Capabilities in Workbench
Checking citations in Irys Workbench
Irys reads the authorities in submitted text and checks each one against legal data sources. It flags anything it cannot match to a real case, and anything whose details do not line up. A match tells you the authority exists and the reference is accurate. It does not tell you the case supports the point it is cited for, or where the law has moved since, so read the opinion before you rely on it.
What gets checked
Each identified citation is checked across three dimensions:
1. Existence check (anti-hallucination)
Attempts to match the citation to a case record in the case-law database. This is the primary defense against AI-hallucinated citations: if the case name, volume, reporter, or page number does not match a record, it is flagged.
2. Format accuracy
Checks that the citation string matches the correct format for the referenced case:
- Correct reporter abbreviation.
- Correct volume and page number.
- Correct year and court designation.
Minor formatting errors (a wrong year, an incorrect reporter) are flagged so you can fix them before filing.
3. What the text claims the case held
Compares the point the authority is cited for with the case it was matched to. An authority can be real, correctly formatted, and still be attached to a proposition the case does not support. That comes back as its own result rather than as a clean pass.
Running a citation check
Submit content
Paste text, select a document from your Matter, or run a check on the document open in the Drafting Assistant.
Review results
You get a result for each citation Irys identifies. Each receives one of three statuses:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pass | The authority matched a real case and the reference details line up. A Pass is not a statement about relevance or legal applicability. |
| Warning | The authority matched, but something about the reference, or about the claim the text makes for it, does not line up. Review it. |
| Fail | The authority could not be matched to any case in the legal data sources, or the reference is wrong. |
Reading the results
Each citation entry in the results shows:
- The citation string as it appears in your text.
- The matched case, or no match found.
- A status badge: Pass, Warning, or Fail.
- A short explanation of any issues detected.
Expand a result to see the matched case in full.
A Pass means the authority exists and the reference is accurate. It does not mean the case supports the point it is cited for, and it is not a statement about where the law stands today. Always read the opinion.
Common issues it catches
- Hallucinated cases: AI-generated citations that reference cases that do not exist.
- Wrong reporter or volume: transposed numbers or incorrect reporter abbreviations.
- Misattributed holdings: a real case cited for something it does not say.
- Parallel citation mismatches: official and unofficial reporters that do not align.