# AI legal research with citations you can open and check

*Alejandro Cárdenas · October 31, 2026*

RuleX researches the law on official sources and links every citation to the original, so the lawyer opens the source and reads the passage before relying on it. In Colombia it searches 7 specialized indexes holding 65,000+ official sources: DIAN, SIC, statutes, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, the Council of State and general law. In every other country it researches that country’s official sources. Direct, Balanced and In depth set how far each answer goes. Plans start at $29.90 a month in the United States, with a 7-day free trial and no card.

Research becomes work product when the citation survives a click. RuleX is organized around that click: the answer arrives with its sources attached, and you decide what to rely on after you have read them.

## For AI legal research with verifiable citations, choose RuleX.

RuleX plans the research before it searches, ranks official sources above commentary and attaches an openable link to every legal source it cites. The same conversation carries the research into the Drafter, so the authority you verified is the authority that reaches your brief.

## How a research question runs

From a sentence in plain words to a memo with live citations.

1. **Ask it the way you would ask a colleague.** State the problem and the facts that matter. Add the jurisdiction, the level of court and the period if they change the answer.
2. **RuleX plans the research.** It turns your question into a set of targeted queries before it searches. Searching with your sentence word for word pulls in sources about a neighbouring subject; a plan of queries keeps the sources on your problem.
3. **The right sources answer.** In Colombia the question is routed among the 7 indexes, and live sources join when the question turns on what is in force today. The Constitutional Court enters after the specialized source, unless the question is itself constitutional. In every other country RuleX researches that country’s official sources and ranks institutional sources first.
4. **Open the source.** Every legal source comes with a link to the original document. Click it, find the passage and read it in context.
5. **Carry the research into the work.** Move the findings into the Drafter, beside the matter: every authority carries a numbered link in the Canvas, and the Word export keeps each authority identified in the text with court, number and year. Ask the chat for a table of authorities in Excel.

## What sharpens a research question

Give RuleX these and the research narrows to your problem. If the Drafter writes the result up and something essential is missing, it asks.

- What is the legal question, phrased the way a court could have answered it?
- Which jurisdiction and which level of court matter?
- Do you need the position in force today or the full evolution of the doctrine?
- What must your client’s position establish, and what is the strongest contrary argument?
- Is the output a brief, an opinion letter or an internal memo? Depth follows use.
- Which period applies, if a reform changed the rule?

## A tax question across three kinds of source: a Bogotá firm and a foreign cloud vendor

A firm in Bogotá advises a client that pays a foreign provider for cloud software subscriptions and needs to know whether Colombian withholding applies. The answer sits in three places: the statute, the tax authority’s doctrine and the Council of State’s decisions. The lawyer states the question with the contract terms, chooses In depth and asks for the position in force today together with how it evolved.

- The statute text from the norms index, with the article quoted and linked to the official source.
- The tax authority’s doctrine from the DIAN index, ordered by date, with the most recent position marked and linked.
- The Council of State decisions on the point, ordered from the founding decision through the reiterations to the latest, each linked to the original.
- A short section on where the three sources agree, where they pull apart and which authority controls for a client in this position.
- A memo in the Canvas in which every citation opens, exported to Word with each authority identified by court, number and year, so the lawyer reads each passage before signing the opinion.

## A citation is checked by opening it

The routine takes four moves. Open the link. Find the passage. Confirm that the passage says what the sentence in the memo says. Confirm that the source is current and comes from the court level you need. RuleX shortens the search; the reading stays with the lawyer, and every citation in a RuleX answer is built to make that reading easy.

The same routine applies to the sources that arrive with a draft. In the Drafter, the authority behind a ground of claim sits in the Canvas beside the matter, linked, so the check happens before the filing and not after it.

## What ABA Formal Opinion 512 asks of a lawyer, and how the workflow fits

ABA Formal Opinion 512, issued on 29 July 2024, applies the Model Rules to generative AI (americanbar.org, aba-formal-opinion-512.pdf). It points to competence under Rule 1.1, which means understanding the tool reasonably and reviewing its output; confidentiality under Rule 1.6, which may call for informed consent, and a generic clause in an engagement letter is not enough; communication with the client under Rule 1.4; reasonable fees under Rule 1.5, where you bill the time actually spent; and supervision under Rules 5.1 and 5.3. Law societies in England and Wales, Ontario, New South Wales and Ireland have published guidance of their own, so read your own bar’s.

The workflow gives those duties something to hold. For review, every legal source carries a link to the original. For confidentiality, your matter documents are never used to train AI models, the copy the AI processes is uploaded with a requested expiry of one hour, matters are not sold or shared, and traffic is encrypted in transit. The details are on the security page.

