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---
name: cite-check
description: Cite-check a brief, motion, memo, opinion, or contract with OpenCase. Use when someone asks to check, verify, or audit the citations or quotations in a document, build a table of authorities, or confirm a draft is ready to file.
---

# Cite-check a legal document

A cite-check answers three questions about every authority in a document: does it exist as cited, does the quoted language actually appear in it, and is it still good law. The lawyer signs the filing, so the report has to show exactly what was confirmed and what was not. Never soften a result or fill a gap with your own knowledge of the case.

## Steps

1. **Verify every citation.** Send the whole document to `verify_citations_in_text`, as text or as a public HTTPS link to the file. If the result says `truncated`, split the rest of the document and verify it too, so nothing is skipped silently.
2. **Check every quotation.** For each passage the document puts in quotation marks and attributes to an authority, call `check_quote` with the exact quoted words and that authority's citation (or its `legalContentId` from step 1). Pass the quote as written, including ellipses and brackets.
3. **Check that cases are still good law.** For each verified case, call `check_case_validity`. When it reports negative treatment, `get_case_treatments` shows which decisions treated it and how.
4. **Report**, in the format below. Do not edit the document unless asked.

## Report

Start with one line: how many authorities were cited, and how many need the lawyer's attention.

Then a table of authorities, one row per citation, in the order they appear:

| Citation | Status | Quotation | Good law | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|

Use these status labels, which map OpenCase's results:

- **Verified**: OpenCase matched the citation to the authority (`verified`).
- **Not confirmed**: OpenCase found a record but could not confirm it matches (`unverified`). Check it by hand.
- **Not found**: OpenCase found no authority for this citation (`unavailable`). This is the result a fabricated citation produces, but OpenCase's coverage has gaps, so say "not found", never "fake".
- **Not checked**: a tool failed or the text was cut off, so this citation was never looked up.

For quotations, report **Matches**, **Does not match** (quote the source passage `check_quote` returned, if any, so the lawyer can see the difference), or **Not checked** when the authority's text was unavailable. For good law, report OpenCase's flag and review status in plain words. A pending, provisional, or stale result is not a clearance; say so.

Put every row that needs attention first in a short list below the table, with what the lawyer should do about each one.

End with a diligence receipt: the date, the tools used, the number of citations and quotations checked, and anything that was not checked and why. This is the record the lawyer keeps with the file.

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---
name: verify-before-finishing
description: Verify legal citations with OpenCase before giving an answer that relies on them. Use whenever a response you are about to give cites cases, statutes, regulations, or rules, or quotes from them, including answers to legal questions and drafts of legal documents.
---

# Verify legal authority before you answer

Lawyers have been sanctioned for filing citations an AI invented. Any citation in your answer, whether you recalled it, found it on the web, or took it from a document, may be wrong until OpenCase has checked it.

For a legal question, `research_legal_question` returns an answer built on authority OpenCase has retrieved. Prefer it to answering from memory.

Before you finish any answer that cites legal authority:

1. Run the citations you are about to give through `verify_citations_in_text` (for prose) or `resolve_legal_citations` (for a list).
2. If you quote an authority, confirm the words with `check_quote`.
3. Keep only what OpenCase verified. Remove any citation OpenCase did not find, or mark it clearly as unverified, and say which. Correct a quotation that does not match, using the source passage `check_quote` returned.
4. If a case is central to the answer, run `check_case_validity` and tell the user about any negative treatment.

Tell the user briefly what you checked, for example: "OpenCase verified 4 of 5 citations; *Smith v. Jones* was not found, so I removed it."