Legal Tech insiders knew that something big was “cooking” at Casetext. Yesterday Casetext announced the Launch of Co-Counsel, which is described as the first AI Legal Assistant. The launch included some notable media appearances : a live demo on tv and a video interview Product Briefing with Nikki Shaver of Legal TechHub.
In another first, Casetext CoFounders, CEO, Jake Heller, and Chief Product Officer, Pablo Arredondo appeared on Morning Joe on MSNBC and conducted a live demo showing the power of the product. (To my knowledge, this also marks the first time Pablo appeared in public wearing a suit and tie.)
During the live demo, CoCounsel “read” the January 6th report and was asked if Donald Trump can be charged with conspiracy to make a false statement and whether the report contained any information which would exonerate the former President. In a few minutes CoCounsel delivered responses to both questions in well crafted prose. An attorney Greg Sisskind also appeared on the panel to describe how he uses CoCounsel in his immigration practice.
According to the press release , “The co-founders of Casetext saw the potential in this next-generation of generative AI and collaborated with OpenAI to use their latest, most advanced large language model, which can read, write and understand at a postgraduate level in any field, including law. CoCounsel pairs this model with Casetext’s proprietary technology and legal databases, for a first-of-its-kind product that has been developed to address the most important use cases in law.”
Heller also appeared in a more in depth discussion about CoCounsel with Nikki Shaver, the Founder of LegalTechHub .
I want to applaud Heller and Arredondo for positioning the product as an AI enabled Legal Assistant rather than engaging in the “eyeball roll” inducing “robot lawyer” hyperbole. CoCounsel is positioned as a tool that empowers lawyers rather than replacing them.
