Casetext

Open Casetext with a concrete task—answer a client question, support a motion, or size up opposing counsel’s citations—and move from issue to authority quickly. Type a plain‑English query or a citation if you know one, then refine with connectors when precision matters. Narrow to a court system, timeframe, and decision type to match your assignment. You can also focus by procedural posture, party role, and claim category to surface decisions that mirror your facts. Skim result cards that preview the key passages with your terms highlighted, jump directly to those sections, and pin promising hits into a working folder as you go.

Already have a memo or brief? Upload it to get a targeted research boost. The system reads your document, extracts the issues and cited authorities, and suggests stronger or more recent precedent addressing the same points. It flags authorities with negative history so you don’t rely on something that’s been narrowed or overruled, and it identifies missing lines of support you may want to add. Click from each suggestion to the exact paragraph that answers your point, compare treatments across courts, and copy the cite in Bluebook format. Export a check report for the record or to share with a partner.

For live matters that evolve week to week, build a workspace per issue. Save cases, statutes, and secondary sources into labeled folders, add notes at the passage level, and keep your reasoning trail visible. Set alerts on topics, jurisdictions, or specific authorities to catch new decisions or rule changes as they appear. When you revisit a search, your filters, pins, and notes are waiting, making it easy to pick up where you left off. If you’re surveying the law across venues, run parallel searches by jurisdiction and compare standards side by side to inform venue strategy or motion framing.

When it’s time to draft, pull your curated sources into an outline. Use the highlights to paste quotable language with pinpoint cites, then run a final check on your draft to confirm accuracy and find any last‑minute support. Generate a table of authorities from your saved materials and export to Word or Google Docs with citations formatted. Share folders with teammates, assign follow‑ups, and keep everyone aligned on the same set of authorities. From first question to filed paper, the workflow keeps you focused on analysis rather than hunting through irrelevant results.