Laymans for Legal Tech Developers
Access to justice is a $250B+ unmet legal need in America - and it requires technology infrastructure that doesn't exist yet.
Laymans is building that infrastructure: a vertical AI legal agent (Leyla), end-to-end encrypted collaboration tools, integrated payment processing, real-time legal data APIs, and a marketplace connecting millions of users with legal services. If you're building legal technology - document automation, case management, legal research tools, compliance software - Laymans offers partnership opportunities that accelerate your go-to-market and amplify your impact.
Why Integrate with Laymans?
- Instant distribution - Access users actively seeking legal solutions, with built-in payment processing
- AI infrastructure - Leverage Leyla's legal AI capabilities without building your own LLM stack
- Interoperability - Connect with existing legal platforms (LegalServer, MyCase, Clio) through our integration layer
- Access-to-justice market - Reach underserved communities with high legal needs and low service availability
The Laymans Tech Stack
Laymans is more than a legal platform - it's an access-to-justice operating system. Here's what we've built that you can leverage:
Core Infrastructure
| Component | Technology | Developer Opportunity |
|---|---|---|
| AI Legal Agent (Leyla) | Custom LLM fine-tuned on legal corpus | Embed Leyla into your tools for document analysis, legal research, argument structuring |
| End-to-End Encryption | Signal Protocol implementation | Secure collaboration layer for attorney-client privileged communications |
| Distributed Storage | IPFS for documents + metadata | Tamper-proof legal document storage with verification services |
| Payment Infrastructure | Stripe Connect + invoicing | White-label payment processing for legal services |
| Real-Time Collaboration | Collaborative text editor with version control | Multi-party document editing with audit trails |
| Public Records Integration | State-level API aggregation (50 states) | Access business records, statutes, court dockets, FOIA databases |
Third-Party Integrations Already Live
- UniCourt API - Court case dockets, realtime tracking, case law retrieval (Learn more)
- Stripe Connect - Payment processing, invoicing, marketplace payouts
- LegisScan - State statute search and bill tracking
- VitalChek - Vital records procurement
- Invisible Institute - Police misconduct database (CDP-NPI)
What this means for you: If you're building complementary tools - e-discovery, legal CRM, intake automation, compliance monitoring - you can plug into existing infrastructure rather than rebuild from scratch.
Integration Opportunities
1. Marketplace Integration - Sell Your Services Directly
The opportunity: Laymans users create 10,000+ legal documents monthly. Many need specialized tools you've already built.
How it works:
- List your legal tech product as a "Service" in the Laymans marketplace
- Users discover your tool through natural language search or AI recommendations
- Purchases flow through Stripe Connect - Laymans handles payment processing, you deliver the service
- You set pricing (flat fee, subscription, usage-based)
Technical requirements:
- Webhook endpoint to receive purchase notifications
- OAuth integration for user authentication (optional)
- Metadata API for service listings (name, description, pricing, screenshots)
Example use cases:
- Document automation tools (e.g., "AI-powered lease review for $49")
- Legal research databases (e.g., "Employment law case search - $15/month")
- Compliance monitoring (e.g., "GDPR compliance checker for small business")
- E-filing services (e.g., "Court document filing in California - starting at $75")
Learn how professionals advertise services
2. AI Co-Creation - Build on Leyla's Legal Intelligence
The opportunity: Training and fine-tuning legal LLMs costs millions. Leyla is already trained on case law, statutes, legal templates, and argumentation patterns.
What you can do:
- Embed Leyla in your application for legal document analysis
- Extend Leyla with domain-specific knowledge (e.g., immigration law, patent prosecution)
- Query Leyla for legal research, precedent analysis, or contract review
- Co-create with users - Your tool generates data, Leyla structures legal arguments
Technical integration:
- RESTful API for document analysis and Q&A
- Webhook callbacks for async processing of large documents
- Prompt templating for consistent outputs
- Citation extraction and bluebook formatting
Example integrations:
- E-discovery platform sends documents to Leyla for relevance scoring and privilege detection
- Contract management software uses Leyla to identify non-standard clauses and risks
- Legal CRM queries Leyla to suggest case strategies based on intake data
3. Data Interoperability - Connect with Case Management Platforms
The opportunity: Law firms use LegalServer, MyCase, Clio, and other practice management tools. Laymans users need their work to flow into those systems.
