The firm brings its own AI key
JUDLEX sells one thing, the licence to use the application; artificial intelligence is taken out by the firm with the provider it prefers.
A new JUDLEX release, and what changes is who is responsible for what.
Reading and analysing a case file with artificial intelligence is not something the application does on its own: it asks a provider, a company that opens an account for the firm, hands it a key — the long password by which it recognises the firm's requests — and charges it for what it uses. From this release, JUDLEX sells only the licence to use the application, counted by seat, and you take the artificial intelligence out with whichever provider you prefer.
The JUDLEX invoice has one line on it
The licence covers the use of the application and runs by seat: one for each computer in the firm that opens it. What you spend on artificial intelligence does not go in there. You choose the provider, hold its key and pay that provider for your requests, so the JUDLEX invoice carries a single line, the seats.
A request leaves your computer for the provider that the configured key belongs to. It passes through no JUDLEX server that runs it or charges for it, so the use of artificial intelligence, and the bill for it, stay between your practice and that provider.
The application walks you through the key
A provider key is not something a law firm has any reason to know about, and without a key JUDLEX reads nothing with artificial intelligence: there is no cut-down version. So the application carries a route of six steps that starts at the beginning, with what a key is and who charges for what.
The second step puts a price on the work: what it costs to read and analyse a hundred-page case file with the model you have chosen. JUDLEX then opens the provider's own page, knowing what to look for there, and you paste the key.
The list of providers covers Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, DeepSeek and MiniMax. Anthropic comes selected to begin with, and you pick any of the others from the same screen. Anyone already at home with keys can skip the route: the plain field is where it always was, and the link to the route sits beside it while the field is empty.
The test makes a real request
A key of the right shape is not yet a key that works. Before treating the setup as sound, JUDLEX sends one small request to the chosen model, and warns you beforehand that it costs a fraction of a penny and that the provider charges it.
The difference is not academic: an account opened minutes ago with no payment method on it can look ready and then fail on the first case file, which is the worst possible moment. And when something is wrong, the screen tells you what is happening and where to go next — paste the key again, open the provider's billing page, or choose another model — including when the trouble is not the key at all.
Working with artificial intelligence takes both things: a current licence and a configured key. Follow the route, or paste the key you already hold.