GIDEON beta · Criminal defense · Legal data

A standard for criminal defense.

GIDEON is an AI-fueled engine for criminal defense attorneys. It processes discovery into an attorney-reviewed factual record, connecting relevant facts to charges and legal issues while efficiently including the human professional in every step.

GIDEON · local case review
Original discovery
Source · cited page
Proposed factual record
FACT · AWAITING REVIEW
Every proposed fact remains connected to the record it came from.
Bears onLegal requirement Attested byWitness or source From sourceDocument and cited page
Attorney decision
Confirmaccept into the record
Editcorrect the wording
Flagreturn to it later
Rejectexclude, preserve trail
The review model. Source-grounded analysis · the attorney decides what enters the record
Beta deployment GIDEON is in beta deployment with early partners in criminal defense. Become an early partner →
1,200+cases litigated as a public defender
241California felony offenses in the working dataset
126reusable atomic legal requirements
241unique offense formulas

How ASR works

Cases are not the same. Their structure can be.

ASR gives every case a common legal structure while preserving the facts that make it distinct.

01

Offense

Select the governing charge and its formula.

02

Atoms

Decompose it into reusable legal requirements.

03

Record

Connect facts and conflicts to sources and requirements.

04

Attorney decision

Confirm, change, flag, or reject before the work is used.

SECOND-DEGREE ROBBERY  =  purpose + intent + appropriation + (force | fear) + person + property of another + against will

ASR decomposes criminal offenses into a finite dictionary of irreducible legal requirements and uses those atoms to give each case a consistent, machine-readable structure. Each offense is expressed as a unique formula.

A system can identify what each charge requires and where the evidence supports, undercuts, or fails to address the legal theory. ASR preserves what is legally distinctive about a case while allowing unique cases to be evaluated using universal metrics and structures.

Read the ASR paper
It will show us how criminal law works.

The data opportunity

One review workflow. A new field of legal insight.

Paired with the rich, fact-based data found in criminal discovery, this structure can reveal patterns and help attorneys make informed strategic decisions rather than rely on gut instinct or local custom.

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Where does proof repeatedly break down?

Compare missing, contradictory, and weakly supported requirements across cases.

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Which factual combinations affect outcomes?

Move beyond local custom and isolated experience toward evidence grounded in comparable records.

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Which strategies work in which circumstances?

Turn attorney-reviewed case knowledge into a resource no individual lawyer or office could build alone.

Beta partners will help apply this structure to criminal defense work and build the attorney-reviewed data needed to understand how facts affect outcomes, how juries are persuaded, and where bias impacts justice.

The continuity architecture

C3 creates co-intelligence.

GIDEON is built on C3—an architecture I developed that makes AI more of a partner than a tool by continuously building on a history of work, learning from user corrections and habits, and improving over time.

01
Capture Decisions and corrections
02
Crystallize Durable working knowledge
03
Connect The next session begins informed

Joshua Field

I am a former public defender unable to get AI out of my head.

I realized I love to create.

My work has included public defense, service in the Obama Administration, law and policy, philanthropy, political operations, and the management of complex programs. Across that work, I learned how to find the structure inside difficult problems.

My understanding of machine learning and AI grew in parallel with the capabilities of the technology. As the models became more capable, I became better able to use them—first to test ideas, then to build working systems. The result is the ability to apply my knowledge and experience to build and create products that address challenges and solve problems.

GIDEON beta deployment

Become an early partner.

We are looking for public defender agencies and private defense firms prepared to deploy the beta, and for funders who want to support the work.