Getting Started

What is Briefcase AI?

Briefcase AI is a legal research platform that eliminates the terminology barrier between you and relevant case law. Instead of mastering complex search syntax and legal jargon, you ask questions in plain English and get instant access to relevant US cases and statutes. Think of it as translating legal research from a specialized programming language into a natural conversation.

Who is Briefcase AI built for?

We built Briefcase AI for anyone who needs to understand legal precedent but doesn't want to become a search syntax expert first:

• Startup founders analyzing contract terms and understanding their legal obligations

• Law students building case briefs and learning how precedent works

• Junior associates researching precedent without spending hours learning database commands

• Legal teams at boutique firms and global enterprises building case strategy

• Anyone navigating complex legal questions who needs authoritative answers fast

If you've ever felt like you needed a law degree just to search for legal information, we built this for you.

How is this different from traditional legal research tools?

Traditional legal research forces you to translate your question into their language first. You need to know Boolean operators, citation formats, and legal terminology before you can even start searching. It's like needing to learn SQL before you can use Google.

Briefcase AI reverses this completely. You ask your actual question—"Can my landlord evict me for having a pet?"—and we surface the relevant precedent. No translation layer. No syntax to memorize. You get straight to the substance that moves your work forward.

Core Features

What do you mean by "legal genealogy"?

Legal genealogy is how we map the family tree of legal precedent. Just like understanding your family history helps you understand yourself, understanding a case's legal ancestry helps you know whether it's reliable.

Here's the problem we solve: Finding a case isn't enough. You need to know if it's still good law, or if it's been overruled, limited, or distinguished. Traditional research makes you hunt through dozens of citing cases to figure this out manually.

Briefcase AI does this automatically:

Validity Tracking: We identify which precedents remain binding and which have been superseded, reversed, or limited by jurisdiction. No more citing overruled cases because you missed a flag.

Evolution Mapping: We trace how legal principles develop across cases, revealing the logic chains judges follow. See how a rule from 1950 evolved through 2025, and understand why courts ruled the way they did.

Authority Dependencies: We map relationships between statutes, regulations, and case law so controlling authorities never catch you off-guard. If a statute changed in 2023 that affects your 2015 case, you'll know.

Can Briefcase AI help with IP management?

Yes—we provide an end-to-end IP management pipeline that takes you from artifact to filing. For founders and legal teams managing intellectual property, we offer:

Centralized IP Vault: Organize all your patents, trademarks, and copyrights in one secure workspace. Stop juggling spreadsheets and email threads.

Automated Compliance: Pre-submission checks ensure filing readiness before you submit anything. Catch issues early when they're easy to fix.

Transparent Tracking: Real-time status updates on every application without chasing emails or checking multiple portals.

Milestone Documentation: Automatic change history and progress snapshots across your IP lifecycle. Never lose track of what happened when.

How does Briefcase AI integrate with my existing workflow?

We meet you where you work through platform-optimized prompts and API access. You don't need to learn a new system or abandon your existing tools—Briefcase AI slots into your current process.

Our results adapt to your audience automatically. A law student sees different context and explanations than a senior partner would. The platform recognizes what level of detail and legal sophistication makes sense for each user.

No new syntax to learn. No database commands to memorize. Just natural language queries that return relevant results.

Technical & Security

How secure is my research?

Enterprise security by design. We were built by engineers from Amazon's AGI initiative who understand that legal research must remain absolutely confidential.

Our security architecture includes:

• SOC 2 Type II compliance - Third-party verified security controls

• AES-256 encryption - Military-grade encryption for all data

• Zero-knowledge architecture - We can't see your research queries or results

Your research remains confidential. Your data stays yours. We don't train models on your queries or share your research with anyone.

Does Briefcase AI replace lawyers or legal advice?

No—Briefcase AI is a research tool, not a replacement for legal counsel. Think of us as a research assistant that helps you find relevant precedent faster, not as a lawyer who can advise you on strategy.

We help you understand what the law says. A lawyer helps you understand what that means for your specific situation and what actions to take. These are complementary, not competitive.

If you need legal advice, consult with a licensed attorney. If you need to find relevant case law quickly, that's where we excel.

What jurisdictions does Briefcase AI cover?

We currently cover US federal and state case law and statutes. Our platform understands jurisdictional boundaries—so if you're researching New York law, we won't mislead you with California precedent that doesn't apply.

How accurate is the validity tracking?

Our validity tracking combines automated analysis with verified legal citation data. We don't just rely on AI—we cross-reference with established legal databases to ensure accuracy.

That said, legal research is high-stakes work. While we're confident in our accuracy, we always recommend verifying critical precedent through multiple sources, especially for trial preparation or major transactions.

Pricing & Access

How much does Briefcase AI cost?

We offer flexible pricing for different user types—from individual students to enterprise legal teams. Contact us for specific pricing tailored to your use case and volume needs.

Can I try Briefcase AI before committing?

Yes—we offer demos and trial periods so you can experience the platform with your actual research questions before making a decision. Reach out to see Briefcase AI in action with your specific use cases.

Do you offer API access?

Yes—enterprise customers can access Briefcase AI through our API to integrate legal research directly into their existing platforms and workflows. This is particularly valuable for legal tech companies, law firms with custom tools, or enterprises building internal legal knowledge systems.

Background & Philosophy

Who founded Briefcase AI and why?

Briefcase AI was founded by Aansh Shah, a security-focused software engineer and former Amazon AGI architect who experienced the terminology barrier problem firsthand while navigating legal questions.

The insight was simple: Legal research tools were built for legal experts. But most people who need legal information aren't experts—they're founders checking contracts, students learning the law, or professionals trying to understand their rights. The barrier wasn't the complexity of law itself, but the complexity of the tools designed to search it.

Briefcase AI removes that barrier. Stop translating your questions into legal search terms. Start getting answers.

What makes Briefcase AI different from other legal AI tools?

Three things set us apart:

1. Natural Language First: We designed around how people actually think about legal questions, not how legal databases are structured. You don't adapt to our system—our system adapts to you.

2. Legal Genealogy: Understanding precedent isn't just about finding cases—it's about understanding their relationships, validity, and evolution over time. Most tools stop at search. We map the entire authority landscape.

3. Built by Engineers Who Understand Security: We're not lawyers who hired engineers—we're security-focused engineers (from Amazon's AGI initiative) who deeply understand both the technical challenges and the confidentiality requirements of legal research.

How does Briefcase AI handle ambiguous or complex questions?

When your question is ambiguous, we'll ask clarifying questions rather than guessing what you meant. If your question is complex, we break down the research into logical components and walk you through the analysis.

Think of it like working with a research librarian who knows how to find information and isn't afraid to ask "Can you clarify what aspect of this you're most interested in?" before diving in.

Getting Started

What's the first step to using Briefcase AI?

Simple: Ask a legal question the way you'd ask a colleague. No special formatting. No citation styles. Just your actual question in natural language.

The platform will surface relevant precedent, show you the validity status of each case, and help you understand how the legal principles connect. From there, you can dive deeper into specific cases, trace legal evolution, or expand your research in new directions.

What if I don't know enough legal terminology to ask good questions?

That's exactly the problem we solve. You don't need to know legal terminology—that's our job. Ask your question in plain English using the concepts you understand, and we'll find the relevant legal precedent.

For example, instead of searching for "anticipatory repudiation doctrine," you can ask "What happens if someone says they won't fulfill a contract before the deadline?" We translate between your natural language and legal concepts automatically.