Stanford Law generates record-breaking public dataset of corporate contracts

e U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission between 2000 and 2023. The MCC transforms decades of company filings into a richly annotated, machine-readable dataset, making systematic empirical analysis of contract language both possible and easily accessible for the first time. And unlike proprietary tools that offer limited access to contract data, the MCC is fully open and free to use.

Contracts are the backbone of the economy, facilitating transactions, defining relationships, and ensuring legal obligations are met. Despite their crucial role, gaining access to and analyzing contracts on a large scale has proven to be a complex and challenging task. However, a groundbreaking project initiated by Stanford Law School is revolutionizing the way contracts are studied and understood.

Professor Julian Nyarko and Stanford Law student Peter Adelson have introduced the Material Contracts Corpus (MCC), an innovative dataset that contains over 1 million contracts filed by public companies with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission spanning more than two decades. By leveraging advancements in artificial intelligence and computational tools, the MCC offers a comprehensive and searchable database of contract language, enabling researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to delve into the intricate details of commercial agreements.

The MCC is a game-changer in the legal and business landscape, providing a unique opportunity to explore the evolution of contracting practices across industries, transaction types, and geographic regions. Through standardized agreement types, normalized party names, and tagged metadata, users can easily navigate and extract valuable insights from a vast array of contractual documents. Nyarko emphasizes the importance of this dataset in facilitating empirical research in law, economics, and corporate governance, while also paving the way for the development of cutting-edge AI legal tools.

The development of the MCC marks a significant shift in legal academia towards the integration of computational methods into traditional research practices. Nyarko, renowned for his work on computational approaches to contract law and algorithmic fairness, has spearheaded several studies that shed light on the intersection of AI and legal frameworks. His recent research on mitigating bias in Large Language Models underscores the potential of AI to address discriminatory practices in machine learning systems, albeit with certain limitations regarding contextual biases.

Peter Adelson, one of the key collaborators on the MCC project, highlights the transformative impact of this initiative on his academic journey. Inspired by the project’s intersection of law and technology, Adelson has decided to pursue a Ph.D. in the Stanford Graduate School of Business, leveraging his experience in creating and organizing the dataset. As the MCC serves as a valuable resource for legal professionals, scholars, and technologists, its potential for fostering innovation and knowledge exchange within the legal domain is unparalleled.

In conclusion, the Material Contracts Corpus represents a milestone in legal research and data accessibility, offering a wealth of information that can shape the future of contract analysis and understanding. By democratizing access to contract data and empowering users with a robust platform for exploration and research, the MCC stands as a testament to the transformative power of technology in legal scholarship and practice.