Casetext shut down April 2025

The best Casetext alternatives for plaintiff med-mal attorneys (2026)

When Thomson Reuters retired Casetext as a standalone product, plaintiff bar costs jumped overnight. The CoCounsel + Westlaw bundle that replaced it starts at $225/mo per user — 4x the old Casetext pricing. Here's an honest comparison of the 5 actual alternatives, with pricing, feature parity, and which wins for plaintiff medical-malpractice workflow specifically.

By John Mahoney · Updated May 4, 2026 · 8 min read

What changed for Casetext users in 2025-2026

5 Casetext alternatives ranked for plaintiff med-mal

Tool Starting price Free trial Best for Plaintiff med-mal fit
MedLegal AI $49/mo 14-day free + pay-per-analysis $19 Plaintiff med-mal, PI, birth injury ★ Highest — purpose-built
CoCounsel (Thomson Reuters) $225/mo Demo only BigLaw + general practice Medium — broad, not specialized
Eve Legal $89/mo 14-day Solo / small firm general practice Low — workflow not med-mal-tuned
Spellbook $29/mo Free tier (limited) Contract drafting + review None — contracts only, no records
Vincent AI (vLex) $95/mo Demo only Federal litigation research Low — research-only, no record review
Lexis+ AI $200/mo Demo only BigLaw research-heavy Medium — research-strong, weak on records

1. MedLegal AI — purpose-built for plaintiff med-mal

MedLegal AI is what plaintiff medical-malpractice attorneys would build if they paid software developers in records hours instead of dollars. 23 tools across 7 practice areas (medical malpractice, PI, nursing home, wrongful death, birth injury, product liability, workers' comp), all trained on plaintiff-side workflows. Tools are specialty-tuned: the Daubert analyzer knows what defense experts file repeatedly across federal courts; the record reviewer flags missed Category-III tracings on birth-injury OB strips; the demand-letter generator knows the strike-zone economics of state-by-state damage caps.

What plaintiff bar gets vs. CoCounsel

Verdict: who should pick MedLegal AI

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2. CoCounsel (Thomson Reuters) — the post-Casetext default

CoCounsel is what Casetext became after Thomson Reuters' $650M acquisition. Strong general-purpose AI legal research bundled with Westlaw access. The catch: pricing escalated significantly. Where Casetext was $99/mo, the CoCounsel + Westlaw bundle starts at $225/mo per user, with annual contracts.

If you're already a Westlaw subscriber and want AI augmentation across multiple practice areas, CoCounsel makes sense. If you're a plaintiff-only firm that doesn't bill enough Westlaw time to justify the bundle, you're paying a research-platform tax for AI features you could get cheaper standalone.

3. Eve Legal — the lighter Casetext-style alternative

Eve Legal launched in 2024 as a deliberate response to Casetext's price hike. $89/mo solo, $249/mo team. Decent AI legal research, document review, and contract analysis. Practice-area-agnostic — works for any litigation but isn't tuned for med-mal or PI specifically.

Verdict: if you handle a mix of practice areas (general litigation + some med-mal + some PI), Eve covers the breadth at half CoCounsel's price. If you're plaintiff med-mal-focused, MedLegal AI's specialty depth wins.

4. Spellbook — only for contracts

Spellbook is Microsoft Word-integrated AI for contract drafting and review. $29/mo. Useful if your med-mal practice involves a lot of contingency-fee agreements, expert-witness retainers, or settlement releases — but it's contracts-only. Doesn't touch medical records, Daubert, or live deposition.

Use as a complement, not a Casetext replacement.

5. Vincent AI (vLex) — research-only

Vincent AI is vLex's flagship research tool. $95/mo. Strong federal case law search, citator integration, and judicial trend analysis. Doesn't do record review, contract review, or deposition analysis — pure research.

Worth it as an addition to MedLegal AI for federal-court-heavy plaintiff practices, but doesn't replace Casetext's full feature set on its own.

6. Lexis+ AI — the other BigLaw default

Lexis+ AI starts at $200/mo and integrates AI features into the existing Lexis platform. Strong if you already bill Lexis subscriptions and want AI augmentation. Same trade-off as CoCounsel: paying a research-platform tax for AI features you could get cheaper standalone.

The honest decision tree for a plaintiff med-mal attorney

Your situationPick
Solo plaintiff med-mal/PI, ≤10 cases/moMedLegal AI Pro ($49/mo) or pay-per-analysis ($19/run)
2-3 attorney plaintiff firm, 10-30 cases/moMedLegal AI Professional ($490/mo, 3 seats)
10+ attorney plaintiff firm, unlimited casesMedLegal AI Firm ($1,499/mo, 10 seats)
General-practice firm w/ med-mal mixEve Legal ($89/mo) for breadth + MedLegal AI Pro ($49/mo) for med-mal-specific work
Heavy federal-court litigation, multiple practice areasCoCounsel + Westlaw ($225/mo+)
Contract-heavy practice (Mass tort, MDL leadership)Spellbook ($29/mo) + MedLegal AI

Frequently asked questions

What happened to Casetext?

Casetext was acquired by Thomson Reuters in 2023 for $650M. Its consumer-facing product was rebranded as CoCounsel and shut down as a standalone in April 2025. Standalone Casetext logins stopped working; users were migrated to Westlaw + CoCounsel bundles starting at $225/mo per user — roughly 4x the original Casetext pricing.

What's the cheapest Casetext alternative?

For solo plaintiff attorneys: MedLegal AI Pro is $49/mo (vs. CoCounsel's $225/mo entry tier). Spellbook Lite is $29/mo but only handles contracts. Lexis+ AI starts at $200/mo. Eve Legal is $89/mo. None match the original Casetext $99/mo price point exactly — the cheap end of the AI legal market shifted up since the Casetext shutdown.

Does MedLegal AI replace CoCounsel for med-mal cases?

For plaintiff medical-malpractice and personal-injury workflows, yes. MedLegal AI has 22 specialty tools (record review, Daubert analysis, expert-witness research, depo prep, demand-letter generation, settlement evaluation, etc.) trained on med-legal content specifically. CoCounsel is broader (general legal research, contract review, litigation support across practice areas) but isn't tuned for plaintiff med-mal workflows. A solo plaintiff attorney typically gets more usable hours back from MedLegal AI; a 50-attorney general-practice firm gets more from CoCounsel.

Is there a free Casetext alternative?

MedLegal AI offers a 14-day free trial with full access to all 23 tools, no credit card required. Pay-per-analysis is also available at $19/run with no monthly commitment. Most other Casetext alternatives (CoCounsel, Lexis+ AI, Eve Legal) require a paid subscription from day one with no free trial.

Can I import my Casetext history into MedLegal AI?

No — Casetext shut down before exporting your search history was a documented option. But your client cases and saved documents you uploaded to Casetext should still be in your firm's case-management system. MedLegal AI accepts uploads in any format (PDF, DOCX, scanned images, even raw text dumps from old emails). Most attorneys re-create their workflow in 30-60 minutes.

Try it free

14-day full-access trial. All 23 tools. HIPAA + BAA. No credit card to start. Cancel anytime. If you're a plaintiff med-mal attorney still searching for a Casetext alternative — try this one before you commit to a 4x-pricier bundle.

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Last updated May 4, 2026. Pricing reflects publicly-listed pricing on each vendor's website at time of writing. Bundle pricing for CoCounsel + Westlaw varies by region and contract terms — quoted figures reflect typical entry-tier US pricing.

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