Legal AI text cleanup: formatting contracts and briefs

Legal professionals are using AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and specialized legal LLMs to draft contracts, write briefs, and summarize case law. It saves a lot of drafting time.

But there is a problem: the formatting.

The unprofessional look of raw AI output

Legal documents require strict formatting. They need precise numbered lists, specific indentations, and clean text. AI output uses internet-style formatting instead:

• Hashes for headers (## Section 1: Liability)
• Asterisks for bold text (**Indemnification**)
• Awkwardly structured links

If a client, opposing counsel, or a judge sees a document with these symbols, it signals carelessness.

Best practices for cleaning legal AI drafts

1. Eliminate all special symbols

The most important step is stripping the formatting symbols that AI generates. Legal documents should use your word processor's built-in styles (Word or Google Docs heading styles) rather than text-based symbols.

Use a dedicated cleaner like the AI Text Formatter to remove these symbols from your AI drafts before pasting them into your final document.

2. Standardize numbering

AI often invents its own numbering or uses bullet points where a numbered list is required. After cleaning the text, review and apply your firm's standard numbering format (e.g., Article I, Section 1.01).

3. Review AI-generated links

When AI cites a source or provides a link, it wraps it in brackets and parentheses [like this](https://example.com). This format is useless in a printed brief and looks bad in a PDF. The formatting tool can clean these up into readable text.

4. Never skip the human review

AI can speed up drafting, but it does not replace legal judgment. Always review the cleaned text to make sure the reasoning is sound and the language says what you intend it to say.

Cleaning your AI output takes a few seconds and keeps your legal documents looking as professional as the work behind them.