Citators, tools essential for validating whether a case or statute remains good law, have taken center stage once again with new innovations from vLex and Paxton AI. Historically, LexisNexis’ Shepard’s and Westlaw’s KeyCite have dominated the field, with Bloomberg’s BCite also holding a noteworthy position. However, recent launches by Paxton AI and vLex bring new dynamics into this crucial area of legal research.
Paxton AI, a startup focusing on contract review, document drafting, and legal research, recently unveiled the Paxton AI Citator. This new tool leverages generative AI to bypass the traditional reliance on human editors. According to Paxton, the citator achieved a 94% accuracy rate against the Stanford Casehold dataset. This indicates a potential shift in how citators might function in the future, especially considering Paxton’s patent application for their innovative tool.
In contrast, vLex has launched Cert, a citator incorporated into the vLex-Fastcase platform. Unlike Paxton, vLex has concluded that human editorial input remains necessary to ensure high accuracy. Following a merger with Fastcase, vLex spent two years and millions of dollars developing Cert. This extensive effort included human editors in Charlottesville, Va., who reviewed over 700,000 references to finalize the tool’s accuracy. Cert now offers a detailed classification system to guide users through case law validation.
vLex Cert assigns cases to one of five categories: Positive, Neutral, Caution, Negative, and Unclassified, thus giving a nuanced view of how subsequent cases have treated a given case. For more information about Cert, visit the support pages on vLex.
Generative AI’s tendency to hallucinate—producing false or misleading outputs—underscores the increasing importance of reliable citators in legal research. According to Ed Walters, Chief Strategy Officer at vLex, having a trustworthy citator is a key component that encourages users to stay with traditional legal research platforms like Westlaw and LexisNexis. With AI’s growing role, the risk of relying on overturned law becomes more pronounced, making accurate citators indispensable.
While both Paxton and vLex use AI to enhance their citators, vLex’s integration of human editorial review sets a contrasting approach. Whether fully AI-driven like Paxton or AI-enhanced with human oversight like vLex, these new citators represent a significant step forward in the ongoing quest for reliable legal research tools. To delve deeper into these innovations, check out the detailed article on LawNext.