Robert Ambrogi Blog
BriefCatch, a legal technology company whose Microsoft Word add-in helps legal professionals improve their writing, has unveiled two new features that use generative artificial intelligence to enhance legal document preparation: AI-driven Bluebook citation correction and a context-aware writing advisor.
These features, introduced as part of BriefCatch’s release of version 4 of its software, mark the company’s first major foray into using gen AI technology for legal professionals.
For lawyers often beleaguered by the challenge of conforming to Bluebook citation style, the most welcome of these two additions will no doubt be the AI-powered Bluebook citation correction tool.
BriefCatch always supported citation checking. If you typed “2nd Cir.” to refer to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, for example, it would tell you that the proper abbreviation is “2d Cir.” But, based on demonstrations I have seen, this new AI-driven version goes beyond mechanical cite checking to detect even nuanced deviations from Bluebook style, including improper abbreviations, spacing issues, and even case name misspellings.
Company founder and CEO Ross Guberman told me during a briefing in advance of the release that he believes this citation correction feature represents a significant advancement in citation-checking technology. “We spent almost exactly a year trying to conquer the Bluebook, and we have succeeded,” he said.
To use it, you will need the BriefCatch add-in for Microsoft Word. Then, with the document you want to check open in Word, simply click “Start Check,” and BriefCatch will review the document.
It produces a list of all suggestions, including for style, clarity, and proofing, but by clicking on the Citations tab, you can see just the list of suggested citation corrections.
You can then review each individually, or click a button to make all the suggested changes at once. If you choose the latter option, it makes the changes using Track Changes, so you can still review each one and see both the original citation and the edited version.
AI Writing Advisor
In addition to the citation tool, BriefCatch has introduced a second AI-driven feature, BriefChat, a writing advisor generated exclusively from BriefCatch’s existing body of work, including books, articles, and podcasts, almost all of it created by Guberman himself, who was a legal writing coach and speaker before launching BriefCatch.
The tool’s chat interface allows a user to ask any legal writing question, or even ask for examples of certain types of legal writing, and get answers drawn from materials Guberman has produced.
As you can see in the example to the right, the user has asked, “What are some tips for dealing with block quotations?” BriefChat offers suggestions such as “introduce with purpose” and “keep it relevant.”
It also comes with preconfigured prompts for questions users might commonly ask. These include:
- How do I make my legal writing more persuasive?
- How can I make my legal writing more concise?
- Can I use “But” at the beginning of a sentence?
AI Off By Default
Current BriefCatch subscribers will receive the AI tools at no additional cost. However, the AI features will be turned off by default and can be selectively enabled or disabled by individual users or IT managers.
This approach allows firms to decide when and how they wish to implement these AI features and to maintain granular control over access to AI tools, while providing flexibility for individual preferences, Guberman said.
Meanwhile, the company continues to explore future developments, including more advanced AI-driven document analysis capabilities that could provide structural and logical review of legal documents.
In addition, Guberman said certain states, including California and New York, have their own, unique citation styles for appellate briefs that do not strictly conform to the Bluebook. Having now launched this Bluebook tool, BriefCatch will turn to adding state-specific citation checkers, he said.
While these two features are the first in BriefCatch to use gen AI, they are only two of several product enhancements included in this release of Briefcatch 4. Others include:
- Thousands of new legal writing suggestions.
- Suggestion filters and controls.
- In-line suggestion highlighting.
- Express, single-click editing with tracked changes.
- A new user interface designed to streamline document review.
“I’m thrilled that BriefCatch is the first legal tech platform both to solve the Bluebook pain point … through AI and to enable on-demand access to expert legal writing advice, also through AI,” Guberman told me.