Level Up Your Legal Message with Technology

Distilling takeaways is about boiling complex information into its essence. It’s about extracting clear, accessible points from in-depth analysis.  When thinking about the technology that can help you with these skills, consider tools that can help you summarize key ideas, refine the style of your key takeaways sentences, and help choose the details to highlight when distilling your points.

GAI tools shine when working on defined text like a section of your document. By providing specific instructions about what you’re looking for in a takeaway, perhaps an example or two of a good heading or first sentence of a paragraph, and a section of your text—GAI can help you brainstorm and then tweak that perfect takeaway.

You may need to follow up a few times, providing feedback about useful takeaways and what’s not so useful. But GAI tools can be great collaborators here.

Text Summarization Tools: Summarization software employs algorithms to condense long documents into point summaries. By inputting lengthy rulings or your own legal analysis into these tools, you can get an automated quick summary that can help you nail down what readers should focus on. A slew of products use generative AI to do this summarizing quicker and more thoroughly.

Concept Mapping Software: Concept mapping tools (like MindManager, Lucidchart, and Miro) provide an interactive environment to visually organize your thoughts. You can plot out the logical flow of arguments and group similar points together, aiding in the identification of central themes for your key takeaways.

Outlining apps: Designed for organizing the structure and logic of documents, these tools help legal writers build detailed and coherent outlines. They simplify the process of mapping arguments, reordering sections, and tracking key points, ensuring that the final written product is logically consistent and well-organized. Examples include OmniOutliner, Turtl, and Workflowy.

Distraction-Free Writing Applications: Writing apps are designed to minimize distractions, offering a stripped-down, clean interface on your computer that encourages you to concentrate on the writing itself. These applications are ideal for distilling takeaways because they simplify your workspace, allowing you to home in on crafting precise, potent sentences without the clutter of toolbars or the temptation to multitask.

Collaborative Document Platforms: Platforms like Google Docs and Microsoft OneDrive facilitate real-time collaboration and provide an environment where multiple people can contribute to distilling what matters from a key document. Each person can suggest edits or highlight information they believe should be a key takeaway. The collaborative nature of these platforms also allows for instant feedback on the clarity and effectiveness of the distilled points, ensuring a broad perspective is considered.

Form and template libraries: Look for inspiration in crafting your takeaways in prior work products at your organization, references, or template documents. All these resources can help you brainstorm your big-picture organization.