What is the Legal Help Data Standard?
It's a shared set of field names, categories, and values for describing legal help organizations, the services they offer, and the legal help content available to the public. Think of it as an agreed-upon way to fill in a spreadsheet — so your directory in Ohio and the one in California organize their data the same way, and tools (including AI) can understand both.
It's not software. You can use it in Airtable, Google Sheets, a database, or any system. What matters is that the field names and the dropdown options are consistent.
Who is this for?
Anyone who maintains information about legal services or legal help content for the public: statewide legal help website managers, law librarians, court self-help center coordinators, hotline operators, legal aid intake staff, and technologists building legal help tools.
The three core databases
Every legal help directory tracks three kinds of things. You might have them in one big spreadsheet or across several systems. The standard organizes them into three connected tables:
Organizations
Who provides legal help? Legal aid groups, courts, law libraries, nonprofits, hotlines. One row per organization.
See all fields →Services
What does each organization offer? Eviction defense, family law clinic, benefits hotline. One row per service. This is where matching happens.
See all fields →Content Index
What guides, forms, tools, and self-help materials exist? One row per piece of content — so people and AI can find the right resource.
See all fields →Coming soon
📄 Forms and Documents
A fourth table for cataloging court forms, government applications, and legal documents — with fields for form number, issuing court, effective date, and which guided interviews or document assembly tools can fill them.
🛡️ Content Safety Wrapper
Additional fields for content provenance (human-authored vs. AI-generated), accuracy verification, subject matter expert review status, and appropriate disclaimers — especially important as AI-generated legal content proliferates. These will apply to Content Index entries and to LIST code descriptions.
Field list: Organizations
The complete field list. Each field links to detailed documentation, option lists, and examples on the Organizations page.
🏢 All fields
| Priority | Field name | Slug | Type | Options (if select) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Req | Organization name | org_name | Text | |
| Req | Website URL | url | URL | |
| Req | State | jurisdiction_state_code | Single select | Two-letter state codes (IL, CA, NY…) |
| Req | Organization type | org_type | Single select | legal-aid · court · law-library · public-defender · dv-resource · nonprofit · bar-association · community-agency · government-agency · for-profit · lawyer-referral · social-services · legal-help-website · legal-services-coalition |
| Rec | Jurisdiction detail | jurisdiction | Linked records → Jurisdictions (FIPS codes) | |
| Rec | Jurisdiction level | jurisdiction_level | Single select | national · statewide · multi-county · single-county · city |
| Rec | Description | org_description | Long text | |
| Rec | Audience served | audience_served | Multi-select | general-population · low-income · citizens-permanent-residents · veterans-military · domestic-violence · immigrants-refugees · seniors · youth · people-with-disabilities · farmworkers · experiencing-homelessness · incarcerated · native-american-tribal · lgbtq · small-business · self-represented · parents-with-minors |
| Rec | What they offer | offering_type | Multi-select | self-service · advice · limited-action · full-representation · classes-workshops · referral · dispute-resolution |
| Rec | Legal issues | list_codes | Linked records → Legal Issues (LIST codes) | |
| Rec | Phone | phone | Phone | |
| Opt | Languages | languages | Multi-select | en · es · zh-cmn · zh-yue · vi · ko · ar · ru · ht · pt · tl · fr · am · so · asl · other |
| Opt | Delivery mode | delivery_mode | Multi-select | in-person · phone · text · video · online-async · mobile-outreach · mail |
| Opt | Business model | org_business_model | Single select | nonprofit · for-profit · government |
| Opt | ||||
| Opt | Intake URL | url_intake | URL | |
| Opt | Address | address_* | Text fields (street, city, state, zip) | |
| Opt | Notes | notes | Long text |
Example: an organization record
| org_name | url | jurisdiction_state_code | org_type | jurisdiction_level | audience_served | offering_type | list_codes | phone | languages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prairie State Legal Services | lincolnlegal.org | IL | legal-aid | multi-county | low-income, citizens-permanent-residents | full-representation, advice | HO-00-00-00-00, FA-00-00-00-00 | (877) 342-7891 | en, es |
| Cook County Law Library | cookcountylawlibrary.org | IL | law-library | single-county | general-population | self-service | (312) 603-5423 | en | |
| Centro Legal de la Raza | centrolegal.org | CA | legal-aid | single-county | low-income, immigrants-refugees | full-representation, advice | IM-00-00-00-00, HO-00-00-00-00 | (510) 437-1554 | en, es |
Field list: Services
The complete field list. Detailed documentation on the Services page.
