Robert Ambrogi Blog
The last time I wrote about BriefCatch, it was in 2018, when I put it and two other legal editing programs to the test of editing four opinions authored by Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, pronounced by Slate a terrible writer.
Looks like I’ll have to go back to the lab for further testing, because BriefCatch today is introducing a new-and-improved version 3 that, among other enhancements, now makes the tool available to Mac users.
Read about BriefCatch on the LawNext Legal Technology Directory.
BriefCatch 3, which runs in Microsoft Word, now includes more than 11,000 legal-specific writing suggestions, and adds real-time editing, a rebuilt rules engine, enhanced natural language processing, and other improvements.
A unique feature of BriefCatch is that it scores your writing.
I had hoped to have the new version in time to test it before today’s release, but I have not yet received it. Once I do, I’ll once again put it to the test, and perhaps even revisit Justice Gorsuch.
However, BriefCatch founder Ross Guberman gave me a preview demonstration last week, and, based on that, the product seems to have some notable improvements. These include:
- Real-time editing. Unlike prior versions, BriefCatch 3 now instantly rescans a passage after you accept an editing suggestion or respond to a consistency check. Before, you had to force the rescan manually.
- Edits plus examples. In addition to 11,000 legal-specific writing and editing suggestions, BriefCatch also provides thousands of unique explanations and examples drawn from the exemplary writing of lawyers and judges.
- Enhanced AI. BriefCatch 3 uses updated NLP to apply editing rules and scoring algorithms.
- Faster scanning. A reengineered rules engine scans documents faster than prior versions.
- Support for Microsoft Word 365 online.
“BriefCatch spots mistakes before clients and judges do, empowering users to write first-rate, confident first drafts,” Guberman said. “This new version instantly spots and fixes lawyer-specific typos and mechanical errors, cleans up citations, cuts through legalese, spices up word choice, trims sentences, and makes your analysis come alive.”
Guberman said that BriefCatch’s customers include several Supreme Court justices, some 50-60 different courts, a number of law schools, several federal government agencies, and law firms of all sizes, including some two dozen of the Am Law 200.
Guberman originally developed the product based on his experience as a legal writing coach through his company Legal Writing Pro.