In San Francisco, a transformative story unfolded when three former lawyers came together to challenge traditional legal research services such as Thomson Reuters Westlaw and LexisNexis. The result was their new venture: Casetext, an innovative legal research platform.
The founders initially envisaged Casetext as a free, comprehensive library of primary legal research materials, enriched by user-contributed annotations and edits – a legal parallel to Wikipedia. However, with the evolution of artificial intelligence technology, they decided to shift their focus. The question became how AI could be used to advance legal research and other legal tasks.
By the time of Casetext’s terrific 10th-anniversary celebration in 2023, the company had fully embraced AI and launched one of the first generative AI legal assistants, CoCounsel, talked about widely in the legal and tech communities.
Such was the success of CoCounsel that an unexpected turn of events took place: Westlaw, one of the giants to whom Casetext once sought to provide an alternative, acquired it for a staggering $650 million in cash. This brought a significant shakeup to the industry, showing the growing influence and value of AI in the legal sector.
After the completion of its acquisition, the three founders, together with their AI legal assistant, can be said to have lived happily ever after, serving as a prime example and inspiration in the fusion of law and technology.
For those interested in a more in-depth account, the full story is beautifully illustrated in a whimsical, kid-friendly format, echoing a modern-day fairy tale in the world of law and technology, available here.