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Legal Templates

Legal document processing and analysis.

Overview

Legal templates are designed for extracting structured information from legal documents.

Templates

contract_obligation

Type: list

Purpose: Extract contract obligations and terms

Best for: - Service agreements - Employment contracts - Purchase agreements - License agreements

Fields:

Field Type Description
party str Obligated party
obligation str Description of obligation
deadline str Due date/timeline
conditions str Conditions or caveats 
he parse contract.md -t legal/contract_obligation -l en

ka = Template.create("legal/contract_obligation", "en")
result = ka.parse(contract_text)

for obl in result.data.items:
    print(f"{obl.party}: {obl.obligation}")
    if obl.deadline:
        print(f"  Due: {obl.deadline}")

case_citation

Type: graph

Purpose: Extract legal case citations and relationships

Best for: - Legal briefs - Court opinions - Research memos - Case law analysis

Entities:

  • Cases
  • Statutes
  • Regulations
  • Courts

Relations:

  • cited_by — Citation relationships
  • overruled — Overruling relationships
  • distinguished — Distinction relationships
he parse brief.md -t legal/case_citation -l en

ka = Template.create("legal/case_citation", "en")
result = ka.parse(brief_text)

print(f"Entities: {len(result.nodes)}")
print(f"Relations: {len(result.edges)}")

# Build index for interactive visualization
result.build_index()
result.show()

case_fact_timeline

Type: temporal_graph

Purpose: Extract chronological case facts

Best for: - Case summaries - Investigative reports - Litigation timelines

Features:

  • Event dates
  • Fact descriptions
  • Related parties
he parse case_summary.md -t legal/case_fact_timeline -l en

ka = Template.create("legal/case_fact_timeline", "en")
result = ka.parse(case_text)

print(f"Events: {len(result.nodes)}")
for edge in result.edges:
    if hasattr(edge, 'time'):
        print(f"  {edge.time}: {edge.source} -> {edge.target}")

# Visualize timeline
result.build_index()
result.show()

compliance_list

Type: list

Purpose: Extract compliance requirements

Best for: - Regulatory documents - Compliance manuals - Policy documents

Fields:

Field Type Description
requirement str Compliance requirement
regulation str Source regulation
priority str Priority level 
he parse compliance.md -t legal/compliance_list -l en

ka = Template.create("legal/compliance_list", "en")
result = ka.parse(compliance_text)

for item in result.data.items:
    print(f"[{item.priority}] {item.requirement}")
    print(f"  Regulation: {item.regulation}")

defined_term_set

Type: set

Purpose: Extract defined terms and their meanings

Best for: - Contracts with definitions sections - Technical legal documents - Glossary extraction

he parse agreement.md -t legal/defined_term_set -l en

ka = Template.create("legal/defined_term_set", "en")
result = ka.parse(agreement_text)

for term in result.data.items:
    print(f"{term.term}: {term.definition}")

Use Cases

Contract Review

from hyperextract import Template

ka = Template.create("legal/contract_obligation", "en")
obligations = ka.parse(contract)

# Find all deadlines
deadlines = [o for o in obligations.data.items if o.deadline]
for d in sorted(deadlines, key=lambda x: x.deadline):
    print(f"{d.deadline}: {d.party} - {d.obligation}")

Case Law Analysis

ka = Template.create("legal/case_citation", "en")
case_graph = ka.parse(brief)

# Find most cited cases
citations = {}
for rel in case_graph.data.relations:
    if rel.type == "cited_by":
        citations[rel.target] = citations.get(rel.target, 0) + 1

top_cases = sorted(citations.items(), key=lambda x: x[1], reverse=True)

Due Diligence

# Extract obligations
ka = Template.create("legal/contract_obligation", "en")
obligations = ka.parse(agreement)

# Extract risks
ka2 = Template.create("finance/risk_factor_set", "en")
risks = ka2.parse(agreement)

# Analyze
high_risk_obligations = [
    o for o in obligations.data.items
    if any(r in o.obligation.lower() for r in risks.data.items)
]

Tips

  1. contract_obligation for deadlines — Track contractual obligations
  2. case_citation for research — Build citation networks
  3. defined_term_set for clarity — Extract key definitions
  4. Combine with search — Use he search to find specific clauses

See Also