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Candle AI
Candle AI is an AI email assistant for law firms from Candle AI, Inc. of Austin, Texas, running inside Gmail and Outlook through a Chrome extension and an Outlook add-in. It sorts and prioritizes incoming email, attaches the client, matter, deadlines and prior correspondence from the firm's case management system, drafts replies in the lawyer's voice grounded in the matter file, and logs email work as time and activity.
Its Candle Work agents go further, proposing record updates, filing documents to the matter and logging activity, which a user at the firm must approve before anything is sent, saved or filed. It connects to Clio, Filevine, MyCase, Docketwise, Mitratech INSZoom, Visalaw, Litify and Salesforce. The company says it is used by more than 60 law firms across practice areas, including immigration and personal injury firms, and it was runner up in the ABA TECHSHOW 2026 Startup Alley.
Founded in 2024 by Sujith Jose and Carl Davidson, it is backed by The LegalTech Fund. Plans are priced per user per month by team size, with no figure on the company's own site; the Clio App Directory lists pricing starting at $49 a month.
Candle AI, head to head
Side by side on the same 15 capability axes and 12 legal signals: where the two part company, and what neither one publishes.
Alternatives to Candle AI
Other products that do the same kind of work as Candle AI, and what each one does.
- VVesenceVesence is an AI platform for law firms and other professional services businesses that runs inside Microsoft Office. The same agent works across Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint, and in a web workspace that keeps files, chats and drafts together by project.
- PPhilips SpeechLivePhilips SpeechLive is a cloud dictation, speech recognition and transcription platform sold by Speech Processing Solutions, with a legal edition, SpeechLive Legal, for solicitors…
- LLuminaryLuminary is an AI platform for trust and estate planning. It turns trusts, wills, amendments and entity documents into structured records with citations to the source, then uses them for estate diagrams, beneficiary and tax modeling, planning insights and client presentations in the firm's branding.
- NNexLawNexLaw is an AI legal assistant for litigators in the United States from NexLaw Inc., a San Francisco company founded in June 2024 by Francis Lui with Bernie Law as chief operating officer.
- WWordsmithWordsmith is a legal platform built only for in house teams. It captures legal requests from the rest of the business, triages and routes them, resolves routine ones and records what happened.
- FFlankFlank runs supervised AI agents that take over high volume legal work for enterprise in house teams, delivered by a forward deployed team rather than as a software rollout.
Capability grades
All 15 axes, graded from public sources on the date shown. Hover a grade to see what the letter means on that axis.
AI Centrality
How much of the product is actually AI. Whether the machine learning is the mechanism the buyer is paying for or a feature layered onto conventional software, and whether the vendor is specific about which is which.
Triage, drafting in the lawyer's voice and the Candle Work agents that propose record updates and filings are model work. Surfacing the client, matter and deadlines from the case management system, email templates and logging time are integration features that function without the models. Candle Work, announced on 19 August 2026, also connects other systems through MCP and is in early access for a limited number of firms.
Citation Accuracy and Hallucination Disclosure
Whether the vendor publishes measured accuracy on citations and assertions, grounds output to primary sources, and says plainly what its system does when it does not know. Legal has a documented public record of fabricated citations reaching filed briefs, so an untested claim of accuracy is not evidence.
Drafts are described as grounded in the matter file and based on the matter information attached to the email, but no citation back to the source record appears in a draft, nothing describes how the draft is assembled, and no accuracy figures are published. The Terms of Service warn that output might not be accurate, comprehensive or current and should not be relied on as a source of truth, and provide all results to customers as is, with no warranty of accuracy.
Autonomy and Oversight Model
What the system decides on its own, what a lawyer must approve, and whether the vendor documents where the review point sits. A tool that drafts under review and a tool that files without one are different products and different risks.
The Security page states that a user at the firm must explicitly approve anything sent or filed, and the product FAQ says: "Nothing is sent, saved, or filed until a user at your firm explicitly approves it." Drafts are prepared for review and never sent automatically. Candle Work shows exactly what it would change, such as record fields, a document filed to a matter or an activity logged, and holds the result with nothing saved until a user approves; its launch post says "You review, adjust, and approve before anything consequential happens." Triage, context retrieval and the capture of time and activity run without approval.
Operational and Outcome Evidence
Named, dated evidence that the product works in production at real firms or legal departments. Case studies with figures and identified customers count. Unattributed testimonials and launch announcements do not.
