For law
Read statutes, judgments and study materials on your phone. Ask the AI with the article in front of you.
A two-column regulation or an 80-page judgment reads in one column, without zooming and with an index of articles. The AI cites the text it relies on, and one tap takes you to it.
Article 12
3. The controller shall provide information on action taken on a request under Articles 15 to 22 to the data subject without undue delay and in any event within one month of receipt of the request. That period may be extended by two further months where necessary, taking into account the complexity and number of the requests. 4. If the controller does not take action on the request of the data subject, the controller shall inform the data subject without delay and at the latest within one month of receipt of the request of the reasons for not taking action and on the possibility of lodging a complaint with a supervisory authority and seeking a judicial remedy.
A PDF that finally reads well on your phone.
No zooming, no dragging from side to side, no words cut in half.
Regulation (EU) 2016/679 · OJ L 119, 4.5.2016
Article 12
Transparent information, communication and modalities for the exercise of the rights of the data subject
1. The controller shall take appropriate measures to provide any information referred to in Articles 13 and 14 and any communication under Articles 15 to 22 and 34 relating to processing to the data subject in a concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language.
2. The controller shall facilitate the exercise of data subject rights under Articles 15 to 22.
3. The controller shall provide information on action taken on a request under Articles 15 to 22 to the data subject without undue delay and in any event within one month of receipt of the request. That period may be extended by two further months where necessary, taking into account the complexity and number of the requests.
4. If the controller does not take action on the request of the data subject, the controller shall inform the data subject without delay and at the latest within one month of receipt of the request of the reasons for not taking action and on the possibility of lodging a com-
plaint with a supervisory authority and seeking a judicial remedy.
L 119/40
What you see above: pages 39 and 40 of the GDPR PDF, as they come out of the converter. The two Official Journal columns become one, numbered paragraphs keep their number even when they continue on the next page, and words the original split at the end of a line (with a hyphen the PDF does not even keep) are joined again. The text is only trimmed to fit; nothing else is changed. The original page is still there. Switch back whenever you want.
Reading statutes, judgments and study materials in PDF on your phone
It is not only for statutes. Between a 90-page regulation, a 40-page judgment and a 600-page study guide, what changes is how you move around the document; everything else works the same.
A statute
A regulation from the Official Journal or a consolidated act opens with the index of articles, each with its heading, and numbered paragraphs keep their numbers. Ask about a situation and the AI answers citing the passages of the law it relies on, so you can check whether they really cover it.
A judgment or a report
A long judgment, an opinion or an expert report reads in one column on your phone, without zooming. Ask what was decided on a specific ground or what the reasoning was, and the answer cites the passage; one tap takes you there to check it.
A study guide or a textbook
A bar exam guide or an annotated code in PDF or EPUB takes highlights in four colours, each highlight can carry a note, and you can ask the AI from it. Highlights are grouped by chapter and each one takes you back to its passage.
What a PDF reader with AI does not do in law
This is what Marginalia is not and what it does not do well yet with statutes and judgments.
It is not legal advice
It does not replace a lawyer or the official source. The AI relies on the document you have open; if the answer is not there, it should tell you, and if it adds general context, it flags that it does not come from the document. And it can be wrong: that is why every answer carries its citations, so you can check it against the text.
It does not know whether the text is in force
It reads the PDF you give it. If that is a repealed or unconsolidated version, it will answer from it. Checking that the text is in force is up to you, at the official source.
A scan without text is not converted
A photocopied judgment or a scanned file without OCR is read in its original view: it cannot be switched to text view or asked about. It tells you so instead of showing broken text.
Footnotes and cross-references, not handled yet
In text view, footnotes appear mixed in with the text, and a reference to another article is not a link yet. Both are on the list of pending work.
Privacy of a case file or a judgment in PDF
The file is not uploaded
The PDF is stored in the browser's private storage and the file is not uploaded to any server. Reading it sends nothing off your device.
When you ask, the question and the passages
When you ask, your question goes to the server with the fragments of the document needed to answer it. With a published statute or judgment that matters little; with a client file, that text leaves your device.
With an account, the text passes through to be indexed
With an account, the document's text passes through the server to build the search, without being stored there. Your highlights, notes and conversations are stored in your account so you can continue on another device; you open the PDF once in each new browser, because the file is not uploaded.
Tested with the Official Journal of the EU and the Spanish BOE
The converter is tested with public-domain legal texts. For the GDPR, the reading order is compared with the text published on EUR-Lex, and the index of articles is rebuilt from the headings, because the PDF does not carry one.
Official Journal of the EU
GDPR (Regulation 2016/679): two columns, 88 pages, 99.7% agreement with EUR-Lex.
Diario Oficial de la UE
The Spanish version of the same regulation: 99.6%.
BOE, consolidated text
The Spanish Constitution: 39 pages, 169 articles with their index.
If a PDF with another layout comes out wrong, tell us: new layouts keep being added to the tests.
Before you open your first book.
Can I trust what the AI says?
Does it work with Official Journal and EUR-Lex PDFs?
What about court judgments?
Can I open a case file with client data?
Is it good for the bar exam?
How much does it cost for a law student?
Open a statute, a judgment or a study guide
No account and nothing to install. Try the GDPR sample, which comes with its index of articles, or open your own PDF. If you read often, you can install it as an app.
Free, no account. The file never leaves your browser.