Current integrations we're building:
- LegalServer - Sync cases, client data, and documents
- MyCase - Calendar integration, task management, billing sync
- Clio - Matter management, time tracking, trust accounting
Partnership opportunities:
- Build official connectors for platforms we don't support yet
- Contribute to our open-source integration library
- Sponsor development of priority integrations
Technical requirements:
- OAuth2 authentication flow
- Bidirectional sync for cases, contacts, documents
- Webhook notifications for real-time updates
- Conflict checking and duplicate prevention
4. Public Records & Legal Data APIs
The opportunity: Laymans aggregates public records from all 50 states - business registrations, professional licenses, statutes, court dockets, FOIA databases, and more.
What you get access to:
- Business & UCC records - Verify corporate entities, search active businesses
- Professional licenses - Validate attorney credentials, medical licenses, etc.
- Court dockets via UniCourt - Real-time case tracking, document retrieval
- Statutes & legislation - Current law via LegisGen integration
- Police accountability - Badge verification through Invisible Institute
- Vital records - Birth/death certificates via VitalChek
Use cases:
- Due diligence platforms - Verify parties before litigation
- Background check services - Aggregate public records for client intake
- Legal research tools - Cross-reference statutes with case law
- Compliance monitoring - Track regulatory changes in real-time
Business Models & Monetization
How legal tech companies are making money on Laymans:
Direct Service Sales
How it works: You list your software as a purchasable service. Users pay through Stripe Connect. You keep 85% of revenue (Laymans takes 15% platform fee).
Best for: SaaS tools, one-time services, document automation
Example: "AI Lease Review - $49" → User uploads lease, your tool analyzes it, delivers report. You get $41.65 per transaction.
Subscription Integrations
How it works: Users subscribe to your tool through Laymans. Recurring billing handled via Stripe. Single sign-on via OAuth.
Best for: Legal research databases, ongoing monitoring, premium features
Example: "Employment Law Research Suite - $25/month" → Users access your database through Laymans interface.
Usage-Based API Access
How it works: Developers call your API through Laymans. Metered billing based on API calls, documents processed, or data retrieved.
Best for: E-discovery, OCR, data enrichment services
Example: "Court Document OCR - $0.10/page" → Laymans users send court PDFs to your API, pay per page processed.
Co-Branded Marketplace Presence
How it works: Create a "powered by [YourBrand]" service listing. Users discover your brand, purchase through Laymans, get redirected to your platform.
Best for: Established legal tech companies seeking new user acquisition
Example: "Powered by LexisNexis - Legal Research Bundle" → Users click, pay, receive LexisNexis access credentials.
Case Study: Building an AI Contract Review Integration
Scenario: You've built an AI tool that reviews employment contracts and flags problematic clauses.
Integration flow:
User discovery
- User searches Laymans for "employment contract review"
- Your service appears in results: "AI Employment Contract Analyzer - $39"
Purchase
- User clicks "Purchase Service"
- Stripe Connect processes payment
- Webhook notifies your system with user ID and payment confirmation
Service delivery
- User uploads contract to Laymans casefile
- Your API receives document via webhook
- Your AI analyzes contract, flags risks (non-compete clauses, arbitration agreements, etc.)
- Results returned as structured JSON + PDF report
Leyla integration (optional)
- User asks Leyla: "Should I sign this contract?"
- Leyla references your analysis: "The AI Contract Analyzer flagged 3 high-risk clauses..."
