Asking questions with Ask Cedent

Ask Cedent is where you ask questions about a case in plain language. Answers are grounded in that matter’s own email and documents — it is not general legal research, it is a way to interrogate the record you already have.

Opening Ask Cedent

Open it from the Ask Cedent button in the top bar of any matter. It slides in as a panel on the right, alongside whatever you were looking at, so you can keep the case in view while you ask. You can also open it with ⌘J (Ctrl+J on Windows), and close it with Esc or the ×.

The button only appears while you have a matter open — Ask Cedent always works inside one matter, so it knows exactly what it is grounded in.

What you can ask

For a summary — “What’s the latest on the custody dispute?” or “Catch me up on this matter.”
For a specific fact — “What did opposing counsel propose for the parenting schedule?” or “When is the next hearing?”
To find something — “Which email mentioned the appraisal?”
To draft — “Draft a reply asking for a two-week extension.” The result goes to your Drafts queue for review, not out the door.

If you are not sure where to start, the Try asking prompts at the bottom of the panel drop a ready-made question into the message box for you to run or edit.

A tour of the panel

Grounded in — the card at the top left names the matter Ask Cedent is working from and counts the facts and documents it can draw on.
Conversations — a matter can hold several separate chats. Use New chat to start a fresh one — handy for keeping, say, a discovery question apart from a drafting thread. Each conversation keeps its own history and title (Cedent names it automatically after your first message; you can rename it any time).
The message box — type your question and press Enter to send. Above it, a selector focuses what Cedent draws on for your next question:
- This matter · all docs (the default) — both the filed documents and the email correspondence.
- This matter · documents only — answers from the filed documents and the synopsis, and leaves email out unless you ask for it.
- This matter · emails only — answers from the email correspondence and treats documents as background.
Every option stays within the open matter — Ask Cedent never reaches into another matter. Your choice is remembered per matter until you change it.
Attach and dictate — the paperclip attaches a file to your question, and the microphone lets you dictate instead of type. While it is listening it shows a Listening… indicator; click it again to stop.

Answers are grounded and traceable

Ask Cedent answers from the matter’s record, and it points to what it used, so you can verify any answer against the underlying email or document. If something is not in the matter’s email and documents, it tells you it does not have that information rather than guessing. See Where Cedent’s answers come from.

Working with an answer

Hover over any of Cedent’s answers to reveal a row of actions beneath it:

Copy — copy the answer to your clipboard.
Save to matter — promote the answer into the matter’s Drafts as a memo you can edit, approve, or export.
Bookmark — star that specific answer so you can find it again later (see Bookmarks below).
Start a new chat from here — open a fresh conversation that quotes this answer, so you can branch off without losing the original thread.
Regenerate — ask Cedent to answer the same question again.
Helpful / not helpful — a thumbs up or down that tells us how the answer landed.

Bookmarks

A bookmark saves one specific answer, not a whole conversation. To create one, hover the Cedent answer you want to keep and click the star in its action row.

To find your bookmarks later, click the bookmark icon at the top of the Ask Cedent panel. It lists every answer you have bookmarked across all of this matter’s conversations, newest first; selecting one opens the conversation it came from. Bookmarks are yours alone — other people in your firm do not see them.

Managing a conversation

The ⋯ menu at the top of each conversation holds its housekeeping actions:

Rename — give the conversation a clearer title.
Make private / Make shared — see Private conversations.
Export transcript — download the whole conversation as a text (Markdown) file to keep or share outside Cedent.
Clear chat — delete every message in the conversation and reset Cedent’s memory of it, while keeping the (now empty) conversation in your list. This cannot be undone.
Archive thread — set the conversation aside. Archived conversations move to an Archived section and become read-only — you can still read them, but to keep working you start a new chat.

Private conversations

By default, a conversation on a matter can be seen by anyone on your firm who has access to that matter. Choose Make private from the ⋯ menu to keep a conversation to yourself — a private conversation is visible only to you, not to teammates and not to firm administrators. A Private badge marks it, and a small lock appears next to it in the conversation list. Choose Make shared to open it back up to the matter’s team. See Who can see what.

Suggested actions open Ask Cedent

When you click a suggested action in a matter’s daily brief — “File response,” say — it opens Ask Cedent with the request already written. You can run it as-is or edit it first. It is the same panel, reached with a head start.

Common questions

Will Ask Cedent answer from general legal knowledge? For the facts of your case, no — it works from the matter’s own email and documents and tells you when it does not have something, rather than filling the gap from outside knowledge.

It says it can’t find something I know is in the case. The relevant email or document may not be filed to this matter yet — check your triage inbox. Filing the source gives Ask Cedent what it needs.

Does drafting in Ask Cedent send anything? No. A draft lands in your review queue. Nothing is sent or filed until you approve it.

Can I ask across all my matters at once? No — Ask Cedent is always scoped to the single matter you have open. Switch matters to ask about a different one.