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Revolution in legal research: LexMea simplifies access to law!
Law students at Bielefeld University benefit from LexMea, an innovative platform for legal research that combines digitalization and data protection.
Revolution in legal research: LexMea simplifies access to law!
Law students often struggle with the difficulty of searching for legal texts. This research is not only laborious but also expensive. A new approach that could address this challenge is the online platform LexMea. Developed by Michael Schlitzer, an employee at the Bielefeld Chair of Public Law and Digitalization Law under the direction of Professor Dr. Thomas Wischmeyer, LexMea relies on innovative methods to make access to legal information easier.
The development was partly financed by a start-up bonus from the city of Berlin, which amounts to 50,000 euros. In addition, the platform has also received private funding and support from friends. LexMea offers a user-friendly presentation of all legal texts as well as innovative features such as laminated diagrams that help users better understand the content.
Innovative functions and user-friendliness
The traditional way of processing legal texts is often characterized by objects such as the “Habersack”, a traditional collection of German laws, which is heavy and analogue. LexMea could soon make these old-fashioned approaches obsolete, giving students and practitioners 24/7 access to key legislation without the need for expensive updates.
A special feature of LexMea is its strict data protection, which goes beyond the requirements of EU law. The platform only collects technical cookies and processes data exclusively within the EU. Since its launch in 2024, LexMea has seen a steadily growing number of daily users, which speaks to the acceptance and need for such innovative solutions.
Transparency through open data
Another significant contribution to digitalization in the legal system comes from the OpenLegalData platform. This offers machine-readable access to judgments, laws and other legal content via a REST API. This API is designed to be used without prior registration, unless an API key is required, which is done through registration.
The project is run by volunteers who actively seek support to promote transparency in the rule of law through open data. Full documentation and availability of API clients in programming languages such as Python, PHP and Java make it easier for developers to integrate the platform into their projects. The source code is published on GitHub, which helps promote open data.
Data protection in the digital world
The challenges of data protection in the digital world should not be underestimated. New technologies such as artificial intelligence in particular require constant review of the legal basis and the type of data processing. The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is of central importance in this context as it establishes uniform data protection law within the EU.
The implementation of the ePrivacy Directive is a further step towards regulating data protection in electronic communications. This directive must be transposed into national law by the Member States and contains requirements for the storage of information on end devices and the confidentiality of communications. An ePrivacy regulation has also been under negotiation since 2017, which is intended to follow the current regulations.
In summary, it can be said that both the LexMea platform and OpenLegalData offer important impulses for modern, transparent and data protection-compliant legal design. At a time when data protection and digital accessibility are playing an increasingly central role, such initiatives are essential for the future of law.