Founded in 1992 by Peter Martin and Tom Bruce,[2][3] LII was the first law site developed on the internet.

[8] Since its inception, the Legal Information Institute has inspired others around the world to develop namesake operations.

LII was established in 1992 at Cornell Law School by Peter Martin and Tom Bruce with a $250,000 multi-year startup grant from the National Center for Automated Information Research.

[9] The LII was originally based on Gopher and provided access to United States Supreme Court decisions and the US Code.

"[9] In the early years of LII, Bruce developed Cello the first web browser for Microsoft Windows.

LII Bulletin emails subscribers with timely notification of when the US Supreme Court has handed down a decision.