Every page you read here follows the same standards. This is how we do it — sourcing, writing, reviewing, updating, and correcting.
Our commitments
State Law Handbook publishes legal information, not legal advice. Everything we do is built on four commitments to the reader:
- Accuracy first. Every material claim on our site is sourced to an official authority — a state statute, an agency guidance page, or a court decision. We do not invent statutes, cite fake case law, or paraphrase in a way that changes what the underlying authority actually says.
- Freshness on every page. Every page shows a "Last verified" date and a "Next scheduled review" date. Legal content ages — we make that visible instead of hiding it.
- Attorney review where it matters. Our highest-stakes topics get reviewed by US-licensed attorneys practicing in the relevant state, and their name and bar number appear on the page.
- Neutral by default. When there are two sides to a legal question — landlord and tenant, employer and employee — we cover both. We do not steer readers toward legal action.
What we publish
We publish six types of content:
- State-topic pages. "California cottage food laws," "Texas tenant rights," "Florida window tint laws." One page per state per topic — up to 5,100 pages when built out. This is the core of the site.
- State hubs. One landing page per state that organizes all the topics we cover for that jurisdiction.
- Topic hubs. Cross-state comparison pages showing how all 50 states handle a specific topic.
- Comparison pages. "Best states for X" — data-driven rankings for common decisions like moving states, forming a business, or planning retirement.
- Process guides. Step-by-step explanations of legal processes ("How to form an LLC," "How to file for divorce") that link out to state-specific requirements.
- Update posts. Weekly digests and ad-hoc coverage of state law changes as they happen.
What we do not publish
Some categories of content are outside our remit and we do not publish them:
- Advice on individual situations. We do not tell you what to do in your specific case. We describe what the law says; the application to your circumstances is between you and a licensed attorney.
- Predictions of case outcomes. We do not say "you will win" or "you cannot be sued." We say what the law states.
- Fabricated authorities. We never publish a statute citation, case name, or agency reference that we have not verified against a primary source.
- Sponsored or paid editorial coverage. No party can pay for coverage, favorable framing, or placement in our editorial pages. Attorney partner networks appear in clearly labeled affiliate call-outs, not in editorial recommendations.
- Content generated end-to-end by AI. See "Use of AI tools" below.
Sourcing standards
Every material claim on our site links to at least one authoritative source. Our source hierarchy:
| Tier | Source type | When we use it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | State legislative websites (statutes as enacted), state agency guidance publications, state supreme court decisions | Primary source for all material claims about what the law is. |
| 2 | LII Cornell Legal Information Institute, Justia US Codes, CourtListener | Secondary source for statute and case law citation — we prefer these for reader-facing links because they're stable and free. |
| 3 | State attorney general opinions, state bar association ethics opinions, peer-reviewed legal journals | Persuasive authority on interpretation questions. |
| 4 | NCSL, Ballotpedia, Tax Foundation, Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Census | Background context and cross-state data. Used as starting points; we always verify against primary sources before citing. |
Sources we do not cite: other legal information sites (Nolo, FindLaw, competing state law references), Wikipedia, Reddit or other forums, AI-generated summaries from other sites, and AI Overviews. We may consult these to check whether we've missed a well-known angle, but we do not use them as authorities.
Writing standards
We write in plain English for readers who are not lawyers. That means:
- Legal jargon is defined the first time it appears on a page.
- Sentences are short. Paragraphs are short. Tables are used for at-a-glance comparisons.
- The Quick Answer Box at the top of every state-topic page gives a plain-English summary of the primary question in 60 to 100 words.
- Every page distinguishes what the law says from how the law is applied. We describe rules; we do not predict outcomes.
- Where there are multiple perspectives (landlord/tenant, employer/employee), we cover both. Where the law is ambiguous or contested, we say so.
Review process
Every page moves through four stages before it publishes:
- Research (Legal Researcher). The researcher pulls the underlying statute, agency guidance, and any relevant court decisions, and produces an outline mapped to primary sources.
