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

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.