Concept Search

Concept Search is a strong starting point when you have an idea, topic, fact pattern, or legal concept and want to find useful cases without knowing the exact words, case name, or citation yet.

• Exploring a legal topic when you are still orienting yourself and want a practical first case list.
• Finding cases based on fact patterns, not just exact phrases.
• Researching legal terms, doctrines, and issue areas in plain language.
• Finding authorities that are both relevant to the concept and worth reviewing early.
• Building an initial case list before you narrow the research with another search, a known citation, or Legal Issue Explorer.

This tool is helpful because you can search by idea, not just by exact wording. If you type a legal term, describe a fact pattern, or summarize a topic in plain language, Concept Search can still return useful matches.

That makes it especially useful when you are beginning research, testing different ways to frame an issue, or trying to find cases that deal with similar facts before you know the exact authority you need.

Concept Search is best understood as a case-finding tool, not a conversational research assistant. It helps you locate relevant authorities based on the issue you describe, and authority sorting helps bring more promising authorities forward, but it is not meant to give a synthesized legal answer or function like a back-and-forth chatbot. When you want a guided answer or broader analysis, DescrybeLM is the better fit.

• You do not need to type the exact legal phrase used in a case to get useful matches.
• It works well for legal concepts, factual scenarios, and broader topics.
• The default Authority sort tries to balance conceptual relevance with authority and treatment signals.
• It can help surface promising authorities early in research, before you know the leading cases.
• The summarized matching passage makes it faster to decide which cases are worth opening.

Most searches follow the same straightforward pattern.

1. 1

   Describe the topic, issue, or facts you care about

   Type a short description of the legal concept you want to research. You do not need to guess the exact wording from a judicial opinion. A plain-language description of the issue often works well.

2. 2

   Choose a jurisdiction if that matters

   Use the jurisdiction selector when you want to narrow the search to a particular state or court system. Leave it broad if you are still surveying the landscape.

3. 3

   Choose how to sort the results

   Authority is the default sort and is usually the best starting point. It is designed to prioritize cases that look useful for the concept, not just cases with close wording. You can also sort by Best match when you want the closest conceptual matches first, or by Most recent when recency matters most.

4. 4

   Run the search and review the results list

   Each result shows the case name, citation information, court, date, treatment indicators, and a top matching summarized passage. When available, the result also includes short notes explaining why it is relevant, why it may be useful authority, or what later treatment suggests.

5. 5

   Open promising cases for more detail

   Click the case name to open the case details page and review the opinion, treatment information, and other details before relying on it.

Authority is the default result order because most users want the useful cases first, not just the closest text match. The authority order uses Descrybe signals about relevance, case authority, and later treatment to help prioritize cases that are more likely to deserve early review.

The result list intentionally does not show raw ranking scores. Instead, it uses plain-language notes when they are available, such as why the case is relevant, whether it appears to have an authority signal for the issue, and whether later cases suggest caution or support.

Treat authority sorting as a research triage aid. It helps you decide what to inspect first, but it does not decide whether a case is controlling law, still good law, or the final answer to your question.

The results page is designed to help you assess relevance quickly before you spend time opening full opinions.

Concept Search results include citator treatment indicators directly in the result list. These are there to help you spot whether later cases appear to support, criticize, distinguish, or simply mention the case before you decide what to open first.

You may see labels such as Positive, Negative, Cautionary, Neutral, or Cited. You may also see whether the authority is binding or persuasive / non-binding. This is helpful for triage and can affect which cases deserve attention, but you should still open important cases and confirm the full treatment details before relying on them in advice, drafting, or filings.

Concept Search is excellent for topics, legal terms, and fact patterns. It is less ideal for direct lookup tasks where you already know exactly which authority you want.

• It is usually not the best tool when you already know the exact case name.
• It is usually not the best tool when you already have a citation.
• It is not as structured as Legal Issue Explorer when you want to start from a recognized legal issue and move through related issues.
• If you need an exact-term search, Keyword Search may be a better fit.
• It is not designed to act like a chatbot that answers legal questions directly.
• Concept Search is strongest for topics, issue framing, and fact-based research rather than direct lookup tasks.

Small changes to how you phrase the search can make the results more helpful.

• Use at least a couple of words that give context, not a single short term.
• Describe the issue in ordinary legal language, as if you were explaining it to a colleague.
• Include important facts when the fact pattern is part of what makes the case relevant.
• Add the jurisdiction early if you know it will matter to your answer.
• Leave the sort on Authority for your first pass unless you specifically want closest conceptual matches or newer cases.
• Use the treatment badges as an early signal, then open the case and confirm the details before relying on it.