OpenAI has expanded its push into professional services with the launch of Astra for Law, a legal-focused configuration of its GPT-6 Astra technology aimed at law firms and legal technology companies.
The new offering combines GPT-6 Astra with a dedicated legal search index, specialised instructions for legal analysis and writing, and tools intended to support research, argument development and other legal workflows.
Rather than functioning solely as a legal chatbot, Astra for Law is designed as a platform that law firms and legal technology providers can build into their own applications and processes. OpenAI says the system is intended to combine its AI capabilities with the expertise, data and workflows already used by legal professionals.
Focus on legal research
A central component of Astra for Law is its Legal Search Index, which OpenAI says covers U.S. case law, statutes, regulations, court rules and administrative decisions across more than 230 million URLs.
The index is updated with new sources daily, giving lawyers a research environment designed to connect the facts of a matter with potentially relevant legal authorities and supporting passages.
OpenAI is also working with the Free Law Project, whose CourtListener platform contributes a collection covering more than 99.9% of published U.S. precedential case law, according to the company.
The broader objective is to help lawyers move beyond simply finding information online. The system is designed to help users examine relevant authorities, develop arguments, identify weaknesses in a position and consider potential counterarguments.
Early testing shows improvement, but limitations remain
OpenAI tested the full Astra for Law configuration against 200 U.S. legal research questions from Vals AI’s Legal Research Bench.
According to the company’s results, Astra for Law achieved a 54% overall correctness rate at the highest reasoning setting. By comparison, GPT-6 Astra using web search alone recorded 38.7% on the same measure.
OpenAI also reported that Astra for Law identified 24% more reference cases than GPT-6 Astra using web search alone at the highest reasoning setting. On an audited collection of target passages, the legal configuration retrieved up to 54% more relevant passages from the correct court opinions.
The results nevertheless highlight the importance of professional oversight. OpenAI’s own documentation advises users to review the system’s responses and cited sources before relying on them.
Law firms test customised applications
OpenAI said several major law firms have participated in testing or developing applications around the technology, including Sullivan & Cromwell, Ropes & Gray, Cooley, Latham & Watkins and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
The approach allows individual firms to incorporate their own legal expertise and established working methods.
Sullivan & Cromwell, for instance, developed an agreement-analysis application that draws on the firm’s negotiating playbooks and selected precedents. Ropes & Gray has developed a system for reviewing information in data rooms, while Cooley created GO Public to support work associated with preparing companies for initial public offerings.
These examples reflect OpenAI’s broader strategy of positioning Astra for Law as an underlying technology that firms can adapt rather than as a single, fixed legal application.
Confidentiality becomes a key consideration
Because lawyers routinely handle sensitive client information, OpenAI has also introduced controls aimed at confidential legal work.
Selected firms entering through the Trusted Access programme will receive Zero Data Retention on the API, while ChatGPT Enterprise use will be excluded from human review by default, according to OpenAI.
The company is also working with Latham & Watkins on issues including information permissions, ethical walls, client instructions and firm-level oversight.
Astra for Law is initially being made available to selected U.S. law firms through Trusted Access, with broader API availability planned. It will appear in the model selector as GPT-6 Astra Law, while the API version is identified as gpt-6-astra-law.
Legal technology companies to build on Astra
OpenAI is also opening the technology to legal technology providers. API customers including Harvey and Legora are expected to use Astra for Law as a foundation for their own legal products.
The company has also introduced partner-built plugins designed for legal workflows, covering areas such as document management, deal analysis and other professional tasks.
The expansion places OpenAI in an increasingly competitive legal technology market, where AI companies and established legal information providers are developing specialised systems for professional users.
For OpenAI, the launch represents a move from general-purpose AI towards more specialised professional applications. Astra for Law is intended to bring together a powerful language model, structured legal information and firm-specific expertise while keeping lawyers involved in reviewing and applying the resulting work.
As OpenAI puts it, the objective is for firms to get more from the wider AI ecosystem rather than simply replace existing legal expertise and processes.
