How do I use legal-mcp?

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., "@legal-mcp search for Supreme Court cases on free speech in 2023" 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.

Legal MCP Server

US case law search, citation parsing, practice management, and federal court filings for AI assistants — powered by FastMCP.

Hosted at https://legal-mcp-production.up.railway.app/mcp

Setup

Add the server to your Claude Code settings (~/.claude/settings.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "legal-mcp": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://legal-mcp-production.up.railway.app/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-CourtListener-Token": "YOUR_COURTLISTENER_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Getting a CourtListener token

Create a free account at https://www.courtlistener.com/sign-in/
Go to your profile and copy your API token
Add it as the X-CourtListener-Token header above

Optional: Clio practice management

If you have a Clio account with API access, add your OAuth token:

"headers": {
  "X-CourtListener-Token": "YOUR_COURTLISTENER_TOKEN",
  "X-Clio-Token": "YOUR_CLIO_OAUTH_TOKEN"
}

Available tools

Tool	Description
`search_case_law`	Search 4M+ US court opinions by topic, court, or date range
`get_case_details`	Get full text and details of a specific opinion
`get_case_record`	Get docket info — parties, attorneys, judges, procedural history
`find_citing_cases`	Find cases that cite a given opinion
`find_cited_cases`	Find cases cited by a given opinion
`parse_legal_citations`	Parse Bluebook-format citations from text
`list_available_courts`	List all US courts and their filter codes
`list_reporter_abbreviations`	Reference for reporter abbreviations (U.S., F.3d, etc.)
`search_federal_cases`	Search PACER for federal cases (requires PACER credentials)
`get_federal_case`	Get federal case details from PACER
`get_court_filings`	Get docket entries for a federal case from PACER
`search_clients`	Search Clio contacts (requires Clio token)
`search_matters`	Search Clio matters/cases
`get_matter_details`	Get full matter details from Clio
`get_time_entries`	Get billable hours from Clio
`get_matter_tasks`	Get tasks for a matter in Clio
`get_matter_documents`	Search documents in Clio
`get_calendar`	Get calendar entries from Clio

Self-hosting

git clone https://github.com/jscottym/legal-mcp.git
cd legal-mcp
pip install -r requirements.txt
python -m legal_mcp.server

Or with Docker:

docker build -t legal-mcp .
docker run -p 8000:8000 -e COURTLISTENER_TOKEN=your_token legal-mcp

Environment variables

Variable	Description
`PORT`	Server port (default: 8000)
`COURTLISTENER_TOKEN`	Fallback CourtListener API token
`CLIO_TOKEN`	Fallback Clio OAuth token
`PACER_USERNAME`	PACER login
`PACER_PASSWORD`	PACER password
`LEGAL_MCP_DEMO`	Set to `true` to use demo data without API keys