About ALI
About ALI
The American Law Institute is the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law.
ALI drafts, discusses, revises, and publishes Restatements of the Law, Model Codes, and Principles of Law that are enormously influential in the courts and legislatures, as well as in legal scholarship and education.
By participating in the Institute’s work, its distinguished members have the opportunity to influence the development of the law in both existing and emerging areas, to work with other eminent lawyers, judges, and academics, to give back to a profession to which they are deeply dedicated, and to contribute to the public good.
Creation and Projects
The American Law Institute was founded in 1923 following a study conducted by a group of prominent American judges, lawyers, and teachers known as "The Committee on the Establishment of a Permanent Organization for the Improvement of the Law."
We speak of the work which the organization should undertake as a Restatement; its object should not only be to help make certain much that is now uncertain and to simplify unnecessary complexities, but also to promote those changes which will tend better to adapt the laws to the needs of life.
- From the Report of the Committee
The Committee reported that the two chief defects in American law — its uncertainty and its complexity — had produced a "general dissatisfaction with the administration of justice." According to the Committee, the law's uncertainty stemmed in part from a lack of agreement on fundamental principles of the common law, while the law's complexity was attributed to the numerous variations within different jurisdictions of the United States. ALI's incorporators included Chief Justice and former President William Howard Taft, future Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, and former Secretary of State Elihu Root. Judges Benjamin N. Cardozo and Learned Hand were among its early leaders.
The American Law Institute Documentary (2019)
The American Law Institute was selected to be profiled by Visionaries in its 23rd season. Visionaries is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to producing and distributing media that inspires individuals and communities to take action for positive social change. Since 1995, Visionaries has been producing a documentary series for public television. Hosted by Sam Waterston of the TV show Law & Order, the documentary series highlights the stories of nonprofit organizations around the world that are working to make a positive difference in their communities and beyond.
ALI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in the District of Columbia.