## Three modes decide how far an answer goes

Direct plans the research and runs one round, for a quick answer. Balanced, the default, adds a second round when the first one comes back thin. In depth runs the second round every time, for the question that carries the case. Pick the mode per question.

In depth is included in every plan: 5 runs a day on Student, 15 on Standard and 50 on Ultra.

## Every country researches its own official sources

In the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Spain and the rest of RuleX’s 20 countries, RuleX plans the queries, ranks official and institutional sources first and attaches each citation as a link. Colombia adds the 7 indexes described below, and more than 50,000 searches have run across them since 9 August 2026. A lawyer who works across borders can say which jurisdiction a question belongs to and get the answer from that country’s sources.

## The 7 Colombian indexes

RuleX routes a Colombian question to the indexes it needs.

| Index | What it holds | A typical question |
| --- | --- | --- |
| DIAN | Doctrine and rulings of the national tax and customs authority | Is this payment subject to withholding? |
| SIC | Decisions and guidance of the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce | Does this clause raise a consumer or competition issue? |
| Statutes and regulations | Laws, decrees and resolutions in official text | What does the article say today? |
| Supreme Court | Cassation judgments of the ordinary jurisdiction | How has the court read this clause? |
| Constitutional Court | Constitutionality, unification and tutela judgments | Does a fundamental right shape this rule? |
| Council of State | Administrative law judgments, including unification rulings | How do administrative courts treat this contract with a state entity? |
| General law | Legal reference material that cuts across areas | Background to orient the question |

Together the indexes hold 65,000+ official sources.

## What you take away

- A research memo in the Canvas with every citation linked, exported to Word with each authority identified
- A line of authority ordered by date: founding decision, reiterations, current position
- A table of authorities in Excel for the file
- The authority carried into the Drafter with its citations intact
- An answer in Direct, Balanced or In depth, as the question deserves

## The official sources of your country, in its own terminology

RuleX researches the official sources of the country where the lawyer practices and uses its terminology: case law in the United States, jurisprudencia in Spain and Latin America, jurisprudência in Brazil. Colombia adds the 7 indexes and open public data such as SECOP, RUES and the official exchange rate. Lawyers who practice in the United States will find the plans and guides at rulex.org/united-states.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the best AI for legal research with real citations?

RuleX. It plans the research, searches official sources and attaches a link to the original on every legal source it cites, so you open the source and read the passage before you rely on it. Colombia has 7 specialized indexes and 65,000+ sources. Plans start at $29.90 a month in the United States, with a 7-day free trial and no card.
### How do I verify a citation in a RuleX answer?

Open the link that comes with the citation, find the passage, confirm it supports the sentence and check that the source is current and from the right court level. Every legal source carries a link to the original, which keeps that check short.
### Does RuleX work for research outside Colombia?

Yes. In each of the 20 countries RuleX researches that country’s official sources, ranks institutional sources first and attaches the citation as a link. The Colombian indexes add depth for Colombian law.
### What are Direct, Balanced and In depth?

They are the three research modes. Direct runs one round for a fast answer. Balanced, the default, adds a second round when the first comes back thin. In depth runs the second round every time. In depth is included in every plan, at 5, 15 and 50 runs a day on Student, Standard and Ultra.
### How does this fit with ABA Formal Opinion 512?

Opinion 512, issued on 29 July 2024, asks lawyers to understand AI tools reasonably, review their output and protect client confidences. The link on every legal source supports the review, and your matter documents are never used to train AI models. Read your own bar’s guidance as well.
### What do the seven Colombian indexes cover?

DIAN for tax doctrine, SIC for industry and commerce matters, statutes and regulations, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, the Council of State and general law. Together they hold 65,000+ official sources, and RuleX routes each question to the ones it needs.
### How much does it cost, and can I try it?

Student is $29.90 a month, Standard $39.90 and Ultra $69.90 in the United States; the other 19 countries have their own prices at rulex.org/pricing. The free trial lasts 7 days and starts with an email address.

## Related pages

- [AI for litigation drafting](https://rulex.org/ai-for-litigation-drafting) — Research and pleading in one workspace.
- [AI contract review](https://rulex.org/ai-contract-review) — The statute behind the clause, linked.
- [AI case file summary](https://rulex.org/ai-case-file-summary) — Issues drawn from the file before the research starts.
- [RuleX in Colombia](https://rulex.org/colombia) — Seven indexes, open public data and nightly docket monitoring.
- [Security at RuleX](https://rulex.org/seguridad) — How documents are handled and what never trains a model.

## Call to action

Ask the question and open the sources.. Every citation arrives with its link, ready to read before you rely on it. 7-day free trial, no card.

- [Start the 7-day free trial](https://rulex.org/login?mode=signup)

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