Casetext’s CoCounsel, the First AI Legal Assistant, Is Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, the First Large Language Model to Pass Bar Exam

Legal AI company Casetext announced that its AI legal assistant, CoCounsel, is powered by GPT-4, the latest, most advanced large language model from OpenAI, released . Casetext also confirms that GPT-4 has passed both the multiple-choice and written portions of the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), a first for this technology. GPT-4’s advanced reasoning—validated by its performance on the bar—has unlocked professional-grade AI for law, ushering in an era of rapid and profound change in the legal industry.

“GPT-4 leaps past the power of earlier language models,” said Pablo Arredondo, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer for Casetext. “The model’s ability not just to generate text, but to interpret it, heralds nothing short of a new age in the practice of law.”

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Casetext collaborated with researchers Dan Katz and Michael Bommarito from Stanford’s Center for Legal Informatics to study GPT-4’s performance on the UBE. Katz and Bommarito had earlier examined the performance of a large language model released in late 2022, finding it could not pass any portion of the UBE. Their forthcoming paper shows that GPT-4, however, passed the multiple-choice portion and both components of the written portion, exceeding not only all prior large language models’ scores, but also the average score of real-life bar exam test takers.

The implications of GPT-4 for the legal industry go far beyond passing the bar exam, though. GPT-4, when paired with Casetext’s deep legal practice and data security expertise, has made possible a first-of-its-kind professional-level solution lawyers and their clients can rely on. “CoCounsel combines the power of next-generation AI with the security and data privacy law firms require,” said Casetext Chief Technology Officer Dr. Ryan Walker. “Client data is never used to train the models, and law firms retain complete control over their data. CoCounsel is the most secure AI in legal technology.”

Select Casetext clients from Fortune 50 companies and the Am Law 50 who were given early access to CoCounsel have already seen the product improve their practice. Global law firm and Casetext client DLA Piper received early access to CoCounsel and has been using the AI assistant since September 2022. “Casetext’s CoCounsel is changing how the law is practiced by automating critical, time-intensive tasks and freeing our lawyers to focus on the most impactful aspects of practice,” said Frank Ryan, DLA Piper’s Americas Chair. “AI development and adoption is crucial as companies look to grow their businesses and compete successfully. No firm wants to be the last one to implement this game-changing technology.”

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Darth Vaughn, Litigation Counsel and Legal Innovation & Technology Operations Lead at Ford Motor Company, said that, “This technology has the potential to revolutionize the way lawyers practice. The value of CoCounsel is quickly becoming evident across a range of our practice groups. If implemented correctly, I believe this technology can also increase access to justice.”

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