ClearBrief

Introduction

ClearBrief is an AI-powered legal writing tool that works directly inside Microsoft Word, founded in 2020 by CEO Jacqueline Schafer in Seattle. It analyzes a litigator's brief against the underlying discovery documents and case record, hyperlinking every factual assertion to its supporting evidence and flagging statements that are unsupported or potentially fabricated — a direct response to the wave of sanctions cases over AI-hallucinated citations. It also builds Tables of Authorities, timelines, and case summaries, and integrates with LexisNexis for citation verification. ClearBrief is used by AmLaw 10 and AmLaw 200 firms including Taft Stettinius & Hollister, Dykema, and Cozen O'Connor, as well as government offices, courts, the American Arbitration Association, and Microsoft's own legal department; the company reports over 3.2 million pleadings drafted with the tool since 2021. It raised a $1.2 million seed round in 2021 led by Madrona Venture Group and Sequoia Capital, with legal-industry angels including Avvo founder Mark Britton and former Microsoft general counsel Bill Neukom; the company has also referenced a larger extended-seed/Series A round of about $3.5 million from the same period, though that figure is less independently corroborated.

Legal Research

ClearBrief is not a case-law research tool, but its LexisNexis integration and citation-verification engine overlap with research workflows by confirming that cited authorities actually say what a brief claims they say.

Contract Analysis

ClearBrief does not perform contract review or analysis; it is built specifically for litigation writing, not transactional documents.

Document Drafting

This is ClearBrief's core strength. Working inside Word, it cross-references every factual claim in a draft brief against discovery documents and the case record, auto-generates hyperlinked citations and Tables of Authorities, and produces case timelines and document summaries to speed up motion and pleading drafting.

Legal Translation

ClearBrief does not offer a legal translation feature.

Predictive Analytics

ClearBrief includes real-time trial-strategy and cross-examination outline tools built from the case record, which borders on litigation-strategy support, but it does not offer outcome-prediction or judge/case-analytics modeling.

Pricing

ClearBrief publishes a Solo tier at $300/month per user on its website, with custom Enterprise Unlimited pricing (volume discounts, multi-year agreement rates) for larger firms negotiated directly with the company.

User Reviews and Ratings

No independent G2 or Capterra rating could be confirmed at the time of this review; the company cites a 2023 Litigation Product of the Year award from Legalweek and adoption across multiple AmLaw firms as its primary public validation instead.

Verdict

ClearBrief occupies a specific, high-value niche: verifying that a litigation brief's citations actually support what it claims, directly addressing the fabricated-citation sanctions risk that has embarrassed multiple firms using generative AI carelessly. It is not a general drafting or research tool, and its Solo pricing is aimed at practicing litigators rather than casual users, but for brief-writing accuracy specifically, it is a focused and well-adopted solution.