Statute & Regulation Lookup
AI Statute and Regulation Lookup:
Current Text, Current Law
The Law Lion pulls the current text of federal and state statutes, regulations, and administrative codes — with amendment flags, effective dates, and Bluebook-formatted citations. Covers the full US Code, all 50 state statutory codes, and the Code of Federal Regulations.
State Statutory Research: 6 Key Practice Areas
State statutory research matters most in these practice areas where law varies significantly across jurisdictions.
Employment Law
State minimum wage, non-compete enforceability, paid leave requirements, and WARN Act equivalents differ significantly by state.
Contract Law
Statute of frauds, UCC Article 2 variations, and state-specific contract enforcement rules vary across states.
Data Privacy
California (CCPA/CPRA), Texas (TDPSA 2024), Virginia (VCDPA), and 15+ other states have enacted distinct data privacy statutes.
Consumer Protection
State UDAP statutes vary in scope, private rights of action, and attorney fee shifting.
Real Property
Recording requirements, landlord-tenant rights, and eviction procedures are entirely state law.
Corporate Law
Delaware, California, New York, and other state corporate statutes govern entity formation and governance.
Amendment Tracking: Why Current Text Matters
Statutory research errors from using outdated text fall into 3 categories. The Law Lion flags amendments identifying when sections were last changed.
Citing an Amended Provision
A contract references a provision that was amended. The client's obligations may differ from what the current statute requires.
Applying a Repealed Exemption
An exemption the client relied on was repealed. The compliance analysis is now wrong.
Missing a New Requirement
A state enacted a new statute after the client's policy was drafted. The existing policy does not comply.
Cross-Jurisdictional Statutory Comparison
Attorneys advising multi-state businesses need to compare statutory requirements across states. The Law Lion returns side-by-side comparisons identifying 4 key variables.
Existence
Whether the provision exists in each jurisdiction.
Statutory Language
The specific statutory language in each jurisdiction.
Effective Date
The effective date of the current version in each jurisdiction.
Judicial Interpretation
Known differences in judicial interpretation across jurisdictions.
Regulatory Research After Loper Bright (2024)
The Supreme Court's 2024 decision overruled Chevron deference — ending 40 years of courts deferring to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes.
Statutory Text Governs
Courts now interpret ambiguous statutory language themselves rather than deferring to the agency's reading. The plain text matters more than the agency's regulatory interpretation.
Agency Guidance Carries Less Weight
Informal guidance, interpretive rules, and opinion letters no longer receive Chevron deference. Attorneys must anchor analysis in the statutory text itself.
The Law Lion's Approach
Statute lookup returns statutory text as primary authority, with agency regulations and guidance as supplementary material — aligned with the post-Loper Bright landscape.
Statutory Text Into Drafting
Statute lookup integrates directly into The Law Lion's drafting tools for 3 common use cases.
Contract Compliance Clauses
Pull current statutory text for a compliance obligation, insert the relevant subsection into the contract with a properly formatted citation.
Statutory Claim Elements
Pull the elements of a statutory cause of action directly from the statute and generate element-by-element allegations in the complaint.
Regulatory Compliance Memos
Pull current regulatory requirements for compliance analysis, insert with CFR citations, and flag recent amendments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. State administrative codes and regulations are covered across all 50 states. The Law Lion searches state agency regulations by subject matter, agency, or section number — and returns the current codified version with the effective date.
Session laws — statutes as enacted but not yet codified — are accessible for recently passed legislation. The Law Lion notes when a statute has not yet been codified and provides the session law citation and text.
Yes. Select multiple jurisdictions and a statutory topic, and The Law Lion returns a side-by-side comparison of the relevant statutory language across states.
Yes. Recent final rules published in the Federal Register but not yet incorporated into the official CFR are flagged, with the Federal Register volume, page, and effective date provided.
Post-Loper Bright, the statute controls over agency interpretation where the statutory text is ambiguous. The Law Lion returns statutory text as primary authority. Agency regulations are supplementary materials.