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Legal & Public Records

Public-records data without the provider SDKs: U.S. court dockets (CourtListener), SEC EDGAR filings + Form 4 insider trades, and OFAC SDN sanctions screening. All backed by free public sources.

What it scrapes​

SourceData
CourtListener (free API)Full-text docket search across U.S. federal courts; single-docket detail by CourtListener id
SEC EDGAR (public XML)Filing search by ticker + form type (default 8-K); recent Form 4 insider-transaction filings per ticker
OFAC SDN listName screening against the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list

Endpoints​

Router: routers/legal_docs.py · tag: Legal & Public Records

MethodPathSummary
GET/v1/legal/dockets/searchFull-text docket search (query, limit 1–100, default 20)
GET/v1/legal/dockets/{docket_id}Single docket by CourtListener integer id
GET/v1/legal/sec/searchEDGAR filing search (ticker, form_type default 8-K, limit 1–100, default 20)
GET/v1/legal/sec/insider/{ticker}Recent Form 4 insider trades (limit 1–100, default 20)
GET/v1/legal/sanctions/{name}OFAC SDN name screening

GET /v1/legal/dockets/search​

Query params: query (required, max 500 chars), limit (1–100, default 20).

curl -X GET "http://localhost:8005/v1/legal/dockets/search?query=securities%20fraud&limit=5" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <key>"

Response (200):

{
  "success": true,
  "query": "securities fraud",
  "data": [
    {
      "id": 1234567,
      "case_name": "SEC v. Example Corp",
      "court": "S.D.N.Y.",
      "date_filed": "2026-07-01",
      "docket_number": "1:26-cv-01234",
      "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/1234567/"
    }
  ]
}

GET /v1/legal/dockets/{docket_id}​

curl -X GET "http://localhost:8005/v1/legal/dockets/1234567" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <key>"

Response (200): full docket detail — parties, attorneys, filings timeline, and documents.

GET /v1/legal/sec/search​

Query params: ticker (required, max 10 chars), form_type (default 8-K), limit (1–100, default 20).

curl -X GET "http://localhost:8005/v1/legal/sec/search?ticker=AAPL&form_type=8-K&limit=5" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <key>"

Response (200):

{
  "success": true,
  "ticker": "AAPL",
  "form_type": "8-K",
  "data": [
    {
      "accession_number": "0000320193-26-000123",
      "form_type": "8-K",
      "filing_date": "2026-08-10",
      "description": "Current report — results of operations",
      "url": "https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/..."
    }
  ]
}

GET /v1/legal/sec/insider/{ticker}​

curl -X GET "http://localhost:8005/v1/legal/sec/insider/AAPL?limit=5" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <key>"

Response (200):

{
  "success": true,
  "ticker": "AAPL",
  "data": [
    {
      "filing_date": "2026-08-14",
      "insider_name": "Timothy D. Cook",
      "title": "Chief Executive Officer",
      "transaction_type": "SALE",
      "shares": 50000,
      "value": 11500000,
      "url": "https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/..."
    }
  ]
}

GET /v1/legal/sanctions/{name}​

curl -X GET "http://localhost:8005/v1/legal/sanctions/Example%20Entity" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <key>"

Response (200):

{
  "success": true,
  "name": "Example Entity",
  "data": {
    "matched": true,
    "matches": [
      {
        "name": "EXAMPLE ENTITY",
        "type": "Entity",
        "programs": ["SDGT"],
        "addresses": ["Iran"],
        "remark": "Specially Designated Global Terrorist"
      }
    ]
  }
}

MCP tools​

There is no dedicated MCP tool for the legal endpoints yet — use them directly via REST. For AI-agent workflows, pry_scrape can pull any public court/SEC page and pry_extract can structure it.

Who uses this​

  • Compliance & AML teams — OFAC screening as a pre-onboarding / pre-transaction check.
  • Investigative journalists — docket search across courts and insider trade timelines.
  • Quant / equity research — Form 4 insider-trade signals as an input to trading models.
  • Legal tech — case monitoring pipelines that diff dockets over time.

Next steps​