Descrybe Unveils Legal Research Toolkit with AI Citator
Descrybe, the AI-powered legal research platform, has launched its Legal Research Toolkit (LRT), a powerful and affordable upgrade to its popular free legal search engine. This toolkit provides users with professional-grade tools to search smarter, analyse faster, and cite with confidence.
At the heart of the toolkit is the Cytator, Descrybe’s breakthrough AI-powered citator. While traditional tools assess precedent at the case level, the Cytator goes further, delivering issue-level insights in both directions. It shows not only how later courts have treated a case but also how it treated the cases it relied on, thanks to Descrybe’s innovative issue-level backward citator. Whether a point of law has been followed, distinguished, overruled, or merely mentioned, the built-in good-law/bad-law indicator helps users instantly assess the strength of their citations.
The Cytator is fully integrated across the toolkit, providing instant insights wherever you work. Its analysis is seamlessly embedded in brief checking, case analysis, and exploration of legal issues, providing users with a clear view of how citations are treated across various contexts. Everything surfaces in real-time, with no delays or extra steps—just treatment indicators exactly when and where you need them.
“Every feature in the toolkit is built around what people in the legal field told us they need,” said Kara Peterson, co-founder of Descrybe and 2024 ABA Women of Legal Tech honouree. “They said they wanted faster, more affordable ways to do legal research, and we listened.”
The Legal Research Toolkit is now available at $10 per month for non-commercial use and $20 per month for commercial users, with no long-term subscription commitments or hidden fees. And the core bilingual search platform will always remain free to use.
Key Features of the Toolkit
The Cytator: Delivers issue-level citation analysis that goes beyond traditional citators. Instantly see how legal authorities were treated across jurisdictions—whether followed, overruled, distinguished, declined to follow, or merely mentioned. The Cytator includes both forward and backward treatment: not just how later courts interpreted a case, but how that case analysed the authorities it cited. This reveals the full analytical chain behind a decision and shows how legal doctrines are constructed, step by step.
Brief Checker: Identify hallucinated, inaccurate, or incomplete citations in briefs you draft or receive. Includes Cytator treatment indicators, so you can instantly see not only whether a citation exists but also whether it’s still good law. Cross-check case facts and themes with any source before relying on it.
Legal Issue Explorer: See how courts approach similar legal issues, even when described in different terms. Identify and compare how spot-related issues are addressed across different jurisdictions.
Natural Language + Keyword + Case Name Search: Search in plain English or legal terms, with real-time suggestions and filters that help you move faster. You can use Boolean-style operators (AND, OR, NOT) or natural language, and each result displays key Cytator treatments, so you can assess how cases were handled without leaving the search page.
Bilingual Case Summaries + Multilingual Search: Each opinion includes English and Spanish summaries, available at both standard and simplified reading levels, to support faster and more precise understanding. You can also search in Spanish natural language to find relevant cases more easily.
Case Analysis: Available directly in each case detail, this section provides nuanced, issue-by-issue insights, including holdings versus dicta, procedural posture, circuit splits, precedential value, and more. It is a strategic tool for litigation and appellate work, and one of the most powerful features in the LRT.
“We built the toolkit to push legal research technology forward,” said Richard DiBona, Descrybe’s co-founder and tech lead. “From the Cytator to our real-time analysis tools, every feature is designed for speed, precision, and depth, without sacrificing usability.”
Since its launch in 2023, Descrybe has become a go-to resource for legal researchers worldwide. With over 3.6 million AI-summarised court opinions, it serves thousands of users daily, from individuals navigating their legal issues to legal professionals, and the core platform remains free to search. The toolkit marks a key step in Descrybe’s mission to democratise legal access while supporting long-term sustainability.
“Access to the law shouldn’t depend on who you are or what you can afford,” Peterson said. “We’re using the power of AI to break down those barriers and put meaningful legal research within reach. With Descrybe, affordability doesn’t mean compromise. You get the quality you need without the price you don’t.”
About Descrybe
Descrybe is a legal tech platform that uses advanced AI to transform how people access and understand the law. The platform combines powerful free tools with premium features offered through an affordable paid tier and is used by thousands of people every day across the globe.
