Free tool
Free Table of Authorities Generator
Paste or upload a brief and get a Table of Authorities: cases, constitutional provisions, statutes, regulations and rules, grouped and alphabetized, with the pages where each is cited. Untick or fix entries, then download it as Word or PDF. No sign-up.
Runs in your browser. No AI, and nothing leaves your device. A rule-based parser finds the citations, so it can miss or misgroup an authority: read the table against your brief before you file. It doesn’t check that a case exists or is still good law, and it isn’t legal advice.
Build your table of authorities
How it works
How the table of authorities generator works
- Paste or upload the briefPaste the text, or upload a PDF, Word, RTF or text file. Files are read in your browser; a PDF keeps its page breaks so the table can cite pages.
- Citations are found and groupedA rule-based parser finds cases, constitutional provisions, statutes, regulations and court rules, folds short forms and “Id.” into the authority they refer to, and alphabetizes each group.
- Review the entriesUntick anything that shouldn’t be listed, fix how an entry reads, set which PDF page is page 1, and switch on “passim” if your court allows it.
- Download and checkDownload the table as Word, PDF or HTML, or copy it. Read it against the brief before you file: the parser can miss an authority written in an unusual form.
Word
A static table, or a live table in Word
1. Paste this table
The Word download is a finished table: a heading, then one borderless two-column table per category, authority on the left and pages on the right, in Word’s own Title and Table Text styles so it picks up your document’s fonts when you restyle it. The numbers are fixed, so build it from the final brief.
2. Let Word build it from TA fields
Word’s own table of authorities comes from TA fields next to each citation and updates with F9. Signed in, DraftAria’s Word download of a court document, such as a brief drafted with the Template Generator, marks the citations its parser fully understood (full case citations, statutes, regulations, rules, constitutional provisions, and short forms tied to them) and turns a [TABLE OF AUTHORITIES] line into Word’s table field. It doesn’t mark “Id.” or citations with format problems. The guide how to build a Table of Authorities in Word shows how to mark the rest by hand.
FAQ
Questions about the table of authorities generator
How do I create a table of authorities from my brief?
Paste the brief or upload it as a PDF, Word (.docx), RTF or text file, then click Build table. The generator finds the case, constitutional, statute, regulation and court-rule citations, groups and alphabetizes them, and lists where each is cited. Untick anything that shouldn't be listed, fix any entry's wording, and download the table as Word, PDF or HTML.
Does it give page numbers?
Yes, when the text has pages. Upload the final brief as a PDF and the table lists PDF pages; set which PDF page is page 1 of the brief so the cover and front matter are left out. Pasted text and Word files have no page breaks, so the table lists paragraph numbers instead, unless you type "[Page break]" on its own line between pages. Short forms such as "Id." and "Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556" count toward the full citation they refer to, and you can show "passim" for authorities cited on 5 or more pages.
How do I use the Word download?
The Word file is a finished, static table: open it and copy the table into your brief, or paste it in place of your table of authorities. Its numbers don't change when the brief does, so rebuild it after the last edit. To have Word keep the table up to date, Word needs the citations marked with TA fields; the Word downloads of court documents in DraftAria add those marks for you (see the next answer), or you can mark them in Word yourself.
Can Word build a live table of authorities instead?
Yes. Word builds its own table from TA fields placed next to each citation. Inside DraftAria, the Word download of a court document, such as a brief drafted in the Template Generator, marks full case citations, statutes, regulations, court rules and constitutional provisions that the rule-based parser fully understood with no format errors, plus short forms it can tie to one of them, and turns a [TABLE OF AUTHORITIES] line into Word's table field. It does not mark "Id." citations, citations with format problems or authorities it doesn't recognise, so check the table and mark anything missing.
Does it check that the cases exist or are still good law?
No. The generator only reads the citations in your text. It doesn't look anything up, so a citation to a case that doesn't exist would still appear in the table. Inside DraftAria, Citation Check can look case citations up in CourtListener; "found" there means the case exists, not that it is good law. Always confirm authority in a citator before you file.
Is my brief sent anywhere?
No. The generator runs entirely in your browser. Text you paste and files you upload are read on your device; nothing is sent to DraftAria, to an AI model or to any other service, and nothing is saved when you leave the page. It doesn't use AI: the same text always gives the same table.
Why is an authority missing or in the wrong group?
The parser recognises common citation forms: cases with a reporter (for example 550 U.S. 544 or 652 F.3d 1202), U.S.C. and C.F.R. sections, Federal Register cites, federal court rules and constitutional provisions. It can miss a citation written in an unusual form, split across a page break, or to a source it doesn't know, such as a treatise, a law review article or many state codes, and it can misgroup one. Read the table against the brief and add anything missing by hand.
How long a brief can it read?
Up to 200,000 characters at a time, about the length of a long brief. Longer text is cut off at that point and the page tells you so. PDFs need selectable text; scanned PDFs need OCR first. Older Word (.doc) files must be saved as .docx.
The full brief, with the citations checked.
The free generator gives you a static table. DraftAria adds CourtListener lookups for case citations, Word downloads of court documents with citations marked as TA fields so Word builds and updates the table itself, and Aria to draft court-formatted filings for your review. Start a 14-day free trial, or book a demo.