- Leyla suggests next steps based on your findings
Technical implementation:
- Webhook endpoint:
POST /laymans/contract-analysis - Authentication: Bearer token (Laymans API key)
- Payload:
{ user_id, casefile_id, document_url, purchase_id } - Response:
{ status, analysis_url, report_pdf_url, flagged_clauses: [...] }
Revenue potential:
- Average 500 purchases/month at $39 each
- Gross revenue: $19,500/month
- Your take (85%): $16,575/month
- Laymans platform fee (15%): $2,925/month
Technical Specifications
Authentication
- OAuth 2.0 for user authentication
- API keys for server-to-server communication
- JWT tokens for stateless session management
Data Format
- JSON for structured data exchange
- Markdown for legal document formatting
- PDF/DOCX for final document delivery
Webhooks
- Events:
service.purchased,document.uploaded,case.finalized,payment.processed - Retry logic: 3 attempts with exponential backoff
- Signature verification via HMAC-SHA256
Rate Limits
- 1,000 requests/hour for authenticated API calls
- 10,000 requests/hour for enterprise partners
- Burst allowance: 100 requests/minute
Encryption & Security
- TLS 1.3 for data in transit
- Signal Protocol for end-to-end encrypted messages
- IPFS storage for tamper-proof document verification
- SOC 2 Type II compliance in progress
Contributing to the Platform
Laymans is committed to open access to justice. Here's how legal tech developers can contribute:
Open Source Contributions
- Integration connectors - Build adapters for case management platforms
- Public records scrapers - Improve state-level data collection
- Document templates - Contribute legal form templates for common use cases
- Leyla training data - Anonymized case studies for AI fine-tuning
Licensing: MIT for integrations, Apache 2.0 for core libraries
Developer Grants & Partnerships
We offer:
- $5K-$25K development grants for access-to-justice focused integrations
- Revenue sharing for co-developed features (negotiated case-by-case)
- Co-marketing for featured partners (blog posts, case studies, webinars)
- Priority API access during beta periods
Example funded projects:
- FOIA request automation for government transparency advocates
- Expungement document generator for criminal justice reform
- Tenant rights calculator for housing advocacy
Technical Community
Join the conversation:
- Developer Discord - Real-time chat with Laymans engineering team
- GitHub Discussions - Feature requests, bug reports, API questions
- Monthly office hours - Live Q&A with Laymans CTO
- Hackathons - Quarterly events with cash prizes for best integrations
Why the Access-to-Justice Market Matters
80% of low-income Americans face legal problems without representation. That's 60+ million people who need:
- Eviction defense
- Debt collection disputes
- Family law (custody, divorce, child support)
- Employment issues (wage theft, wrongful termination)
- Consumer protection (predatory loans, fraud)
The existing market has failed them:
- Average attorney hourly rate: $300-$500
- Median cost for single legal service: $5,000
- Only 1 legal aid attorney for every 10,000 low-income people
Technology can bridge this gap - but only if it's accessible, affordable, and integrated. Laymans provides the distribution, the payment infrastructure, and the user trust. You provide the specialized legal tech. Together we expand access to justice.
Getting Started
| Step | Action | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apply for developer access | Submit application at hello@laymans.app |
| 2 | Explore the API documentation | Receive sandbox credentials and API docs |
| 3 | Build your integration | Develop against staging environment |
| 4 | Test with beta users | Limited rollout to opt-in Laymans users |
| 5 | Launch in marketplace | Go live with full user access |
Questions? Email our developer relations team: tech@laymans.app
Technical Resources & Documentation
API Documentation
Coming soon: RESTful API reference, webhook specifications, code examples in Python/JavaScript/Ruby, Postman collections
Integration Examples
- Sample OAuth flow (Node.js + Express)
- Webhook handler template (Python + Flask)
- Document upload/download (cURL + AWS S3)
- Stripe Connect onboarding (React component)
Developer Tools
- Sandbox environment - Test integrations without affecting production users
- API explorer - Interactive testing of endpoints
- Webhook debugger - Real-time event inspection
- Analytics dashboard - Track API usage, error rates, performance
The Bigger Picture
Legal tech shouldn't just serve BigLaw. The most impactful technology solves problems for people who can't afford $500/hour attorneys - people facing eviction, fleeing domestic violence, fighting wage theft, challenging wrongful convictions.
Laymans is infrastructure for that future. We're building:
- An AI that understands legal arguments, not just legal keywords
- Encryption that protects the most vulnerable users
- Payment rails that make legal services affordable
- A marketplace that values access over exclusivity
If you're building legal technology that expands access to justice - not just efficiency for the already-served - let's build together.