Descrybe
Category: AI in Legal
An AI-powered legal research platform that democratizes access to U.S. case law through natural language search, AI-generated summaries, and purpose-built legal reasoning capabilities. Descrybe was founded in 2023. The company is led by Kara Peterson. Based in Newton, MA, United States. Team size: 2-10. Total funding raised: Self-funded. Latest round: Bootstrapped.
- Founded
- 2023
- Headquarters
- Newton, MA, United States
- Team size
- 2-10
- Total funding
- Self-funded
Value proposition
Provides free core case-law search plus affordable paid Legal Engine ($25/month) and full Descrybe Platform ($50/month) for U.S. primary-law research in plain English or Spanish, with AI-generated summaries, Cytator citation intelligence, and purpose-built legal reasoning that outperforms general-purpose AI models.
Products and solutions
Free Legal Search Engine (8M+ judicial opinions with AI summaries), Descrybe Platform (guided research, brief review, sessions, Word export), DescrybeLM Legal Reasoning Engine, Legal Research Toolkit (Cytator, Cytationator, Backward Cytator, Brief Checker, Legal Issue Explorer), Descrybe Legal Engine for ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Perplexity, Descrybe Open Connector (Python SDK + open-source research workflows), Bilingual Search (English/Spanish)
Unique value
Purpose-built legal AI system achieving 100% accuracy on 200 MBE bar exam questions vs. 88.5%-93.5% for leading general-purpose models (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini); processes 100B+ tokens across 100M+ structured legal records; provides bilingual access and verification-friendly outputs with clear rule statements and structured reasoning.
Target customer
Solo practitioners, small to mid-size law firms, legal aid societies, law students, journalists, and members of the public seeking accessible legal information
Industries served
Legal Technology, Legal Research, Access to Justice, Artificial Intelligence, Legal Education
Technology advantage
Proprietary structured legal data corpus with individually cleaned and organized records; AI Cytator delivers issue-level citation analysis (both forward and backward treatment); reduces confidently wrong outputs that burden legal practitioners; published transparent methodology inviting independent replication and scrutiny.
How they differentiate
Purpose-built legal AI achieving 100% accuracy on bar exam benchmarks vs. 88.5%-93.5% for general-purpose models; free core search plus Legal Engine from $25/month and Platform at $50/month vs. expensive enterprise subscriptions; Legal Engine embeds in ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Perplexity; unique Cytator with bidirectional/issue-level citation analysis; bilingual support; Open Connector for firm-built workflows
Main competitors
Westlaw (Thomson Reuters/CoCounsel), LexisNexis (Lexis+ AI), Fastcase
Key partnerships
National Society for Legal Technology (NSLT) - curriculum at 350+ universities, replacing Casetext, NELLCO Law Library Consortium - approved e-resource for ~150 law libraries (Mar 2026), Anthropic - Claude for the Legal Industry launch collaborator / verified Claude connector (May 2026), OpenAI ChatGPT App Directory - Descrybe Legal Engine listing (Jul 2026), Microsoft - Descrybe Legal Engine as Microsoft-published Source for Microsoft 365 Copilot (Sep 2026), Strategic Advisors: Ray Brescia, Ken Friedman, Dazza Greenwood, Dr. Megan Ma, Rebecca Fordon
Notable customers
National Society for Legal Technology (350+ universities), NELLCO Law Library Consortium (~150 law libraries), Solo practitioners and small to mid-size law firms (~1,000 paying individual subscribers), Legal aid societies, Law students, Journalists, Institutionally licensed users
Major milestones
Founded in 2023, 2024 ABA Women of Legal Tech honoree (CEO Kara Peterson), 2024 Anthem Award for Best Use of AI, 2024 American Legal Technology Awards Finalist (Startup of the Year & AI Innovation), Added to NSLT curriculum at 350+ universities, replacing Casetext (August 2025), Launched Legal Research Toolkit with AI-powered Cytator (June 2025), Selected as NELLCO e-resource for ~150 law libraries (March 2026), Launched DescrybeLM with 100% bar exam accuracy (March 2026), Descrybe Legal Engine for Claude / Anthropic Claude for Legal Industry launch collaborator (May 2026), 700+ new paid subscribers in six weeks (June 2026), Descrybe Legal Engine for ChatGPT (July 2026), Launched Descrybe Open Connector open-source SDK/workflows (July 2026)
Growth metrics
50,000+ monthly active users; ~1,000 paying individual subscribers (Aug 2026; 700+ new paid in six weeks after Claude Legal Engine launch); 8M+ U.S. judicial opinions / 300M structured legal records; 100B+ tokens processed; 100% accuracy on 200 MBE bar exam questions
Market positioning
Affordable/free legal research platform filling the gap left by Casetext; now also the verified primary-law layer inside major AI assistants (Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Perplexity) plus Open Connector for firm-built tools; in NSLT curriculum at 350+ universities and NELLCO-approved for ~150 law libraries
Geographic focus
United States (8M+ U.S. judicial opinions indexed); headquartered in Newton, MA
Patents and IP
No registered patents disclosed; company has referred to patent-pending structured legal data infrastructure (LinkedIn, early 2026). No USPTO grant located in public sources.
About Kara Peterson
Marketing and communications executive with over a decade of experience in public health, social justice, and legal organizations. Former Senior Director of Integrated Marketing Communications at Museum of Science, Executive Director of Communications at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Marketing Director at Suffolk University Law School, and held leadership roles at Boston University School of Public Health. MBA from Boston University Questrom School of Business (2008). Named 2024 ABA Women of Legal Tech honoree. Focuses on democratizing access to legal information through AI technology.
Latest news about Descrybe
More AI in Legal companies
Official website: https://descrybe.com