The British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) provides access to the most comprehensive set of British and Irish primary legal materials that are available for free and in one place on the internet.

In August 2007, BAILII included 76 databases covering 7 jurisdictions. The system contains around 11 gigabytes of legal materials and around 200,000 searchable documents.

Many people who use BAILLI are in fact self-litigants. English law is founded on the fundamental premise that everybody is equal in front of the law, and that ecerybody should have access to justice. This has indeed been demonstrated in high-profile ‘David versus Goliath’ cases such as the McLibel trial of 1997 (McDonald’s Corporation v Steel & Morris [1997] EWHC QB 366). The defendants ended up defending themselves, as they were denied legal aid (Wikipedia entry).

BAILII is legally constituted in the UK as a company limited by guarantee (No 4131252) and as a charitable trust (registered charity no 1084803) and has been supported by a number of major sponsors and is assisted by many other organisations and individuals. BAILII is hosted in the UK and Ireland by the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London and the Law Faculty, University College Cork.

The databases on BAILII are derived from a number of sources. Some of the data comes from existing free to air sites. Most of the databases are based on published and unpublished CD-ROMs or rely opon direct and indirect feeds by relevant courts, government departments and other organisations.

BAILII makes its website available on a subscription-free basis for the benefit of the public, including pro bono organisations, neighbourhood law centres, students and users in developing countries. BAILII incurs substantial running costs in maintaining its database and website, and is dependent on a continuing flow of donations in order to remain in operation. Commercial users of BAILII (including legal or other professionals, and publishers) and educational institutions are requested to make annual donations to BAILII in order to assist BAILII in meeting its running costs. BAILLI, arguably, is instrumental both in high-quality research, and driving the “knowledge economy” so pivotal to corporate law, where knowledge management subserves improved profitability of both law firms and their clients. Donations by cheque are preferred, and online donations can be made here: DONATE to BAILII . BAILII’s sponsors are listed here: Major Sponsors. BAILII thanks the Practical Law Company for their recent donation which has enabled us to replace their old hardware. Their continuing gratitude goes to The Society for Computers & Law also, in particular.

BAILLI have recently launched an appeal for further funds. The sources of funding have become more challenging because of the recent UK recession, from which the UK appears to be emerging albeit slowly. The timescale of this is such that BAILLI should like to improve their financial health within about three years, but obviously as soon as possible in reality.

In order that BAILII’s web site may continue to operate in the medium to long-term, BAILII needs to obtain informal commitments to provide funding on an annual basis from law firms, chambers, legal associations, academic institutions and publishers. In particular, legal professionals and commercial organisations are urged to recognise the benefit which they obtain from BAILII by making donations.BAILII’s operating costs have been running at approximately £160,000 per annum, excluding replacement of computer hardware and other items which are not incurred annually. This figure will be reduced following an offer by The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies to reduce the quarterly overhead charge which it makes to BAILII for use of office space at the Institute and other services. The BAILLI official website provides details as follows:

BAILII’s future is uncertain because of the lack of secure funding to meet these costs. A major funder has decided not to continue funding BAILII, and there is uncertainty about the continuing provision of funding by other major funders. If BAILII is to survive, it is essential that BAILII should obtain new sources of funding before its funds run out. We need much more support, partly to replace major sponsors who have indicated that they are not able, or may not be able, to continue funding, and partly to make up for the fact that in any event BAILII’s expenditure has been exceeding its income from sponsorship in recent years.This appeal is mainly directed towards sets of Chambers and solicitors’ firms. Legal associations, academic institutions and publishers are also invited to contribute. We are confident we can reach our target provided that all those who use BAILII and who want to go on using BAILII respond to this urgent call for help.

Alistair Sloan, an undergraduate law student, tweeted this afternoon about how securing funding for BAILLI is essential also for ‘open justice’. Lord Denning would have been proud of such a comment from a trainee in the law profession.

Anyone can make their opinions known on the “Save BAILLI” Facebook page.

To make an actual donation, you may contact BAILLI directly, or use this link.

The author would like to thank Joseph Ury for help in writing this article.

[Note to editors: This campaign is separate from the BPP Legal Awareness Society. Students of this Society support the aims of this appeal for funding, but neither the article nor the funding campaign described above do not necessarily represent the views of BPP itself.]