The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) is the leading source of Canadian law online.
The entire platform—from decision processing and management to the search engine, user interface, and editorial services—has been designed and is maintained by Lexum.
Over 3.7 million legal documents hosted:
Decisions, statutes, regulations, and doctrinal texts available on the platform.
Making Law Accessible to Everyone
In the late 1990s, access to legal information in Canada was limited, costly, and fragmented. Both legal professionals and citizens had few ways to easily consult court decisions or legislative texts online.
The Federation of Law Societies of Canada then set out to create a public resource for all Canadians: a free, centralized national legal library covering all jurisdictions across the country.
To bring this vision to life, the Federation turned to Lexum, already a pioneer in publishing legal information on the Internet.
Designing a platform capable of processing and delivering a large volume of legal documents from multiple jurisdictions.
While ensuring :
- Fast, reliable, and user-friendly navigation and search;
- Impeccable editorial quality and legal accuracy;
- Controlled operating costs to guarantee free and sustainable access.
A Comprehensive and Scalable Infrastructure
Lexum develops and manages the entire software infrastructure of CanLII — from document collection to online publication.
Key developments include:
- An advanced search engine optimized for legal content.
- An automatic citator, adding hyperlinks to cited references within decisions.
- A version comparator, enabling users to view different versions of a legislative text side by side.
- A file converter, transforming documents into standardized and accessible HTML and PDF formats.
Continuously improved by Lexum’s teams, these tools ensure that CanLII offers a smooth, reliable, and comprehensive research experience — making it the most visited legal information website in Canada.
CanLII’s homepage provides a single entry point to all Canadian legal sources. Users can explore decisions, legislation, and commentary from jurisdictions across the country.
Intelligent Document Flow Management
CanLII is built on a highly automated architecture designed by Lexum:
- Automatic data processing & metadata extraction for fast and accurate indexing.
- Archiving and document flow control ensuring consistency and reliability in publication.
- Traffic monitoring and access control to guarantee security and compliance.
This level of automation minimizes manual tasks and ensures efficient, consistent handling of legal information.
Example of search results on CanLII for the query “hotel restaurant employee layoff tattoo.” The platform allows users to quickly access relevant decisions, statutes, and commentary through a search engine optimized for legal content.
A Global Model for Open Access to Law
Today, CanLII is recognized worldwide as a leading model for open access to legal information.
Thanks to Lexum, the platform offers:
- Universal and free access to Canadian case law and legislation;
- Consistent reliability and editorial quality;
- A robust, scalable technological infrastructure designed to support continuous content growth.
CanLII reflects the shared mission of Lexum and the Federation: to make the law accessible, transparent, and enduring for all.
CanLII, powered by Lexum, is available at:
www.canlii.org
