Legal research has long relied on proprietary citators to track case law, interpret citations, and guide practitioners toward relevant precedent. But what happens when modern AI meets open-source innovation?

In this session, Free Law Project will share how we are leading a collaborative team that is leveraging state-of-the-art AI to build a truly open-source legal citator—one that democratizes access to case law, enhances legal research, and ensures transparency in the citation process. Join us for this discussion of the journey: evaluating AI models, training and testing methodologies, and the challenges of building legal AI tools that are both accurate and accountable.

Moderated by Jessica Frank

Panelists:
Rebecca Fordon - Law Librarian, Moritz Law Library, The Ohio State University
William Palin - Case Law Lead, Free Law Project
Rachel Gao - AI Developer, Free Law Project

 

Speaker

Rebecca Fordon

Rebecca Fordon is a law librarian at the Moritz Law Library, where she provides reference and research services to faculty, students, and the public. She also teaches Legal Analysis and Writing I.