OpenAI Group PBC released Astra for Law. The product is a version of its GPT-6 Astra model configured for legal research and drafting. It is not an entirely new model. OpenAI combined GPT-6 Astra with a legal search index and a specific set of instructions for legal analysis. The company then made this setup available to law firms and software vendors.
The underlying index covers United States case law, statutes, regulations, court rules, and administrative decisions. It spans more than 230 million URLs and receives daily updates. The CourtListener database from the nonprofit Free Law Project supplies the case law.
OpenAI evaluated the system using a benchmark that rewards finding the correct authority and the right passage inside it. Astra for Law passed the overall correctness check on 54 percent of 200 questions. These questions came from the private validation set of Vals AI’s Legal Research Bench. GPT-6 Astra with web search alone achieved 38.7 percent on the same questions when both systems operated at their highest reasoning effort. On case law questions, the new tool found 24 percent more reference cases. On an audited set, it retrieved up to 54 percent more target passages from the correct opinions.
Initial access to the tool remains limited. Selected firms can reach it through a Trusted Access program in ChatGPT and Codex. It appears in the model picker as GPT-6 Astra Law. An application programming interface version named gpt-6-astra-law will arrive later. OpenAI attached no release date or pricing details to the API version. Legal AI companies Harvey Technologies Inc. and Legora AB are listed as API customers.
Eligible firms receive zero data retention on the API. ChatGPT Enterprise usage is excluded from human review by default. Latham & Watkins is collaborating with OpenAI on governance design for information permissions, ethical walls, and client instructions.
Twenty-six partner-built plugins launched alongside the model. These plugins connect ChatGPT to software tools such as Relativity, Clio, iManage, and DeepJudge. Thomson Reuters Corp. is bringing HighQ matter context into ChatGPT. It is also previewing a connector for its CoCounsel Legal product. An additional nine plugins came from outside lawyers and legal engineers, featuring 47 custom skills. ChatGPT for Word reached general availability on the same day.
Joel Hron is the chief technology officer at Thomson Reuters. He stated that the link between ChatGPT and legal tools addresses only part of what firms require. He noted that as AI becomes more open and interoperable, value extends beyond connectivity. He added that legal professionals need trusted intelligence, relevant enterprise and matter context, purpose built legal capabilities, and proper governance for high stakes work.
OpenAI engineers embedded at individual firms have built custom tools on ChatGPT Enterprise. Sullivan & Cromwell uses an agreement analyzer that pulls negotiating playbooks and selected precedents into the review of a new deal. It turns its findings into proposed redlines. Ropes & Gray applied the work to deal diligence. Cooley built a tool named GO Public to handle initial public offering preparation and draft the filing. John Savva is a Sullivan & Cromwell partner who reviewed early builds. He stated that the models showed impressive research depth and sensitivity to authority.
OpenAI characterized the launch as the beginning of a long-term investment in the legal sector. GPT-6 Astra itself started rolling out on September 3, two weeks prior to this announcement.
