
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What you can do with this MCP connector
Your agent handles your whole legal research process. It searches court opinions, dockets, and judge records using open, accessible legal data. You can audit case law, track litigation filings in real-time, and get detailed judge financial info without logging into a bunch of separate legal portals.
Your agent lets you search for specific legal opinions using keywords and date ranges, and it returns the metadata, including the court and filing date. You can list all available courts and their metadata, making sure you're in the right jurisdiction. Need to know who's running the show? You can pull a list of all judges, and then get detailed info on a specific judge or check their financial disclosure records for due diligence.
Your agent also lets you search the court dockets for any active or past litigation filings. For any given legal opinion, your agent lists all associated legal citations, letting you trace out the precedents. You can also get detailed information for a specific court, or retrieve the full details for a specific legal opinion.
Finally, you can get the full details for a specific judge.
How CourtListener MCP Works
- 1 Subscribe to the server and enter your CourtListener API Key.
- 2 Connect the MCP Server to your preferred AI client (Claude, Cursor, etc.).
- 3 Use natural language prompts: 'Search for opinions regarding X' or 'List all dockets for Y.' The agent runs the necessary tools and returns the data.
The bottom line is, your agent uses the available tools to execute complex legal research queries and returns the synthesized data to your chat window.
Who Is CourtListener MCP For?
This tool is for legal professionals who need to monitor case law and dockets directly from their workflow. It helps researchers and journalists verify judicial metadata and financial disclosures without manual searches across multiple, disconnected legal platforms. If you spend time manually cross-referencing case filings and judge backgrounds, this saves you hours.
Checks case law and docket updates to build a timeline of opposing counsel's strategy.
Runs rapid audits on legal citations and opinions to verify precedents for a new case.
Verifies judicial metadata and financial disclosures to write accurate, conflict-free reports.
Automates querying of legal data to ensure cross-functional research teams stay compliant.
What Changes When You Connect
- Need to know the full legal history of a case? Use
search_docketsto query court filings and track litigation progress in real-time, eliminating manual checks of court websites. - Don't trust a single opinion. Run
list_citationson any opinion to map its full legal network and see every precedent it relies on. This provides deep context. - Conflict checking is faster with
list_financial_disclosures. You can pull a judge's disclosure records directly into your workflow, ensuring your research is clean. - Avoid jurisdictional errors. Run
list_courtsfirst to get a definitive list of available courts and their metadata before you run any other search. - Build a profile of a judge with
get_judgeandlist_judges. You get basic details, and then you can follow up with financial records usinglist_financial_disclosures.
Real-World Use Cases
Tracking a New Lawsuit
A plaintiff needs to know the status of a major lawsuit. They prompt their agent to run search_dockets for the company's name in the last quarter. The agent identifies three active dockets, providing case numbers and court details, allowing the plaintiff to adjust their strategy.
Verifying a Legal Claim
A journalist writes about a controversial ruling. They use search_opinions with keywords like 'digital media' and the date range. They then run list_citations on the top results to verify which established precedents the ruling contradicted or followed.
Assessing Judge Bias
A legal team is preparing for a major trial. They use list_judges to find the assigned judge, then run get_judge to get background info, and finally list_financial_disclosures to check for potential conflicts of interest.
Completing a Case File
A paralegal is building a case file. They use list_opinions to get a list of relevant cases, select one, and use get_opinion to pull the full text and metadata. They then use get_court to confirm the correct jurisdiction.
The Tradeoffs
Searching for cases by date only
Typing 'Show me all cases from 2023' into a general search engine. This returns millions of uncurated documents, forcing you to manually filter by court, jurisdiction, and relevance.
→
Instead, use search_opinions or search_dockets. These tools filter by legal metadata and court system data, giving you structured, actionable results immediately.
Manual research across multiple sites
Opening the court website, then going to a judge's bio page, then opening a separate citation database. This wastes time and guarantees you miss context.
→
Let your agent handle the sequence. First, use list_judges to find the judge's ID. Then, run get_judge and follow up with list_financial_disclosures to keep the whole process in one chat session.
