I built a free tool that turns a messy CA legal dispute into a 1-page lawyer-ready summary
I'm the founder of xCounsel - California legal-tech for civil disputes, not a law firm. Built this because I sat through too many free 15-minute attorney consultations where 11 of those minutes were the lawyer trying to figure out the basics of what happened.
THE TOOL
You answer ~8 plain-English questions about a dispute (security deposit, unpaid invoice, breach of contract, etc.). It outputs a 1-page summary structured the way attorneys read intake notes:
- What happened, in 3 sentences
- The 5-7 facts that actually matter (dates, dollar amounts, parties)
- The likely statute citations for CA (section 1950.5 for deposits, section 116.220 for small-claims cap, etc.)
- Three concrete next steps, ranked by leverage
Output is plaintext you can paste into an email, print, or hand to a lawyer at a consultation.
WHY IT'S FREE
It's the entry point to xCounsel's optional paid workflows: document preparation support, demand-letter preparation, and limited-scope California attorney review where eligible. The free tool is useful on its own, and the paid path is clearly separated.
TECH NOTES
Vite/React frontend, Supabase backend, Anthropic API for the structuring step. Each summary costs about $0.04 in inference. Whole thing took ~3 weeks of evenings, plus review from a California legal subject-matter reviewer.
CONSTRAINTS
CA only (statutes hardcoded). Civil disputes only (no criminal, no family law, no immigration). Not legal advice - it's document preparation.
LINK
Would genuinely love feedback on:
- Whether the 8 intake questions feel like enough or too many
- Whether the output is parseable for non-lawyers
- What dispute types you'd want next (we're sequencing roommate disputes + freelance non-payment)