The AI legal assistant, Casetext: A Review

A college student’s look into the AI application, “Casetext.”

What is Casetext, and who is it for?

Casetext is an AI application that is aimed at assisting lawyers with various legal tasks. So, this application would be most useful for — you guessed it — lawyers.

Casetext is marketed in a professional, to-the-point way. The first words you see when opening it are, “Meet your new AI legal assistant. CoCounsel does document review, deposition preparation, contract analysis, and timeline creation in minutes — with results you can trust.” This targets lawyers who are overwhelmed with their workload and are looking for some assistance. The end of this statement, “with results you can trust,” works well to immediately assure lawyers that this AI is reliable, something that would be the first worry in their minds.

As you scroll down the first page, it describes its two primary areas of assistance: litigation and transactional skills. It does this by using the language, “Fast-track legal research and deposition prep,” and, “Automate contract revision.” Both of these phrases sound very enticing to any lawyer, but especially to ones who are in-over-their-head at work.

How much does Casetext cost?

Casetext has two types of plans for firms with less than 10 attorneys: Basic Research and CoCounsel Core. The Basic Research plan is $110/year per attorney, but it is less if you have more attorneys. The CoCounsel Core plan is $250/year per attorney, also being less if you have more attorneys. Both plans come with the “AllSearch” function, which you can use to search sets of documents “with greater speed and accuracy.” The Basic Research plan is described as being able to “search the law and your own documents,” whereas the CoCounsel Core plan allows you to “leverage the industry-leading AI legal assistant that handles a vast array of legal tasks.” So, with the basic plan, you can use the AI for research using already existing cases, statutes, etc., and, with the complex plan, you can use the AI to do legal tasks, such as reviewing and summarizing documents, preparing for a deposition, and more.

What can Casetext do?

Casetext has many functions, separated by plan as described in the above section. The two areas it markets being able to assist in are litigation skills and transactional skills.

Litigation Skills

The first function it lists on this portion of the website is document reviewing; it says that it can identify keywords, highlight important documents, sift through large case data sets, and summarize complex documents, all while being fast and accurate. The next function it lists is preparing for deposition by giving information about your deponent and case and also providing targeted questions. Another function is building comprehensive timelines from case documents, with the option for customization, so you can change things easily when you want. The last function listed in this portion is being able to quickly write emails and letters tailored to what you need them for.

Transactional Skills

The functions in this portion of the website focus primarily on assisting with contracts. This includes not only drafting contracts but drafting ones that are customized to the needs of each case. The next function it lists is being able to ask questions about a specific contract, and it giving you the relevant clauses in it. Additionally, it allows you to upload a contract and the policies it needs to comply with, and it gives you the conflicts, risks, and then revisions from those. One function that could be very useful when explaining portions of a contract to a client is the simplifying complex legal language function. It can “interpret, condense, and simplify critical information” within contracts, allowing clients to easily understand and then adhere to the contracts they are signing.

In all, the AI application, Casetext, from what I can see, is a great option for lawyers who are looking for assistance keeping up with their work, or those who are looking to boost their work to the next level. Depending on what kind of law you practice, Casetext’s functions could enhance and lighten your work immensely. In addition, the cost doesn’t seem too bad considering what the application can do, and how accurate it is. Overall, I would recommend Casetext to any lawyer looking to implement AI in their work and their firm.