⚖️ All fields
| Priority | Field name | Slug | Type | Options (if select) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Req | Service name | service_name | Text | |
| Req | Organization | org_id | Linked record → Organizations | |
| Req | Legal issues | list_codes | Linked records → Legal Issues (LIST codes) | |
| Req | Jurisdiction | jurisdiction | Linked records → Jurisdictions (FIPS codes) | Inherits from org if not set |
| Rec | Service type | service_type | Multi-select | self-service · advice · limited-action · full-representation · classes-workshops · referral · dispute-resolution |
| Rec | Audience served | audience_served | Multi-select | Same 17 options as Organizations. Inherits from org if not set. |
| Rec | Languages | languages | Multi-select | Same ISO codes as Organizations. Inherits from org if not set. |
| Rec | Delivery mode | delivery_mode | Multi-select | in-person · phone · text · video · online-async · mobile-outreach · mail |
| Rec | Phases served | phases_served | Multi-select | understanding-rights · prevention-planning · negotiation-resolution · application-filing · pre-lawsuit · responding-to-action · active-case · post-decision · emergency |
| Opt | Service URL | service_url | URL | |
| Opt | Description | service_description | Long text | |
| Opt | Capacity | capacity | Single select | accepting · waitlist · limited · appointment-only · seasonal · not-accepting · unknown |
| Opt | Cost | cost | Single select | free · sliding-scale · low-cost · free-if-eligible · pro-bono · unknown |
| Opt | Eligibility notes | eligibility_notes | Long text | |
| Opt | Phone | phone | Phone | If different from org |
| Opt | Opening hours | opening_hours | Long text |
Example: a service record
| service_name | org_id | list_codes | jurisdiction | service_type | audience_served | phases_served | delivery_mode | capacity | cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Housing Eviction Defense | Prairie State Legal Svcs | HO-02-00-00-00 | Cook County IL (17031) | full-representation | low-income | responding-to-action, active-case | in-person, phone | limited | free |
| Family Law Brief Advice Clinic | Prairie State Legal Svcs | FA-00-00-00-00 | IL (statewide) | advice | low-income | understanding-rights, pre-lawsuit | phone, video | accepting | free |
| Immigration Legal Help Hotline | Centro Legal de la Raza | IM-00-00-00-00 | Alameda County CA (06001) | advice | low-income, immigrants-refugees | understanding-rights, application-filing | phone | accepting | free |
Field list: Content Index
The complete field list. Detailed documentation on the Content Index page.
📚 All fields
| Priority | Field name | Slug | Type | Options (if select) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Req | Title | title | Text | |
| Req | URL | url | URL | |
| Req | Jurisdiction | jurisdiction | Linked records → Jurisdictions (FIPS codes) | |
| Rec | Description | description | Long text | |
| Rec | Content format | content_format | Multi-select | written-guide · how-to · faq · document-assembly · fillable-form · video · podcast · decision-tree · checklist |
| Rec | Legal issues | list_codes | Linked records → Legal Issues (LIST codes) | |
| Rec | Language | languages | Multi-select | Same ISO codes as Organizations |
| Rec | Content level | content_level | Single select | public · professional |
| Rec | Legal position | legal_position | Single select | neutral · plaintiff · defendant |
| Rec | Publisher | publisher | Text or linked record | |
| Opt | Jurisdiction depth | jurisdiction_depth | Single select | federal · state-specific · county-local · court-specific · universal |
| Opt | Phases served | phases_served | Multi-select | Same 9 options as Services |
| Opt | Audience served | audience_served | Multi-select | Same 17 options as Organizations |
| Opt | Spanish URL | url_spanish | URL | |
| Opt | Last reviewed date | last_reviewed_date | Date | |
| Opt | Currency status | currency_status | Single select | current · aging · stale · unknown |
| Opt | Content notes | content_notes | Long text |
Example: a content index record
| title | url | jurisdiction | content_format | list_codes | languages | content_level | legal_position | publisher | phases_served |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How to Respond to an Eviction Notice in California | selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/… | CA (06) | written-guide, document-assembly | HO-02-03-00-00 | en, es, vi, ko | public | defendant | CA Courts Self-Help | responding-to-action |
| Ending a Lease in Illinois | illinoislegalaid.org/… | IL (17) | faq | HO-06-10-00-00 | en, es | public | neutral | Illinois Legal Aid Online | understanding-rights |
| Wills for Estate Planning | illinoislegalaid.org/… | IL (17) | faq | ES-01-00-00-00 | en, es | public | neutral | Illinois Legal Aid Online | prevention-planning |
Guiding principles
Warm handoff, not perfect matching
Filter out obvious mismatches. Perfect eligibility determination happens at intake. The standard improves the odds, not guarantees them.
Unknown is better than wrong
Every field can be left blank. If you don't know, don't guess. You can always fill things in later.
Start with what you have
Required fields get you listed. Recommended fields get you matched. Optional fields refine the match. A partially-tagged directory you can use today beats a perfect one that takes a year.
Keep your own system too
If you already have categories and tags, keep them. The standard sits alongside your internal classifications, not instead of them.
How to get started
Step 1: Pick the database you need most — usually Organizations.
Step 2: Create a spreadsheet or Airtable with the required fields. Each subpage tells you exactly what to name the columns and what dropdown options to include.
Step 3: Fill in the required fields first, then add recommended fields as you have time.
Step 4: Add Services and the Content Index when you need them.
Open standard, open license
The Legal Help Data Standard is published under CC BY 4.0 by Stanford Legal Design Lab in collaboration with the Legal Help Commons community. It's designed to work with the LIST taxonomy for legal issue classification, Legal Schema.org markup for search engine visibility, and HSDS / Open Referral for directory interchange.