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Narrative review reveals the evolution and maintenance of open legal databases in the UK and Ireland, highlighting challenges posed by artificial intelligence.
Throughout 2026, the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) 1 is celebrating over 25 years of providing free access to the law for all. The non-profit charitable trust was formed in 2000 to break down some of the practical and financial barriers to legal access by providing free online databases of case law, legislation and other legal materials. A quarter of a century later, BAILII remains a reliable, independent cookie-free source of legal information used by everyone from practitioners to members of the general public. While other free sites have entered the legal information marketplace in recent years, BAILII remains the most comprehensive ‘one stop shop’ for primary legal materials from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. This article discusses what BAILII does, the unique content held on its database, how it is rising to the challenges that AI now brings, and how it is funded. It also shows you how you can help make sure it continues to do its good work for the next 25 years.
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Hale et al. (2026) studied this question.
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