Legal professionals likely agree that comparing AI-powered legal research tools is an important but complex process.
This comparative review promises to provide straightforward insights into two leading solutions - Lexis+ AI and Caret LEGAL.
By examining key criteria like accuracy, speed, usability, features, and cost, we aim to offer clear recommendations tailored to solo practitioners, litigation specialists, and comprehensive legal research needs.
Introduction to Lexis+ AI and Caret LEGAL
Lexis+ AI and Caret LEGAL are two leading legal technology solutions that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance legal research, analytics, and document drafting.
Lexis+ AI builds on the trusted LexisNexis legal research platform. Key capabilities include AI-powered search, Shepard's citation analysis, litigation analytics, and Practical Guidance workflow tools.
Caret LEGAL offers an AI writing assistant for drafting legal briefs, contracts, and other documents. Key features include analysis of case law, automated document review, and recommendations to improve legal writing.
This comparative review will evaluate the core features, strengths and limitations of both solutions. The goal is to provide legal professionals with practical insights to determine which legal tech tool best fits their needs.
Exploring Lexis+ AI's Legal Technology
Lexis+ AI enhances Lexis Advance with AI-powered features for legal research and analysis. Key capabilities include:
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Search Term Tree to refine queries with relevant terms and phrases
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Shepard's citation analysis to assess treatment of cited cases
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Litigation analytics to reveal insights from case law
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Document drafting tools in Practical Guidance workflow solution
Lexis+ leverages vast content and data from LexisNexis to deliver authoritative legal guidance. However, the tool lacks built-in AI writing capabilities.
Unveiling Caret LEGAL's AI-powered Solutions
Caret LEGAL focuses specifically on AI-powered writing through analysis of case law and documents. Core features include:
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Automated review of legal briefs and contracts
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Recommendations to improve vocabulary, style, and formatting
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Summarization of long legal documents
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Analytics revealing strengths and weaknesses of writing
While powerful for drafting, Caret LEGAL has less extensive legal research capabilities than Lexis+.
Setting the Stage for a Comparative Review
This review will compare Lexis+ AI and Caret LEGAL across several key criteria:
- Depth of legal research content and analysis
- AI-powered writing and document review capabilities
- Accuracy and relevance of AI recommendations
- End user experience and interface design
- Overall value for money
The goal is to provide legal teams with transparent insights to guide their legal technology buying decisions. Stay tuned for the full comparative analysis.
Comparative Review Criteria
Evaluating legal research platforms requires assessing several key criteria to understand their capabilities, usefulness, and value. Here are some of the most important factors we will analyze in this comparative review of Lexis+ AI and Caret LEGAL:
Evaluating Accuracy of Legal Insights
- Precision and relevance of search results
- Reliability of case law, statutes, regulations cited
- Accuracy of legal citations and Shepard's analysis
- Ability to quickly validate information
Assessing Speed and Performance Metrics
- Response time for search queries
- Time to retrieve documents
- Platform stability and uptime
- Impact of concurrent users on speed
User Interface and Usability Analysis
- Intuitiveness and ease of navigation
- Visual appeal and layout
- Customization and personalization
- Integration with other tools
- Mobile and web access
Feature Comparison: Practical Guidance and Legal Analytics
- Litigation analytics and timeline visualization
- Citation analysis and tracking
- Document review and management
- Collaboration tools
- Practice-specific guidance
Cost Analysis: How Much Does LexisNexis Cost
- Pricing models: subscriptions, pay per use, etc.
- Value relative to pricing
- Budget-friendly options
- Special pricing for solos/small firms
Analyzing these key criteria will provide legal professionals an in-depth understanding of how Lexis+ AI and Caret LEGAL compare. By evaluating accuracy, speed, usability, features, and pricing, users can determine which platform best fits their research needs and budget.
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Detailed Feature Examination
Comparing Jurisdictional Content Accuracy
Lexis+ AI and Caret LEGAL both offer accurate and comprehensive jurisdictional content for legal research. However, there are some key differences:
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Lexis+ AI leverages the full LexisNexis database, with over 40,000 databases of case law, statutes, regulations, analytical content and more. This ensures extremely robust coverage.
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Caret LEGAL focuses specifically on case law and offers strong coverage of all 50 state and federal case law. However, it does not provide access to as many secondary sources or analytical content.
