Capability · Case law

The rule first, then the case that settles it.

Miss Lucy starts with the rule, not with keywords. She finds the rule that applies to your point and the judgments that settle it, reads those judgments, and works out how they apply to your facts.

What she does

  • Searches 68,000 Supreme Court and High Court judgments for the rule that applies to your point, and the cases that settle it. Not the cases that happen to use your words.
  • Reads the judgments themselves, pulls out the paragraphs that matter, and applies them to the facts you give her.
  • Tells you where a case has been doubted, distinguished or overruled, so you know whether it still holds.
  • On documents she delivers, she checks each paragraph number against the judgment's own numbering, and drops one she cannot match instead of guessing.

How it works

  1. 1

    State the point and the facts

    Tell her the issue the way you'd brief a junior. She works out which rule applies before she opens a single case.

  2. 2

    She finds the rule that applies

    She searches the Supreme Court and High Court judgments for the cases that settle the rule, not the ones that merely mention your words.

  3. 3

    She reads the judgments and applies them

    She opens the decisions, pulls the paragraphs that matter, and works out how they sit against your facts. Anything that goes against you, she tells you.

  4. 4

    Citations are written and checked

    A separate step writes the formal reporter citations with paragraph numbers. On a delivered document, a paragraph number she cannot match to the judgment is dropped, not invented.

In practice

“Is a subsequent purchaser entitled to challenge an acquisition the original owner let lapse?”

She works out which rule applies, finds the cases that settle it, reads the paragraphs that matter, and applies them to your buyer's position. She also flags the later bench that narrowed the rule, with checked paragraph numbers so you can read the holdings yourself.

By hand vs with Miss Lucy

It replaces the hours of keyword-hunting and judgment-reading it takes to pin down the law on a point.

The taskBy handWith Miss Lucy
Find the rule that applies to the pointKeyword-search the databases and read past the results that don’t apply to work out the ruleThe rule, with the cases that settle it
Read what the judgment actually heldOpen each case and hunt for the relevant paragraphsShe reads the decisions and pulls the paragraphs that matter
Know if the authority still holdsTrace later treatment across benches by handShe tells you what later benches did with it
Trust the reporter citation and paragraph numberRe-check every cite and paragraph by handCitations and paragraph numbers checked on delivered documents

What she won’t do

  • She finds the authority, reads it, and shows you the sources. Whether it is good law for your facts is still your call.
  • She will not invent a citation to fill a gap. If the authority isn't there, she says so, and on documents she delivers, fabricated reporter cites are blocked.
  • She covers Supreme Court and High Court judgments, and the coverage is deepest at the Supreme Court. For a very recent decision, or an unreported High Court point, treat her answer as a starting point and check it yourself.

More capabilities

See it on your own matter.

Draft 2 documents free and ask Miss Lucy anything for 10 days. No card.

Try Pro free