Assuming the data is complete
Trusting only a single opinion to understand a complex legal principle. You miss the context of prior limiting cases or subsequent confirmations.
→
Always run list_citations on the opinion you find. This traces the entire legal lineage, showing you what the case built upon and what it changed.
When It Fits, When It Doesn't
Use this server if your primary need is structured, primary-source legal data retrieval. You need to confirm facts, track filings, or audit professional history. For example, if you need to know the history of a legal concept, start with list_opinions then search_opinions. If you suspect bias, always run list_financial_disclosures after finding a judge's name. Don't use this if you just need a general overview of legal theory; you'll need a general knowledge base. Also, don't rely on it for legal advice—it only retrieves data.
Independent Platform Disclaimer: Vinkius is an independent platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, verified by, or otherwise authorized by CourtListener. All third-party trademarks, logos, and brand names are the property of their respective owners. Their use on this website is strictly for informational purposes to identify service compatibility and interoperability.
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Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and more
The Model Context Protocol standardizes how applications expose capabilities to LLMs. Instead of operating in isolation, your AI gains direct access to external platforms, live data, and real-world actions through secure, standardized connections.
This server provides 10 capabilities that interface natively with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and any MCP client. No middleware. No custom integration required.
Available Capabilities
Legal research shouldn't require jumping between five different websites.
Today, you find a case number. You have to open the court's website. You search by case number, find the docket, and copy the citation. Then you open a separate legal database to find the full opinion, and maybe another site just to check the judge's background.
With this MCP server, you simply tell your agent: 'Find all dockets for Acme Corp in the 9th Circuit.' The agent runs `search_dockets` and returns the full, structured data set right in your chat. No clicking, no switching tabs.
CourtListener MCP Server: Track legal context with `list_citations`.
Manually tracking legal precedent means opening the primary opinion, copying the citation, and then searching multiple databases to see what cases limited it or confirmed it. It's tedious and easy to miss a critical link.
Now, you ask your agent to run `list_citations` on the opinion. It instantly generates the full legal map, showing you the entire chain of legal development. You get the context, not just the document.
Common Questions About CourtListener MCP
How do I use the `search_opinions` tool? +
Run search_opinions and provide keywords or a date range. This searches the legal database for relevant opinions and returns a list of matches and their metadata.
Does `list_financial_disclosures` check for all conflicts? +
The tool lists a judge's financial disclosure records. Use it to check for specific financial ties or conflicts of interest that you need to verify.
What is the difference between `search_dockets` and `search_opinions`? +
search_dockets finds active or past court filings (the 'what happened'). search_opinions finds the full legal rulings (the 'what was decided').
How do I find a judge's background? +
First, use list_judges to get the judge's name or ID. Then, use get_judge to pull their professional history and details.
Can I trace a case's legal history using `list_citations`? +
Yes, running list_citations on a specific opinion shows all the legal precedents that influenced it, giving you a clear view of the case's legal context.
How do I find out what courts are available using `list_courts`? +
The list_courts tool retrieves a list of all available courts. The response includes the court's name, jurisdiction, and general metadata. You can then filter this list to ensure your research targets the correct legal area.
Can `get_judge` provide information about a judge's current status? +
Yes, the get_judge tool provides comprehensive details on a judge. This includes their current service dates, assigned jurisdiction, and professional history. You can use this to confirm if a judge is active or retired.
What kind of data does `search_opinions` return? +
search_opinions returns detailed legal opinions matching your search criteria. Each result includes the opinion's title, date filed, the court that issued it, and a unique identifier for full retrieval.
How do I find my CourtListener API Key? +
Log in to your CourtListener account, and you will find your API Key under the API Tokens section. Copy and paste it below.
Can the agent search for both opinions and dockets? +
Yes. Use the search_opinions tool for legal judgments and search_dockets for case records. Your agent will return matching results from the Free Law Project database.
Is it possible to list judicial citations via the agent? +
Yes. The list_citations tool allows your agent to retrieve all precedents and subsequent citations for any opinion by providing its Opinion ID, helping you map the legal landscape.
Use it with your favorite AI tools
Connect this server to Cursor, Claude, VS Code, and more.
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