- Drafting (Content Writer). The writer converts the outline into a full page using our locked template, with every claim linked to its source. The writer runs a self-QA before handing off.
- Editorial review (Editor). The editor verifies every citation resolves, checks the disclaimer and byline are present, runs the automated verification script (which flags any structural problems), and confirms the tone is neutral.
- Attorney review (for high-stakes topics). Pages on DUI, family law, criminal defense, business formation, employment, and other high-stakes areas are sent to a US-licensed attorney practicing in the relevant state. The attorney reviews for factual accuracy and adds notes on edge cases.
Attorney review
Where an attorney has reviewed a page, their name, state licensure, and bar number appear on the page byline. The attorney reviewer is not the author of record — the writer is — and the attorney's review does not create an attorney-client relationship with any reader.
We recruit reviewers through professional networks and paid engagements. Attorneys are compensated per-review at market rates. The full reviewer network is listed on our Attorney Reviewer Credentials page, including which states each reviewer is licensed in and which practice areas they cover.
Not every page is attorney-reviewed at launch. Coverage priorities in order: (1) high-stakes topics — DUI, criminal, family, employment, business formation; (2) high-traffic states — California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania; (3) everything else, on a rolling basis. Pages that have not yet been attorney-reviewed carry a clearly-worded note saying so.
Updating and re-verification
Legal content ages, so we schedule updates from the start rather than reacting to complaints. Our cadence:
- Weekly. Our SEO team monitors state legislative sessions, state supreme court decisions, and major regulatory changes via Google Alerts, LegiScan, and CourtListener. Anything material feeds into the weekly "State Law Weekly" digest and triggers targeted updates.
- Monthly. Pages affected by law changes discovered that month are re-published with an updated "Last verified" date and a note in the Recent Changes section describing what changed.
- Quarterly. Our top 100 most-trafficked pages are re-verified against current primary sources. This is a full source-by-source citation check.
- Annually. Every page on the site is audited — disclaimer present, citations resolving, attorney reviewer credit up to date, byline current. This is a full end-of-year sprint.
Every page shows both its "Last verified" date and its "Next scheduled review" date, so readers can see the freshness of the specific page they're on.
Corrections and updates log
When we make a substantive correction to a page — anything that changes what the law is said to require — we log it on the page itself in the Recent Changes section and bump the "Last verified" date. Trivial changes (typos, broken links) are made silently.
Our full correction procedure, including how to report a suspected error and how quickly we respond, is on our Correction Policy page.
Author and reviewer bylines
Every page shows who wrote it and — where applicable — which US-licensed attorney reviewed it. Our two primary staff writers, Ahmed R. and Sana K., alternate pages by publication order. Attorney reviewers are credited by full name, state licensure, and bar number.
Any reader can reach a byline through editorial@statelawhandbook.com. We take reader questions about our sources seriously and reply within two business days.
Use of AI tools
We use AI tools — including large language models — as research assistants and drafting aids. Specifically:
- AI helps our researchers summarize long statutes and agency documents. Every summary is checked against the primary source before it enters a draft.
- AI helps our writers produce a first-pass structure from the researcher's outline. The writer then rewrites, sources, and finalizes every claim.
- AI does not decide what to publish, does not select sources, and does not review pages for accuracy. Those judgments are made by humans.
No page on State Law Handbook is generated end-to-end by an AI without human research, writing, and review. If a page is ever meaningfully AI-produced, we will label it as such.
Editorial independence
No advertiser, affiliate partner, or sponsor decides what we publish or how we cover a topic. Our attorney affiliate partners (LegalMatch, Avvo, LegalShield, LegalZoom) do not review editorial content before publication and do not choose which topics we cover. Ad networks (AdSense, Ezoic, Mediavine) place inventory based on their own algorithms; we do not sell direct ads to parties who might have a stake in framing a specific topic.
Full commercial disclosures on our Advertising Disclosure page.
Reader feedback
If a page is unclear, incomplete, or wrong, we want to know. Write to us at corrections@statelawhandbook.com — the more specific you can be about the page URL and the claim in question, the faster we can act.