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Leverage AI to Draft Strong Briefs That Give You the Winning Edge Over Adversaries
December 4, 2023
Lexis+ Brief Analysis analyzes one or more briefs using artificial intelligence (AI) to flag erroneous citations, recommend cases, find successful arguments and similar briefs, check quotations, and more. Read our new TechnoLawyer Buyer's Guide report below.
Leverage AI to Draft Strong Briefs That Give You the Winning Edge Over Adversaries
In 2021, Lexis+ Brief Analysis helped usher in the age of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) for legal professionals (read our prior coverage). It has since added several important new features designed to help litigators file the strongest possible briefs and spot weaknesses in the briefs of their adversaries faster than previously possible.
The Killer Feature
You start using Brief Analysis by uploading one or more briefs. Alternatively, copy and paste up to 5,000 characters to analyze a specific portion of a brief.
Brief Analysis then unveils a dashboard summarizing the results and parameters on which they're based. These parameters include party (defendant or plaintiff), motion type, desired outcome (motion granted or denied), jurisdictions, etc. Additionally, Extracted Concepts contain all the potentially relevant legal concepts at issue. Adjust these parameters to fine-tune your results.
As its name suggests, the Recommendations section of the dashboard links to research that may help you, including relevant cases absent from the brief, treatises, and practice notes drafted by experts from Practical Guidance. Recommendations also includes a new resource — Arguments.
Brief Analysis annotates key passages in your brief for which it has one or more recommendations. The new Arguments feature provides relevant passages from briefs with similar arguments. Alongside these passages, you can see metadata to help you assess the value of each argument, including the date of the brief, jurisdiction, motion type, outcome, and law firm. You can further review the brief and related documents from which the argument derives.
The other recommendations work similarly. For example, each recommended case absent from the brief displays the pertinent passage, the associated metadata, and whether the outcome supports your arguments. This ability of Brief Analysis to pinpoint material of interest dramatically speeds up the process of deciding what to incorporate into your brief and how to frame your argument at a hearing.
"Document Analysis on Lexis+, which now offers assessment of briefs and agreements, has new capabilities leveraging underlying AI to improve document review and content recommendations," says LexisNexis Chief Product Officer Jeff Pfeifer. We are listening to our customers and providing valuable and timesaving litigation solutions with these new Brief Analysis capabilities."
The Brief Analysis dashboard summarizes and links to the insights derived from the briefs you upload, which now include arguments from successful briefs.
Other Notable Features
In addition to providing recommendations, Brief Analysis also verifies the citations and quotations in your brief and finds similar briefs that may prove helpful.
The Similar Briefs feature is new and complements Recommended Arguments. Brief Analysis explains why it selected each brief, including parameters such as being in the same jurisdiction, citing the same cases, winning or losing the same motion, matching one or more extracted concepts, etc. Filters help narrow the list of briefs, any of which you can download. Thanks to an integration with CourtLink, one click lets you view the case docket in which a brief resides.
The Cited in Your Document feature provides Shepard's signals for the citations in your brief, including Caution, Neutral, Positive, Questioned, and Warning. With a click, you can view the relevant passages of the cases generating these signals or run a Shepard's report. The Quote Check feature flags both block and inline quotations with errors and provides the corrections to save you time.
Cited in Your Document and Quote Check also come equipped for the age of Generative AI. A new "Unverified" notification identifies cases that don't exist either because of a typo or fake citation. AI chatbots not designed for legal research are prone to "hallucinations" in their overearnest aim to please. Similarly, Quote Check finds quotations that don't exist. Brief Analysis makes it difficult for opposing counsel (or an AI chatbot) to pull a fast one on you and the judge.
Neil J. Squillante founded TopLaw and serves as its publisher. As a young litigator working on a high-profile trial, Neil witnessed the discrepancy between what happened in the courtroom and what the media reported. Neil created TopLaw to provide fellow lawyers and law firm personnel with reliable information. Many consider TopLaw newsletters the only ones they need. Previously, Neil practiced commercial litigation at Am Law 100 firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. He received his J.D. from UCLA School of Law and his B.A. from Duke University. At UCLA, Neil served as a Managing Editor of UCLA Law Review.
