Introducing Astra for Law
If you work in legal services, this is a purpose-built legal research tool backed by a 230-million-URL index of US case law, statutes and regulations — though access is currently restricted to selected law firms via OpenAI's Trusted Access Program, so most readers won't be able to use it immediately.
What changed
Source summary
OpenAI launched Astra for Law, a specialised offering combining its GPT-6 Astra model with a legal-specific search index covering more than 230 million URLs of US case law, statutes and regulations, built for law firms and legal technology providers. It is initially available only to selected law firms through OpenAI's Trusted Access Program in ChatGPT and Codex, with API access (including zero data retention for eligible firms) coming soon.
Why it matters to your work
Practical interpretation
If you work in legal services, this is a purpose-built legal research tool backed by a 230-million-URL index of US case law, statutes and regulations — though access is currently restricted to selected law firms via OpenAI's Trusted Access Program, so most readers won't be able to use it immediately.
When this could help
Worth evaluating if your firm does US legal research, contract review, or deal diligence and wants AI assistance with source citations grounded in a comprehensive legal index rather than general web search.
Astra for Law pairs GPT-6 Astra with a legal search index covering US case law, statutes, regulations, and administrative decisions across 230+ million URLs (including 99.9%+ of published US precedential case law via CourtListener). It finds 24% more reference cases than Astra with web search alone, and scored 54% on the Vals AI Legal Research Bench versus 38.7% for standard Astra.
How to get started
Apply through the Trusted Access Program if your firm is eligible. Once access is granted, select GPT-6 Astra Law in the ChatGPT model picker.
Provider guidance ↗
Build it into your routine
SCALA suggested workflow
Legal research evaluation
Run a representative case-law research question through Astra for Law and compare the cases found, citation accuracy, and analysis quality against your current legal research tools.
What to check
- Access is limited to selected firms through the Trusted Access Program at launch. Not generally available. Source ↗
- The legal search index covers US law. The announcement does not mention non-US jurisdictions. Source ↗
- OpenAI emphasises that lawyers should examine cited authorities themselves. Benchmark results are not a general accuracy guarantee. Source ↗
Sources & provider guides
Official documentation checked 12 Oct 2026. SCALA prompts and workflows are suggestions, not claims of hands-on testing.
Source & availability
This is a summary of a published provider announcement, with practical context from SCALA’s feed.
Plan, region, workspace and rollout conditions may affect access in Australia. Check the original source for current availability.
openai.com