DraftCounsel's cite checker parses every citation in your brief, checks Bluebook formatting, catches cross-reference errors, and generates a Westlaw verification checklist. Upload a .docx and get results in seconds.
Bluebook citations checked
Cross-document references verified
Westlaw checklist generated
What It Checks
A single pass through DraftCounsel catches citation errors, proofing issues, cross-reference mismatches, and certificate of service problems. All organized by type and location in your document.
DraftCounsel parses every case, statute, regulation, and constitutional citation in your document. It checks each one against Bluebook rules: reporter abbreviations, volume and page format, pinpoint citations, parallel citations, short form usage, id. references, and signal formatting.
Every quoted passage is checked for proper attribution. DraftCounsel flags block quotes that should be inline (and vice versa based on word count), missing alteration parentheticals when brackets appear, orphan quotes with no nearby citation, and punctuation placement errors.
Upload multiple related documents: a motion, declarations, and exhibits. DraftCounsel checks that every cross-reference actually matches: paragraph numbers, exhibit labels, declaration names. It flags references to documents that were not uploaded and documents that were uploaded but never cited.
DraftCounsel compares your certificate of service against the document caption. It catches the most dangerous filing errors: wrong document name in the COS, date mismatches, missing parties, and email-to-name mismatches. These are the copy-paste errors that slip through every time.
Beyond citations, DraftCounsel checks your document for proper noun consistency (flags "Horner" 15 times plus "Honer" once), spacing errors, heading hierarchy, number formatting, and common word usage issues. It tracks your document's own conventions and flags when the document contradicts itself.
An optional AI review layer catches issues that rules alone cannot catch: grammatically broken sentences, factual assertions without supporting citations, and copy-paste artifacts. The AI review runs alongside the rule-based checks and the results are merged into a single document-order view.
How It Works
Upload a .docx file. For cross-document checking, upload up to 10 related files and assign each one a role: motion, declaration, exhibit, transcript. DraftCounsel reads them all.
See every issue organized by type: citations, formatting, proofing, and quotations. Each issue shows the exact location in your document, what the problem is, which rule it violates, and what the correct version should be. Filter by severity or sort by location.
Get a downloadable .docx checklist with every case and statute citation organized for manual verification. Each entry includes the full citation, the page it appeared on, any quoted language, and checkboxes for the paralegal to work through in Westlaw.
Built for Real Filings
The errors that get filings rejected or draw judicial criticism are rarely about legal substance. They are formatting errors, inconsistent party names, wrong dates in the certificate of service, mismatched cross-references, and citation formatting that does not follow the rules.
These are the errors that happen when you are working fast, under deadline pressure, and reviewing your own work. They are the errors a second set of eyes would catch. Your second set of eyes is not always available at 11 PM the night before a filing deadline.
DraftCounsel's cite checker is that second set of eyes. It reads the entire document, checks every citation, compares every cross-reference, and flags everything that does not match. You review the results and fix what needs fixing before you file.
Your documents are never shared with other users, accessed by DraftCounsel staff in the ordinary course of operations, or used to train any AI model.
Your documents are not used to train any AI model. Anthropic's usage policy prohibits it. You can read their policy at anthropic.com.
DraftCounsel reads your Word file for checking purposes only. Your document is never modified. The output is a separate results view and a Westlaw checklist.
DraftCounsel is built for legal professionals. Your matter documents, client names, and case facts never leave your account or get shared with other users.
Create a free account and run your first cite check in under a minute.
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