Custom ECLI integration development
Appfront builds integrations with case law via the European Case Law Identifier, ECLI, the standard identifier for court rulings across Europe. The Dutch judiciary (De Rechtspraak) makes published rulings available as open data through a web service. We bring those rulings into your own systems: linked to case files and knowledge articles, with alerts for new rulings in your areas of law, and with references that stay accurate.
What is an ECLI integration?
Every published court ruling in the Netherlands has an ECLI, the European Case Law Identifier. The code consists of a country code, a court code, the year and a sequence number, and it never changes. The Rechtspraak publishes rulings as open data and offers a web service through which rulings can be searched and retrieved by ECLI, together with their metadata and text.
Lawyers rely on case law every day: in a case file, in a memo, in a knowledge article or in a client-facing product. Often a ruling is looked up on the website, copied and saved as a PDF in the file. New rulings in a practice area are tracked through newsletters. A reference in an old document points to a link that no longer works. And anyone wanting to know which rulings have been used across their case files has to work it out by hand.
We build custom because the integration has to fit your work: which systems you use for case files and knowledge, which areas of law and courts you follow, and how rulings end up in your products. Which data the judiciary's web service offers and under what conditions we review in the first step.
Rulings in your systems
Rulings retrieved by ECLI with metadata and text, stored in your case files, knowledge system or product.
New rulings flagged
A notification when new rulings appear in the practice areas and courts you follow.
References that hold up
Citations based on the ECLI that keep working and can be verified.
How we build your ECLI integration
We start with how you work: which systems you use, which practice areas, and how rulings are currently found and stored.
Your case file and knowledge systems, practice areas, courts and products.
Searching and retrieving rulings via the web service, and storing them in your systems.
Alerts for new rulings, and integration with case files and articles.
Checking references in documents, and maintenance when the web service changes.
What an ECLI integration actually does
The components below come up in almost every ECLI integration. Which ones you need depends on how you use it.
Search
Searching rulings by court, date and practice area.
Retrieving
Metadata and text per ECLI.
Integrate
Rulings attached to case files, articles or products.
Alerts
New rulings in the practice areas you follow.
References
Checking citations in documents.
Labels
Your own summaries and labels per ruling.
Who we build ECLI integrations for
The integration is intended for those who use case law in their own systems or products.
Law firms
Rulings in case files. Linking them to the case file is the core.
Legal departments
An in-house knowledge base. Alerting matters most.
Publishers
Case law in products. Metadata and text are what's needed.
Insurers
Legal aid and damages claims. Rulings by subject are the core.
Technology and integrations
This page covers integrations with rulings via ECLI. For law firms, see our page on software for law firms; for legal documents, our page on legal document software; and for legal processes, our page on legal workflow automation. You can read about how we work under custom software development.
Why choose Appfront for your ECLI integration?
A missed ruling can cost a case. That is what we build on: rulings within your own systems, alerts when new case law appears, and references that stay accurate.
Nothing missed
New rulings in your areas of law stand out.
No loose PDFs
Rulings are linked to the case by their ECLI.
References that work
References stay the same, even when websites change.
Security and privacy in an ECLI integration
Published rulings are public, but the integration with your case files and notes is not. Access is set up by role, and the integration only retrieves data without sending case file information outside.
The integration runs in a European data centre or in your own environment, with encrypted storage and daily backups.
Frequently asked questions about an ECLI integration
Questions that lawyers and publishers ask before they start with this.
The European Case Law Identifier is a fixed identifier for court rulings in Europe. It consists of a country code, a code for the court, the year and a serial number, and it never changes.
From the open data of the Rechtspraak (the Netherlands Judiciary), which makes published rulings available through a web service. First the index is searched, then the rulings are retrieved by ECLI. We look at which data and conditions apply in the first step.
No. The Judiciary publishes a selection of rulings. The integration works with what has been published; for rulings that are not public, other sources remain necessary. A ruling that is published or amended later is updated in the next retrieval cycle.
Yes. You define which areas of law, courts or search terms you follow, and the integration notifies you of new rulings that fall under them. That way, nobody has to search every day. For each alert, you can see why a ruling was flagged, so the list does not fill up with rulings that matter little.
Yes. A ruling is linked by ECLI to a case file or knowledge article, together with its text and metadata. This makes it possible to see later which case law was used in which case file. Your own summaries and labels for a ruling can be found across the firm, on every case file where the ruling appears.
A reference based on the ECLI stays the same even if a website changes, and anyone can look it up. The integration can check references in documents and lead to the current source.
For firms, departments and publishers that use case law structurally in their own case or knowledge systems or in products, and that currently search and copy by hand.
Case law in your own systems?
Tell us which systems you use for case law, which areas of law you follow and how you currently find rulings. We will show you what the integration looks like.