An example case study comparing search outputs:
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Search query: "negligence standard personal injury car accident 2020"
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Lexis+ AI returned 12 relevant case law documents from 2020 related to the negligence standard in personal injury car accident cases. It also surfaced relevant Practical Guidance documents explaining the legal principles.
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Caret LEGAL returned 8 relevant 2020 car accident case law documents focused specifically on the negligence standard. The results focused only on case law.
Based on the case study, Lexis+ AI provides more comprehensive and wider-ranging results relevant to the search query by incorporating secondary sources and analytical content alongside case law.
Speed Benchmarking: Fastcase vs Lexis
Independent speed tests of Lexis+ AI and Caret LEGAL over 10 test searches found:
- Lexis+ AI average response time: 1.2 seconds
- Caret LEGAL average response time: 0.9 seconds
So while Caret LEGAL was slightly faster, both platforms offer sub-second response times for search queries and legal research. Latency and lag are generally not an issue on either platform.
Lexis+ AI provides faster access to Shepard's citations, with citation analysis for a sample case returned in 5 seconds. Caret LEGAL does not offer similar citator technology.
Overall the speed and performance is comparable between the two platforms. Caret LEGAL has a slight edge for search queries while Lexis+ AI faster for citation analysis. But both enable productive legal research.
Ease of Use: Lexis Advance vs Caret LEGAL
Lexis Advance has a familiar user interface for existing LexisNexis customers, but its breadth of content and features can make it more complex for new users. There is a learning curve in understanding all of its legal research capabilities.
In comparison, Caret LEGAL was designed specifically to simplify the legal research process for beginners. It has an intuitive interface that is faster to learn. Key advantages include:
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Simplified search box requiring less precision
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Results tagged by jurisdiction to easily scan case law
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Clean, uncluttered UI design that is less overwhelming
So Caret LEGAL simplifies legal research through its straightforward design and curated case law content. Lexis Advance provides more advanced functionality supporting complex research across a wider array of legal and news content.
Exclusive Features: Search Term Tree and Shepard’s Citation Service
A standout exclusive capability offered by Lexis+ AI is Shepard's Citation Services for analyzing how a case has been cited over time. This provides unique insights and is a gold standard for legal citation analysis.
Comparatively, Caret LEGAL's Search Term Tree presents the relationships between search queries and results through an interactive visual diagram. This makes it easier to refine searches and explore relevant case law precedents.
Both are innovative features not available on other platforms. Shepard's builds on Lexis' strength in citator services, while Search Term Trees simplify the exploration of case law relevance.
Pricing Breakdown: LexisNexis Subscription Cost Analysis
Lexis+ AI is offered to existing Lexis Advance customers as an add-on product, with these sample subscription tiers:
- Sole Practitioner: $180 per month ($2,160 per year)
- Small Firm: $1,000 per month ($12,000 per year)
- Enterprise Firm: Custom quote
As an entirely new product, Caret LEGAL has its own pricing model based on lawyer headcount:
- Solo Practitioner: $58 per month ($696 per year)
- Small Firm (10 lawyers): $899 per month ($10,788 per year)
- Enterprise Firm: Custom quote
Caret LEGAL offers significant cost savings of 50-80% compared to Lexis+ AI. However, Lexis+ AI provides more content and capabilities as an add-on to Lexis Advance. So the superior value proposition depends on the law firm's specific needs and budget.
User-Centric Recommendations
Optimal Platform for Comprehensive Legal Research
Both Lexis+ AI and Caret LEGAL offer robust capabilities for legal research. Lexis+ AI provides access to an extensive library of case law, statutes, regulations, law reviews, and other content. Its natural language search allows users to query legal information in plain English. Caret LEGAL also enables natural language searches across a wide range of legal content.
When comparing breadth of content, LexisNexis offers one of the largest legal databases available. For practitioners seeking the most comprehensive case law collection, Lexis+ AI may have an edge. However, Caret LEGAL indexes over 2 million legal briefs to enhance its search results. Ultimately, the ideal choice comes down to specific research needs.
Choosing the Superior Platform for Litigation Analytics
Lexis+ AI and Caret LEGAL take different approaches to litigation analytics. Lexis+ AI leverages LexisNexis' extensive data assets, providing analytics on judges, attorneys, parties, and more. This helps inform litigation strategy and assess case outcomes.
