Assistant

Indian Legal Research with August

August's research capabilities include specialized support for Indian legal research. For organizations configured with Indian jurisdiction, ambiguous legal-research queries are automatically routed to sources specific to Indian law, including Lexis Indian commentaries and Supreme Court of India judgments.

Who This Applies To

This routing behavior applies when your organization is tagged with jurisdiction = IN. If your organization is not configured for Indian jurisdiction, your research queries follow standard routing and you will not see the India-specific behavior described here.

Contact your firm administrator or August support if you're unsure whether your organization is configured for Indian jurisdiction.

When you submit a legal-research query in Assistant or Genius Mode, August's planner evaluates the query and routes it to the appropriate research agent.

For IN-tagged organizations:

  • Ambiguous legal-research queries are treated as Indian legal research by default. If your query could relate to multiple jurisdictions but doesn't specify one, August routes it to Indian legal sources.

  • Explicitly Indian queries are routed to specialized Indian legal research that consults Indian-specific databases, commentaries, and case law before broader web sources.

  • Non-Indian or non-legal queries follow standard routing. Queries about U.S. law, UK law, or non-legal topics are not affected by this routing behavior.

When a query is routed to Indian legal research, August consults the following source types:

  • Lexis Indian commentaries — authoritative commentary on Indian statutes, regulations, and legal principles.

  • Supreme Court of India judgments — binding precedent from India's highest court.

  • Indian regulatory sources — RBI, SEBI, IRDAI, CCI, IBBI, and other regulatory bodies.

  • Indian tribunals — NCLT, NCLAT, ITAT, CESTAT, and other specialized tribunals.

  • Corporate and tax authorities — MCA, CBDT/Income Tax, NSE, BSE.

  • Indian High Courts — decisions from High Courts across Indian states.

  • Web research — open-web sources supplement the above when relevant.

Lexis Indian commentaries and Supreme Court of India judgments are consulted before open-web research. This prioritization helps ensure that Indian legal answers are grounded in authoritative Indian sources first.

When to Specify Jurisdiction Explicitly

Even with India-default routing, you may want to specify jurisdiction in your prompt for clarity or precision:

  • Comparative research: "Compare the position on force majeure under Indian law and English law."

  • Multi-jurisdiction matters: "What are the cross-border tax implications for an Indian company acquiring a U.S. target?"

  • Confirming scope: "Under Indian contract law, what constitutes material breach?"

Specifying jurisdiction helps August understand whether you want pure Indian analysis, comparative work across jurisdictions, or guidance on a non-Indian legal system.

High Court and Case Law Research

For queries specifically about Indian High Court cases, August can search the eCourts portal and retrieve judgment PDFs. To trigger High Court research:

  • Mention "High Court" with a specific Indian state or city (e.g., "Bombay High Court," "Delhi High Court").

  • Use terms like "Indian case law," "High Court cases," or "Indian legal cases."

High Court research is a subset of Indian legal research and may take longer than general queries while August retrieves and reviews case documents.

What Does Not Change

Several behaviors remain unchanged regardless of jurisdiction routing:

  • Non-legal queries: Questions about business topics, general knowledge, or factual research follow standard routing.

  • Explicit jurisdiction requests: If you specify a different jurisdiction (e.g., "under Delaware law"), August respects that specification.

  • Citation verification: You should still verify citations against source materials before relying on research outputs. See How August Handles Sources and Citations.

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