Katana VentraIP

American Law Institute

The American Law Institute (ALI) is a research and advocacy group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and its adaptation to changing social needs.[1] Members of ALI include law professors, practicing attorneys, judges and other professionals in the legal industry. ALI writes documents known as "treatises", which are summaries of state common law (legal principles that come out of state court decisions). Many courts and legislatures look to ALI's treatises as authoritative reference material concerning many legal issues. However, some legal experts and the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, along with some conservative commentators,[2] have voiced concern about ALI rewriting the law.[3]

Abbreviation

ALI

1923 (1923)

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Diane Wood

David F. Levi

ali.org

The ALI drafts, approves, and publishes Restatements of the Law, Principles of the Law, model acts, and other proposals for law reform. The ALI is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


At any time, ALI is engaged in up to 20 projects examining the law. Some current projects have been watched closely by the media, particularly the revision of the Model Penal Code Sexual Assault provisions.[4][5][6]

An expert in the field of law, usually a legal scholar, is designated as reporter. With the help of assistants, the reporter does the basic research and prepares material.

An initial draft is submitted for suggestions and revisions to a small group of advisers—judges, lawyers, and law teachers—with special knowledge of the subject. In most projects, the draft is also reviewed by a group of ALI members with a particular interest in the topic.

The revised draft is next submitted for additional analysis and consideration to the ALI Council, a body of some 70 prominent judges, practicing lawyers, and law teachers. The draft can then be referred either to the reporter and advisers for further review or to the general ALI membership.

When approved by the council, the draft is presented as a tentative draft to an annual meeting of the entire membership for debate and discussion. The membership may approve the draft, subject to revisions, or refer it back to the reporter and advisers. A series of tentative drafts is produced in this way over a number of years.

A proposed final draft consisting of all prior tentative drafts as modified by membership action may then be submitted to the council and the membership. When the project has been approved by both, an official text is published.

(1923–1936)

George W. Wickersham

(1936–1947)

George Wharton Pepper

(1947–1961)

Harrison Tweed

(1961–1976)

Norris Darrell

R. Ammi Cutter (1976–1980)

Roswell B. Perkins (1980–1993)

(1993–2000)

Charles Alan Wright

Michael Traynor (2000–2008)

(2008–2017)

Roberta Cooper Ramo

(2017–present)[19]

David F. Levi

Arthur Linton Corbin

SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics

Official website