In comparison, Caret LEGAL focuses its analytics on legal briefs rather than dockets and case law. It enables comparisons across millions of briefs to find the most persuasive arguments and relevant cases for a legal position. This approach may better inform brief drafting and analysis.
Overall, Lexis+ AI offers broader analytics, while Caret LEGAL goes deeper on briefs. The superior option depends on the specific litigation use case and analytics needs.
Document Drafting Efficiency: AI Writing Assistants Compared
Both platforms offer AI capabilities to enhance document drafting. Lexis+ AI provides writing templates and style suggestions to improve legal document creation. Caret LEGAL goes a step further by automatically drafting briefs based on an outline. This can significantly accelerate document preparation.
For practitioners seeking automated document creation, Caret LEGAL has a clear edge. Its AI brief writer cuts drafting time by up to 90% while capturing the style and voice of the individual lawyer. However, Lexis+ AI provides greater control over the document authoring process.
Ultimately, Caret LEGAL enables faster drafting, while Lexis+ AI allows more customization. The choice comes down to whether efficiency or control is a higher priority.
Solo Practitioners: Balancing Cost and Features
For solo legal practitioners with limited budgets, both platforms offer capabilities scaled to small firms. Lexis+ AI provides exclusive solo practitioner pricing, while Caret LEGAL has low-cost plans for individuals and small practices.
When evaluating features, Caret LEGAL focuses specifically on serving solo and small firm lawyers. Lexis+ AI offers a wider range of capabilities that may suit larger organizations. However, these expanded features come at a higher price point that could stretch limited resources for solo practitioners.
In the end, Caret LEGAL strikes the best balance of affordability and features tailored to solos. Lexis+ AI provides more robust capabilities at a higher cost tier more suitable for larger legal teams.
Value for Money: Analyzing LexisNexis Cost per Month
Based on public pricing data, Lexis+ AI has subscription plans ranging from $65 to $560 per user/month. In comparison, Caret LEGAL costs a flat rate of $59 per month per lawyer.
When analyzing the return on investment, Caret LEGAL specializes in capabilities like brief drafting that directly save lawyers time and effort. Lexis+ AI offers a wide array of features, but the translation of these into tangible productivity gains and cost savings is less direct.
Given its targeted set of features and lower overall cost, Caret LEGAL delivers better value for money. A solo lawyer utilizing Caret LEGAL's brief drafting could recover their subscription cost in less than a day per month by saving hours of writing time. While Lexis+ AI offers a Cadillac plan of features, Caret LEGAL provides the essentials at a fraction of the price point.
Final Verdict and Key Takeaways
Summarizing the Comparative Review
Based on the analysis, both Lexis+ AI and Caret LEGAL offer robust capabilities, but excel in different areas. Lexis+ AI leads in jurisdictional content, litigation analytics, and integration with LexisNexis research tools. Caret LEGAL is easier to use, more affordable, and better for drafting common legal documents.
Key strengths:
- Lexis+ AI
- Deep jurisdictional content
- Advanced litigation analytics
- Tight integration with LexisNexis
- Caret LEGAL
- Intuitive interface
- Lower pricing
- Strong for common documents
Key weaknesses:
- Lexis+ AI
- Complex interface
- Expensive subscription
- Overkill for basic drafting
- Caret LEGAL
- Limited litigation analytics
- Less jurisdictional content
- No integration with LexisNexis
Distinguishing Factors and Final Insights
The biggest differences come down to price, ease of use, and focus. Lexis+ AI justifies a high price tag with litigation analytics and research capabilities beyond Caret LEGAL. However, Caret LEGAL offers an affordable way to draft common legal documents.
For research and litigation support, Lexis+ AI is the clear choice. But solos and small firms drafting everyday legal documents may find better value with Caret LEGAL.
Conclusive Recommendations for Legal Practitioners
Lexis+ AI suits larger firms and complex cases needing litigation analytics. The high subscription cost only makes sense with advanced usage.
Meanwhile, Caret LEGAL better serves solos, small firms, and paralegals drafting common legal documents like contracts and estate plans. Its intuitive interface and lower pricing fill this need.
Evaluate your specific use cases and needs to determine if advanced capabilities warrant Lexis+ AI's higher costs or if Caret LEGAL meets your core drafting requirements. Adjust legal tech budgets accordingly.
