How do I use LegalMCP?

1. Click on "Install Server". 2. Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state. 3. In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@LegalMCP Search for Supreme Court cases on Fourth Amendment and cell phone location data" That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed. Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.

LegalMCP

by Mahender22

Overview Schema Related Servers Score Discussions

Python

Local

LegalMCP

Python 3.10+ License: MIT PyPI

The first comprehensive US legal MCP server for AI assistants.

Connect Claude, GPT, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible AI to 4M+ US court opinions, Clio practice management, and PACER federal filings. Research in seconds, not hours.

30-Second Demo

You:  Find Supreme Court cases about Fourth Amendment and cell phone location data

LegalMCP:  Found 52 results. Top case:

  Carpenter v. United States, 585 U.S. 296 (2018)
  The Court held that accessing historical cell-site location
  information constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment,
  requiring a warrant supported by probable cause.

  → 127 cases cite this opinion
  → Full text: courtlistener.com/opinion/4578834

Related MCP server: Clio MCP Server

Why LegalMCP?

	Traditional Research	AI + LegalMCP
Find relevant cases	45-90 min	< 30 sec
Trace citation history	Open Westlaw, click around	"Who cited this case?"
Pull client billing	Log into Clio, navigate menus	"Total hours on Henderson?"
Monthly cost	$200-400 (Westlaw/Lexis)	Free

Quick Start

Install

We recommend using a virtual environment to avoid conflicts with other packages:

# Create and activate a virtual environment
python -m venv legal-mcp-env

# Windows
legal-mcp-env\Scripts\activate

# Mac/Linux
source legal-mcp-env/bin/activate

# Install
pip install legal-mcp

Or install from GitHub:

pip install git+https://github.com/Mahender22/legal-mcp.git

Run

Want to try it without API keys? Enable demo mode first (optional):

# Mac/Linux
export LEGAL_MCP_DEMO=true

# Windows
set LEGAL_MCP_DEMO=true

Then start the server:

legal-mcp

Connect to Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

Windows (%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "legal-mcp": {
      "command": "C:/path/to/legal-mcp-env/Scripts/legal-mcp.exe",
      "env": {
        "LEGAL_MCP_DEMO": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Mac/Linux (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "legal-mcp": {
      "command": "/path/to/legal-mcp-env/bin/legal-mcp",
      "env": {
        "LEGAL_MCP_DEMO": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: Use the full path to legal-mcp inside your virtual environment. Remove the LEGAL_MCP_DEMO line and add your API keys for real data (see SETUP.md).

Connect to Claude Code

Run this command to add LegalMCP globally (available in every session):

Mac/Linux:

claude mcp add legal-mcp /path/to/legal-mcp-env/bin/legal-mcp

Windows:

claude mcp add legal-mcp C:\path\to\legal-mcp-env\Scripts\legal-mcp.exe

To enable demo mode, add the env flag:

Mac/Linux:

claude mcp add legal-mcp -e LEGAL_MCP_DEMO=true -- /path/to/legal-mcp-env/bin/legal-mcp

Windows:

claude mcp add legal-mcp -e LEGAL_MCP_DEMO=true -- C:\path\to\legal-mcp-env\Scripts\legal-mcp.exe

Tip: To add it to a specific project only, add -s project flag or create a .mcp.json file in your project root.

Connect to Cursor / Windsurf

LegalMCP works with any MCP-compatible client. Add the legal-mcp command to your AI tool's MCP server configuration.

Configuration

Set environment variables for API access. See SETUP.md for step-by-step instructions.

Variable	Required	Description
`COURTLISTENER_TOKEN`	Optional	Higher rate limits for case law search
`CLIO_TOKEN`	For Clio tools	OAuth token for practice management
`PACER_USERNAME`	For PACER tools	PACER account username
`PACER_PASSWORD`	For PACER tools	PACER account password
`LEGAL_MCP_DEMO`	Optional	Set `true` for demo mode (no API keys)

All 18 Tools

Case Law

Tool	What It Does
`search_case_law`	Search 4M+ US court opinions by topic, court, date range
`get_case_details`	Get full opinion text for a specific case
`get_case_record`	Get docket — parties, judges, procedural history
`find_citing_cases`	Find cases that cite a specific opinion
`find_cited_cases`	Find cases that an opinion relies on
`parse_legal_citations`	Parse Bluebook citations from any text
`list_available_courts`	List all 400+ courts and their codes
`list_reporter_abbreviations`	Decode reporter abbreviations (U.S., F.3d, etc.)

Practice Management — Clio

Tool	What It Does
`search_clients`	Search contacts by name, email, phone
`search_matters`	Search matters by number, description, status
`get_matter_details`	Full matter info — client, billing, deadlines
`get_time_entries`	Billable hours by matter, attorney, date range
`get_matter_tasks`	Tasks and to-dos for a matter
`get_matter_documents`	Documents attached to a matter
`get_calendar`	Hearings, deadlines, and meetings

Court Filings — PACER

Tool	What It Does
`search_federal_cases`	Search PACER for federal court cases
`get_federal_case`	Get case details from PACER
`get_court_filings`	Get docket entries and filings

Note: PACER charges $0.10/page for document downloads. LegalMCP searches and lists for free — it does not auto-download paid documents.

Pricing

Free and open source. All 18 tools, MIT license, no paywall. Just install and go.

Docker

# Copy and configure environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your API keys

# Run
docker-compose up

This starts the MCP server on port 8000 and the waitlist API on port 8080.

How It Works

LegalMCP is a Model Context Protocol server. MCP is an open standard that lets AI assistants call external tools — like searching case law or querying your Clio data.

┌──────────────┐     MCP      ┌──────────────┐      API      ┌──────────────┐
│              │  ──────────►  │              │  ──────────►  │              │
│  Claude /    │   Tool calls  │   LegalMCP   │   HTTP        │ CourtListener│
│  GPT /       │  ◄──────────  │   Server     │  ◄──────────  │ Clio / PACER │
│  Cursor      │   Results     │  (your PC)   │   JSON        │              │
└──────────────┘               └──────────────┘               └──────────────┘

Your data stays on your machine. LegalMCP runs locally and connects directly to the APIs.

Development

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/Mahender22/legal-mcp.git
cd legal-mcp
pip install -e ".[dev,waitlist]"

# Run tests
pytest legal_mcp/tests/ -v

# Run server locally
python -m legal_mcp.src.server

License

MIT — use it however you want.

This server cannot be installed

license - permissive license

quality - not tested

maintenance

How are these scores calculated?

Maintenance

–Maintainers

–Response time

–Release cycle

–Releases (12mo)

Commit activity

Issues opened vs closed

Resources

GitHub Repository

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