Frequently asked questions

Certavi verifies legal citations in your filings against authoritative databases like CourtListener, Westlaw, and LexisNexis. It extracts every citation from your brief, checks each one, and produces a signed verification certificate.

Click "Verify brief" in the top navigation, then drag in a PDF or DOCX file (up to 50 MB). Certavi extracts all citations, verifies each against legal databases, and shows you the results. You can then review, confirm record quotations, and generate a certificate.

PDF and DOCX (Microsoft Word). Both are standard filing formats accepted by federal and state courts.

Upload any brief and see your full verification summary (total citations, verified, not found, mismatches) plus 5 randomly selected citation details. Up to 3 briefs per day. No credit card required. Unlock all citations and your certificate for $39 per filing.

CourtListener (all federal case law) is included with every plan. You can also connect Westlaw and LexisNexis in Settings > Integrations for broader coverage. You control the priority order. Citations are checked against each source until one confirms.

VERIFIED: citation found in the database with a matching case name. NOT_FOUND: citation format is valid but no matching case exists. QUOTE_MISMATCH: case exists but the name in your brief doesn't match. UNVERIFIED: we couldn't check (timeout, database error). Conservative default.

No. Every verification status traces to a deterministic database query. A private language model is used only for extracting citations from your brief text. It never decides whether a citation is real. Your documents are never sent to public AI systems and are never used for model training.

Certavi verifies citation existence only. It does not verify legal argument, relevance, or subsequent history. This is a factual check ("does this case exist?"), not a legal analysis.

A signed PDF documenting which citations were verified, which were not found, and the attorney's certification. It includes your bar number, the date, and a digital signature. The attorney certifies the results, not Certavi.

No. A certificate is a point-in-time legal attestation. Once issued, it cannot be modified or re-issued. You can verify the same brief again to generate a new certificate with fresh verification results.

When you verify a brief, all confirmed citations are automatically enrolled in monitoring. We check CourtListener three times daily (03:00, 11:00, 19:00 UTC) for changes: cases overruled, reversed, new opinions, or status changes. You get email digests and in-app notifications.

Yes. Go to Monitoring in the sidebar and use the "Add a case" form. Enter a citation and optional docket number.

PACER is the authoritative federal docket system. You can do on-demand lookups on any monitored case. Connect your own PACER account in Settings > Integrations (no markup), or use Certavi's proxy at $0.50 per lookup.

A firm admin creates a firm, then adds members by email. All firm members can see each other's verification runs and monitored cases. Certification is personal. Only the attorney whose bar number is on the certificate can certify.

Firm Admin (manages members and settings), Attorney (uploads, verifies, certifies), and Paralegal (uploads and verifies, but cannot certify; no bar number).

Their verification runs stay with the firm (the firm paid for the seat). Their personal account reverts to free-tier individual.

Per Filing ($39 per brief) unlocks all citations + certificate for one brief. Solo ($199/month) gives unlimited briefs, all citations, all certificates. Team (custom pricing) adds multi-seat admin controls. Every user can upload briefs for free with limited citation visibility.

No. Sign up with your name and email. Upload briefs and see results for free. We only ask for payment when you unlock a specific brief or subscribe.

Full summary counts (total citations, verified, not found, mismatches) plus 5 randomly selected citation details. Enough to see the product works on your real brief before you pay.

Go to Settings > Billing > Manage billing. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period. You keep access until then.

Yes. All documents are encrypted at rest (AWS KMS) and in transit (TLS 1.2+). They are stored in a private S3 bucket with no public access. Documents are never used for model training.

Only you and your firm members (if you are in a firm). Cross-firm visibility is zero. Certavi employees do not have access to your documents.

Email josh@vaultedminds.ai.