Research
Good Law Check
Definition
A good law check is the process of verifying whether a cited legal authority remains valid and has not been overruled, reversed, superseded by statute, or otherwise undermined by subsequent legal developments. AI-powered good law checks automate the citator function traditionally performed by Shepard's Citations (Lexis) or KeyCite (Westlaw).
Legal authority is not permanent. Cases are overruled, distinguished, or limited by later opinions. Statutes are amended, repealed, or held unconstitutional. Regulations are revised or vacated. A case that was good law when it was decided may no longer be valid authority today. Citing invalid authority is not just embarrassing; it can result in court sanctions and malpractice liability.
Traditionally, lawyers check the status of cited authority using citator services like Shepard's Citations on Lexis or KeyCite on Westlaw. These services track every subsequent reference to a case and flag negative treatment. AI-powered good law checks automate this process, verifying the status of each cited authority as part of the research or drafting workflow rather than requiring a separate manual step.
AI good law checks go beyond simply flagging negative treatment signals. They can analyze the nature of the negative treatment to determine whether it affects the specific proposition for which the case is being cited. A case that was reversed on procedural grounds may still be good law on the substantive issue. A case that was distinguished on its facts may still be valid for the legal principle it established. This nuanced analysis helps lawyers make informed decisions about which authorities to rely on.
How Irys approaches this
Irys includes automated good law verification that checks the current status of every cited authority and analyzes whether negative treatment affects the specific proposition being cited.
Related terms
Research
Citation Verification
Citation verification is the process of independently confirming that the legal citations in a document hold up: that the cited authorities exist, that quoted language matches the source, and that the authorities have not been overruled or negatively treated. In AI-assisted legal work it is the step that catches hallucinated or inaccurate references, and it supports the reviewing attorney's own verification duty rather than replacing it.
Legal Tech
AI Cite Check
AI cite check is an automated system that checks legal citations in a document against authoritative sources. It checks whether cited cases can be matched to real authorities, whether quoted language matches the source, and whether holdings appear accurately represented, and it flags authorities with negative treatment such as being overruled or reversed. Its output is a set of flags for attorney review, not a substitute for that review.
Research
AI Legal Citations
AI legal citations are case references, statutory citations, and other legal authority references generated by AI systems in the course of legal research or drafting. The accuracy and verifiability of AI-generated citations is a central concern in legal AI because language models can produce citations that appear well-formed but reference non-existent authorities.
Research
CourtListener
CourtListener is a free, open-source legal research platform operated by Free Law Project that provides access to millions of court opinions, oral arguments, and judicial records from federal and state courts. It serves as an important public legal data source that some AI legal research tools use as part of their retrieval infrastructure.
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