Next-generation legal research. For everyone.
We started Descrybe because we believed serious legal research shouldn't be a luxury. Every legal professional deserves access to tools that actually hold up, regardless of the size of their organization or their budget. After all, deep research shouldn't require deep pockets.
Our story.
Rich is a software engineer who spent years building large-scale data infrastructure. He built Descrybe's primary-law corpus from the ground up, record by record, because he believed the foundation had to be right before anything else could be. Kara came from a career at the intersection of technology and social impact with a simple conviction: access to the law should be a right, not a privilege. They're married, self-funded, and built Descrybe together. To change legal research for good.
Today, Descrybe is trusted by thousands of people weekly for legal research. We build with and for our users. Your feedback shapes every feature, every decision, every release. And the work is just getting started.
Kara Peterson, Co-Founder & CEO: Kara leads marketing, partnerships, and strategy. She brings a background in technology and social impact and a deep belief that access to information is a social justice issue. She was named to the ABA Women of Legal Tech 2024 list.
Richard DiBona, Co-Founder & CTO: Rich leads product and engineering. He built the structured primary-law corpus and reasoning architecture that powers DescrybeLM. He is widely recognized as a leading expert in the application of AI to legal research. Descrybe has earned multiple industry awards for the platform he built, including the American Legal Technology Awards, the Anthem Award, and recognition from the Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards and the Webby Awards.
Our advisors.
Descrybe is guided by advisors who bring deep expertise in law, legal technology, and legal education.
Ray Brescia
Strategic Advisor
Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life, Hon. Harold R. Tyler Chair in Law and Technology, and Professor of Law at Albany Law School.
Rebecca Fordon
Strategic Advisor
Reference Librarian and Adjunct Professor, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
Ken Friedman
Strategic Advisor
Founder of the Legal Tech Practice Group at L&F Brown P.C. and former Vice President at LegalZoom.
Dazza Greenwood
Strategic Advisor
Founder of CIVICS.com, Researcher at MIT Media Lab, and Lecturer at MIT Connection Science.
Dr. Megan Ma
Strategic Advisor
Executive Director, Stanford Legal Innovation through Frontier Technology Lab (LIFT Lab).
Our values.
The principles that govern how we build, price, and operate.
Access as a principle
Access to the law is a right. Access to the best legal research tools should be too. We build accordingly.
Affordability as an outcome
Our pricing reflects engineering discipline and real value. Affordability is the natural result of building a coherent, efficient system. Not a concession.
Build for verifiability
Outputs should be traceable. Reasoning should be inspectable. Trust is earned through transparency, not assertion.
Built to last
We build infrastructure designed to stand up over time. Not optimized for the short term. Built for the work legal professionals actually do.
Self-funded by design
We are self-funded so our decisions optimize for long-term product quality. Not outside investor timelines.
System coherence
Data, reasoning, evaluation, and product were designed together. They are not separable components. If any layer is weak, trust collapses.