Brief
Read PDFs, Word files, email, spreadsheets, slides and images in one pane. Links inside PDFs still work; Lexware markup stays out of the original files.
Litigation software that puts you in control
Your brief went digital. It never got better. Until now.
Lexware transforms working with electronic briefs — putting you in control and giving you powerful tools to master any brief, big or small. Import a zip, folder or compiled PDF, and then benefit from carefully designed tools for pleadings, chronologies, transcripts, authorities and much more.
Designed by a practising barrister, for practising barristers
The core loop
Master the whole matter — your way.
01
Brief in
Import a zipped download, an existing folder of documents, or a compiled PDF court book — read-only, in minutes, your originals never touched. Then, as the matter grows, documents that arrive after the brief — an emailed PDF, a forwarded .msg — triage in through the Intray.
02
Master it
Navigate the brief like a ring binder, search every word in an instant, and highlight and annotate as you read — then quickly put together a bundle of key documents and export to LiquidText with a single click.
03
Build the ultimate chronology
Extract events from your documents, then approve each one before it lands — nothing auto-populates your timeline. Move between a timeline, calendar or sortable table, filtered by party, issue or tag, every event linked back to its source.
04
AI on your terms
Use as little or as much AI as you choose — Lexware is built to put you in control. Use the app without any AI, or integrate deeply with local and cloud AI services, taking advantage of inbuilt pseudonymisation of data. The choice is yours, and you can configure different options for different matters.
Chronology
Build a chronology like no other.
Extract events from your documents, then approve what belongs — nothing lands on the timeline without your say-so, the deliberate answer to tools that let AI auto-build a chronology you then have to check. Filter and export in a few clicks; focus on particular documents — or issues you define with categories and tags — and compare the events in one set of documents with those in another.
Move between a visual timeline, calendar and sortable table. Narrow the view by party, category, tag or fact status, and take source-linked events straight back to their documents and pinpoints.
Notes
Keep your analysis connected to the evidence.
Draft submissions, witness outlines and advice in a structured editor with automatic legal numbering. Cite documents, transcript passages, authorities, correspondence and chronology events as you write — then preview a citation or open its source without losing your place.
Backlinks show everywhere a source is used, while quote blocks stay tied to the original passage. Export to PDF with footnoted citations, or publish a one-way copy to Obsidian.
One connected workspace
Every part of the matter, in its place.
Lexware keeps the material you receive, the record you need to master and the work you create in clear groups — distinct, but connected throughout the matter.
Case materials
From the delivered brief to a court-ready bundle.
Chronology
Extract, review and compare source-linked events in a timeline, calendar or sortable table.
Bundles
Assemble a court book for each hearing, export one merged PDF, or hand it to LiquidText or PDF Expert.
Source records
The filed, exchanged and spoken record, kept distinct.
Pleadings
The pleadings dispute matrix — a Lexware signature no comparable tool offers. Work through the claim, defence and reply paragraph by paragraph, every allegation admitted, denied or not admitted, each linked back to its filed source.
Correspondence
See the matter's inbox and outbox by date; filter by people or domains to follow an exchange.
Authorities
Collect cases, legislation, secondary material and pinpoints; detect Australian citations, fill court and year from a pasted citation, read them in place, open AustLII, marshal them for and against each argument on a board, and export a list or bundle index.
Transcripts
Move by day and witness, search for patterns, and carry colour-coded highlights across the hearing record.
Working papers
Linked analysis and action built from the record.
Notes
Draft structured work with live citations, source previews and backlinks wherever the evidence is used.
Scratchpad
Press E on any passage to make a quote card with your note and a backlink, then arrange cards on a freeform canvas.
Tasks
Keep the matter's to-dos beside the document or event they concern.
AI Assist
Optional help, only where you want it.
AI Assist
Use Claude, ChatGPT or a local model for specific drafting and analysis tasks. Cloud access requires matter-by-matter consent, and prompts remain in your own audit record.
The part that matters most
Your matters never leave your machine.
No Lexware server. No account. No telemetry. Documents, extracted text, chronology, pleadings — all of it lives in a local database on your machine. For privileged work, that isn't a feature. It's the whole point.
Local by default
Date extraction runs on a local model. Cloud AI — Claude or ChatGPT, on your own subscription — is opt-in, per matter; when you use it, an optional pseudonymiser can mask identifying details before anything is sent.
No server, no tracking
A desktop app, not a web service — no sign-in, no cloud backend, no record of what you opened. Lexware has no way to see your matters.
Originals untouched
Your brief is read-only — never moved, renamed or rewritten. The brief you were delivered stays exactly as it arrived.
Built in Brisbane for Australian litigators — no offshore-data question to answer. How Lexware handles your data → · The security architecture → · Privacy policy →
Questions
What barristers ask before they start.
Does my matter data leave my machine?
No — not by default. Everything lives in a local database on your machine. The only ways any content reaches a third party are the optional cloud extraction provider and the optional assistant — both off for every matter until you switch them on.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Date extraction runs on a local model and the whole workspace is offline-first. You only need a connection for the cloud features you deliberately opt into.
What files can it open?
PDFs, Word, email — Outlook .msg and standard .eml — Excel, PowerPoint and images, all in one pane. Excel can also import directly as a chronology.
Which platforms does it run on?
The beta runs on Apple Silicon Macs today, and a Windows build is on the way. (An Intel Mac build isn't planned for the beta.)
What does the beta cost?
Nothing. No payment and no account — you request access and we send you a build. And if you stop using Lexware, your matters are just files in a folder on your machine.
Private beta
Try Lexware on a real matter.
In private beta with a small group of barristers. Request access and we'll be in touch.
macOS today, Windows on the way · No payment, no account