A web-based platform designed to help users understand legal terms, download state-specific legal documents, access legal rights, read legal guides, and find official application links in a simple and accessible way.
✅ Legal Dictionary – AI-powered explanations of legal terms.
✅ Download Legal Forms – Get state-specific legal documents.
✅ Apply for Legal Services – Redirect users to official application links.
✅ Legal Rights Database – Browse fundamental and employment rights.
✅ Legal Articles & Guides – Read structured legal guides.
✅ Smart Search – Search across laws, forms, and rights efficiently.
- Backend: Node.js, Express.js
- Database: MongoDB (Free Tier)
- AI Chatbot: Chatbase
- Templating Engine: EJS
- Authentication: passport.js
- Clone the repository
bash git clone https://github.com/yourusername/legal-help-platform.git cd legal-help-platform
- Install dependencies
bash npm install
- Set up environment variables
Create a.envfile and add the following:
env MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key PORT=5000
- Start the server
bash npm start
The server will run on http://localhost:5000
legal-help-platform/
│── controllers/ # Handles business logic
│── models/ # Mongoose schemas
│── routes/ # API endpoints
│── views/ # EJS templates
│── public/ # Static files (CSS, JS)
│── utils/ # Utility functions
│── middleware/ # Custom middleware
│── config/ # Database & API config
│── app.js # Main Express app
│── server.js # Server entry point
│── README.md # Project documentation
│── package.json # Dependencies & scripts
- Search legal term
http GET /api/dictionary/:term
Response: AI-generated explanation of the legal term
- Get all forms
http GET /api/forms
- Get a specific form by ID
http GET /api/forms/:id
- Download a form
http GET /api/forms/download/:id
- Get all rights
http GET /api/rights
- Get a specific right by ID
http GET /api/rights/:id
- Search across rights, forms, and dictionary
http GET /api/search?q=your_query
The smart search works by:
- Searching legal terms in the dictionary database
- Searching rights stored in MongoDB
- Searching legal forms and their descriptions
- Returning combined results in a ranked order
Example API response for /api/search?q=tenant rights:
json { "dictionary_results": ["Tenant Rights - Explanation"], "rights_results": ["Right to Safe Housing"], "form_results": ["Rental Agreement Form"] } `
- Homepage (
/) – Landing page with navigation. - Legal Dictionary (
/dictionary) – Search legal terms. - Legal Forms (
/forms) – View and download legal documents. - Legal Rights (
/rights) – Browse legal rights and guides.