The
next
generation
of
lawyers
will
approach
the
same
old
problems
in
very
different
ways.
At
its
heart,
the
profession
isn’t
all
that
different
than
it
ever
was.
Look
up
caselaw,
match
clauses
to
market,
get
yelled
at,
fill
out
timesheets…
sunrise,
sunset.
But
how
they
do
those
tasks
keeps
evolving.
Hardbound
copies
of
Shepard’s
gave
way
to
online
research,
tools
scour
thousands
of
contracts
to
find
the
language
the
client
needs,
Zoom
opened
up
new
frontiers
in
accepting
verbal
abuse,
and
bots
track
billable
hours.
A
whole
new
assortment
of
technologies
to
perform
essentially
age-old
tasks.
But
where
do
they
learn
about
these
new
technologies?
The
National
Society
for
Legal
Technology
maintains
a
Legal
Research
Technology
curriculum
employed
by
more
than
350
universities,
law
schools,
and
other
legal
education
programs
across
11
countries.
And
this
week,
Descrybe
joined
the
list
of
tools
alongside
Lexis+,
Westlaw,
Bloomberg
Law,
Fastcase,
and
HeinOnline
as
one
of
the
six
core
research
tools
in
the
curriculum.
It
takes
this
place
as
the
replacement
for
Casetext,
which
joined
the
Westlaw
family
when
Thomson
Reuters
acquired
the
company
for
$650
million.
TR
has
pulled
the
plug
on
the
independent,
free
Casetext
tool
and
brought
their
technology
fully
under
the
TR
roof.
For
that
matter,
Fastcase
became
vLex
and
now
becomes
Clio
because
legal
tech
moves…
fast.
“It’s
a
proud
moment
to
see
Descrybe
joining
the
ranks
of
the
world’s
most
respected
research
tools
—
and
to
know
we’re
helping
move
the
field
forward,”
said
Kara
Peterson,
Descrybe
co-founder
and
a
2024
ABA
Women
of
Legal
Tech
honoree.
Descrybe’s
toolkit
offers
natural
language
search,
simplified
case
summaries,
citation
analysis,
issue-level
insights,
a
brief
checker,
and
bilingual
access
to
over
3.6
million
federal
and
state
court
opinions.
Like
Casetext
before
it,
Descrybe
has
a
free
option,
but
its
power
is
in
the
low
cost
—
$20/month
—
option
that
gives
users
extra
features
and
access
to
tools
like
Cytator,
which
sounds
like
a
Marvel
villain
who
subpoenas
planets.
“As
a
legal
technology
education
expert
and
industry
consultant,
I’ve
evaluated
countless
tools
that
promise
to
streamline
legal
research
and
analysis—but
few
deliver
with
the
precision
and
practicality
of
Descrybe,”
said
Doug
Lusk,
Founder
and
CEO
of
NSLT.
“This
platform
stands
out
for
its
ability
to
distill
complex
court
opinions
into
clear,
accessible
summaries
while
preserving
the
nuance
and
legal
significance
of
the
original
text.
Descrybe
empowers
attorneys,
paralegals,
and
law
students
to
engage
with
judicial
content
more
efficiently
and
with
greater
confidence.
In
an
era
where
time
and
clarity
are
at
a
premium,
Descrybe.ai
is
setting
a
new
standard
for
how
legal
information
is
consumed
and
understood.”
The
subtext,
of
course,
is
as
loud
as
an
online
legal
research
price
quote:
the
industry
is
slowly,
grudgingly
realizing
that
it
needs
$20-a-month
tools.
The
most
consistent
tech
complaint
in
my
inbox
involves
a
small
or
solo
practice
lawyer
rending
garments
and
gnashing
teeth
over
the
loss
of
Casetext.
Descrybe
smelled
blood
and
filled
the
gap
faster
than
a
Supreme
Court
clerk
opening
a
FedEx
package
from
Leonard
Leo.
Because
there’s
a
price
point
in
this
market
that
needs
lower
cost
options.
Not
every
client
is
made
of
money.
In
fact,
most
of
them
aren’t.
And
it’s
not
just
indigent
clients…
with
the
rising
cost
of
legal
services,
there
are
middle
class
clients
who
balk
at
the
cost
of
lawyers.
The
last
thing
they
need
is
to
be
covering
a
firm’s
massive
online
research
overhead.
There
will
be
law
students
who
end
up
serving
that
market
and
they
need
to
know
how
to
get
winning
results
with
the
tools
built
to
take
advantage
of
that
space.
Which
is
all
to
say
that
there’s
a
perfect
—
perhaps
Casetext-sized
place
—
for
Descrybe
to
fill
in
this
curriculum.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or
Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a
Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.