Casetext Search: How It Worked, What Happened to It and the Best Alternatives

Casetext search was the legal research search engine built by Casetext: keyword search, CARA A.I. search (upload a brief to find related cases) and Parallel Search (type a proposition, get supporting cases). Thomson Reuters bought Casetext in 2023, and today casetext.com leads to Thomson Reuters' CoCounsel, which carries Casetext's AI into CoCounsel Legal.

This guide explains how Casetext search worked, what happened to it, and which legal research tools people use instead.

How Casetext search worked

According to Casetext's own help centre, there were three ways to search on Casetext:

• Keyword search: type a case title, citation or keywords. Plain-language questions worked in the same search bar, with a switch to Boolean search, and results could be filtered by jurisdiction, cause of action, party type, motion type and date.

• CARA A.I. search: upload a brief or complaint, and CARA used the document's language and citation patterns to find relevant cases it did not already cite.

• Parallel Search: type the proposition you need support for, in your own words, and get back cases that say the same thing even when they use different wording. It started inside Casetext's Compose drafting tool and later worked on its own.

In 2022 Casetext added AllSearch, which applied the same neural search technology to a firm's own litigation documents, such as discovery sets and briefs (LawNext).

What happened to Casetext?

• March 2023: Casetext launched CoCounsel, an AI legal assistant built on OpenAI's GPT-4, for document review, research memos, deposition preparation and contract analysis.

• 17 August 2023: Thomson Reuters completed its acquisition of Casetext for $650 million in cash. Casetext then served more than 10,000 law firms and corporate legal departments (Thomson Reuters press release).

• Since then: CoCounsel became part of Thomson Reuters' legal products, grounded in Westlaw and Practical Law content. In June 2026 Thomson Reuters opened early access to the next generation of CoCounsel Legal (LawNext).

• Today: casetext.com leads to Thomson Reuters' CoCounsel page. The Casetext search engine is no longer offered on its own.

Casetext search today: CoCounsel Legal

The closest thing to Casetext search now is CoCounsel Legal. Instead of a search box, you describe the matter in plain language, and CoCounsel plans the research, works through it and returns cited work product grounded in Westlaw primary law, Practical Law guidance across more than 100 jurisdictions and your own documents. Thomson Reuters lists plans with a free trial and demo. Lawyers who want Westlaw's own AI research can also look at Westlaw Advantage.

Casetext search alternatives

If you used Casetext for fast, affordable case law search, these legal research tools cover similar ground. Each link goes to its DreamLegal profile with features and published pricing.

• CoCounsel Legal (Thomson Reuters): Casetext's direct successor, agentic research and drafting on Westlaw and Practical Law.

• Midpage: AI-native US legal research with cited answers and proposition-style search; its professional plan starts at $99 a month with a two-week free trial.

• Vincent AI (Clio, formerly vLex): AI legal research with cited memos and multi-jurisdiction surveys.

• Lexis+ AI (LexisNexis): AI research and drafting on LexisNexis content.

• Westlaw Advantage (Thomson Reuters): Westlaw's top tier with agentic Deep Research.

• Alexi: AI legal research memos for litigators.

Compare them side by side: CoCounsel vs Midpage, CoCounsel vs Vincent AI, Alexi vs CoCounsel and Lexis+ AI vs Westlaw Advantage, or browse every tool in legal research software.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Casetext still available? Not as a separate product. Thomson Reuters acquired Casetext in August 2023, and casetext.com now leads to CoCounsel.

What replaced Casetext search? CoCounsel Legal from Thomson Reuters, which grew out of Casetext's CoCounsel assistant and now runs on Westlaw and Practical Law content.

What was CARA A.I.? Casetext's brief-analysis search: you uploaded a brief or complaint, and it used the document's language and citations to find relevant cases.

What was Parallel Search? A Casetext feature that found cases expressing a legal proposition you typed, even when the cases used different words.

How much did Thomson Reuters pay for Casetext? $650 million in cash. The acquisition closed on 17 August 2023.