OpenAI has officially launched Astra for Law, a specialized version of its GPT-6 Astra model designed specifically for legal professionals. The offering pairs the advanced language model with a custom legal search index, specialized instructions for legal analysis, and dozens of partner-built plugins. Major law firms including Latham & Watkins, Ropes & Gray, Cooley, and Sullivan & Cromwell are already early adopters.

What Makes Astra for Law Different From Regular ChatGPT?

The key innovation is a new Legal Search Index that searches across more than 230 million URLs containing U.S. case law, statutes, regulations, court rules, and administrative decisions, with sources added daily. This specialized index was built in partnership with Free Law Project, the nonprofit behind CourtListener, which brings its collection of more than 99.9% of published U.S. precedential case law into the research experience.

In testing on 200 U.S. legal research questions, Astra for Law passed the evaluation's overall correctness check on 54% of questions, compared with 38.7% for GPT-6 Astra using standard web search alone, a 40% relative improvement. On case-law-focused questions specifically, Astra for Law found 24% more reference cases than the standard model, and retrieved up to 54% more relevant passages from the correct court opinions.

How Are Law Firms Actually Using This Tool?

• Agreement Analysis: Sullivan & Cromwell built an agreement analyzer that brings the firm's negotiating playbooks and selected precedents into deal review, helping lawyers spot risks that emerge when contract provisions are read together and turning findings into proposed redlines and draft client advice.
• Deal Diligence: Ropes & Gray created a deal diligence system that mirrors how its lawyers work through a data room, helping them trace findings back to source documents and pinpoint questions that could affect an acquisition, such as whether key customer contracts require notice or consent.
• IPO Preparation: Cooley built GO Public to bring its capital markets expertise into how companies prepare to go public, from drafting the IPO filing to identifying risks that deserve management attention, and automatically carrying changes across the filing so lawyers can review implications together.

OpenAI is also launching 26 partner-built plugins and 47 community plugins for legal work in ChatGPT. Partners including Thomson Reuters, Harvey, Legora, and iManage connect specialist tools and knowledge, while community plugins built by lawyers and legal engineers give firms skills they can adapt and extend.

What Trust and Safety Features Are Built In?

Law firms need to protect client confidences and control how AI is used in their practice. OpenAI created a special Trusted Access Program for eligible law firms that includes Zero Data Retention (ZDR) on the API, meaning conversations are not stored. Usage of ChatGPT Enterprise is also excluded from human review by default.

OpenAI is working with Latham & Watkins, a leader in AI governance, to design features for information permissions, ethical walls, client instructions, and firm oversight. Michael Rubin, Chair of Latham's AI Strategy Committee, stated that this collaboration reflects the firm's broader investments in AI development and governance.

"As AI becomes more capable, so too does the ability to deploy it in environments that demand rigorous governance, oversight, and accountability. This collaboration builds on Latham's broader investments in AI development, governance, and infrastructure across the firm, which underpin our enterprise-wide strategy for responsible AI," said Michael Rubin.

Michael Rubin, Chair of Latham's AI Strategy Committee at Latham & Watkins

When Will Lawyers Get Access?

Astra for Law will initially be offered to selected firms through Trusted Access in ChatGPT and Codex, with API access coming soon. OpenAI plans to maintain the legal configuration so builders can focus on their own products and workflows.

Early feedback from law firms has been positive. John Savva, Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, noted that the models demonstrated impressive research depth and sensitivity to authority across both litigation and transactional matters.

"We were grateful to preview early versions of Astra for Law, which were built with legal use-cases in mind. Across both litigation and transactional matters, the models demonstrated impressive research depth and sensitivity to authority. Even at this early stage, they felt like a significant step toward legal-focused AI that is carefully grounded in research that is both current and comprehensive," said John Savva.

John Savva, Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell

Niko Grupen, Head of Applied Research at Harvey, emphasized the model's precision in legal research. "In our early testing, Astra for Law showed strength across key aspects of legal research: grounding answers in on-point authorities, citing with precision, and offering practical, advisory guidance," Grupen stated.

Niko Grupen, Head of Applied Research at Harvey

Dave Peinsipp, partner and co-chair of Cooley's global capital markets group, highlighted how the collaboration with OpenAI is reshaping legal workflows. "Our collaboration with OpenAI has allowed us to rethink how this work gets done, moving lawyers and management teams more quickly through intensive preparation and into questions that require judgment, market experience and strategic thinking," Peinsipp explained.

The launch of Astra for Law represents a significant shift in how AI is being tailored for specialized professional work. Rather than asking lawyers to adapt to general-purpose AI tools, OpenAI has built a system that understands the unique demands of legal research, analysis, and writing, complete with the governance and trust controls that law firms require for high-stakes client work.