Candle's home page says more than 60 law firms use the product and shows firms including Saiontz & Kirk; Minami Tamaki; Siskind Susser; Garfinkel Immigration Law Firm; Katie L. Lewis, P.C.; Childers, Schlueter & Smith; Chun Fruto Law; and Farris Riley & Pitt. It quotes C. Jason Baab of Graham-Hurd & Associates on discovering lost billable time, and Gary M. Singer: "I was at least an hour higher than I expected to be."
The figures, an hour saved per person per day, 70 percent faster drafting, 75 percent faster client responses and 80 percent faster retrieval of matter data, carry no customer, date or method, and neither do the 200 or more emails per person per day and four or more hours a day in the inbox. Partnership posts claim one to two hours a day saved and up to 75 percent faster client response, with no basis given. Candle was runner up in the ABA TECHSHOW 2026 Startup Alley on 25 March 2026 and appeared in the ILTACON 2026 Startup Hub on 27 August 2026.
Privilege and Confidentiality Posture
How client confidences are handled: attorney client privilege and work product treatment, segregation of one client matter from another, whether client data trains any model, and what the vendor commits to in writing rather than in marketing.
The Terms of Service, effective 5 June 2026, commit that Candle will not use attorney client privileged information in user data as input to any AI tool other than Candle's, or to train any AI model other than Candle's. The Security page adds that a firm's emails, matter details and client information are never used to train Candle's own models or models for another customer, and describes encryption, access controls and audit logging.
The terms define Confidential Information broadly without naming User Data, and the duty to return or destroy it is subject to Candle's perpetual license to Aggregated Statistics. The terms also give Candle an irrevocable right to compile anonymous aggregated statistics from user data and to make them public, and nothing addresses separation between matters or users within a firm.
UPL and Professional Responsibility Posture
Whether the vendor is clear that it supplies a tool rather than legal advice, who its audience is, and how it addresses unauthorized practice of law, competence and supervision duties, and jurisdiction limits. ABA Formal Opinion 512 is the reference point. Where the advice line is not the duty a product raises, the axis is read through the nearest professional duty it does raise: judicial conduct rules and the reviewing duty for products sold only to courts, and the duty to bill for time actually spent for products that draft time entries.
The Terms of Service state that "The provision of the Platform does not constitute the practice of law and is not intended to be a substitute for professional legal advice," that output should not be relied on as a source of truth or used for decisions with legal consequences, and that users must be at least 18. Every draft needs a lawyer's approval before it is sent. The product also records email work as billable time automatically, and markets that time previously lost is now billed, but nothing published addresses the lawyer's duty to bill only for time actually spent when entries are logged by machine.
AI Governance and Bias Disclosure
Published governance over model behavior: who owns it inside the vendor, what is tested before release, and what is disclosed about disparate output across matter types, parties, or populations.
No AI governance framework, accountable owner, testing before release or bias disclosure is published; the Content Policy governs what users may post, not how the models are governed.
AI Safety and Data Stewardship
Retention, deletion, access control, and what happens to prompts and documents after they are processed. Whether the vendor states its subprocessors and its incident practice, or leaves the buyer to assume.
The Security page describes encryption in transit and at rest, access controls and audit logging around systems that process firm data, and hosting in the United States. The trust center at trycandleai.trust.site, powered by Sprinto, publishes control status, a subprocessor list with the service each provides and its hosting region (Google Workspace, AWS and Google Cloud Identity, all in the USA), and a managed process for requesting security documents.
Under the Terms of Service, Candle keeps User Data for 30 days after termination and may then delete it; the Privacy Policy, effective 4 June 2026, keeps personal information as long as reasonably necessary, with no period. No retention period during the term and no incident notification commitment are published.
AI Liability and Recourse
What the vendor stands behind contractually when its output is wrong. Indemnities, caps, carve outs, insurance, and whether any of it is published or only reachable through a negotiated agreement.
The Terms of Service cap Candle's liability at the amounts paid or payable in the preceding 12 months, provide all results as is and disclaim the accuracy of AI generated output. They include no indemnity from Candle, have the user indemnify Candle, and bar class actions. Delaware law governs, and disputes go to the courts of Delaware.
Practice Systems Integration Depth
How deeply the product reaches into the systems legal work already lives in: document management such as iManage and NetDocuments, Word and Outlook, contract lifecycle management, matter management, e-billing, and court filing systems.
Candle runs inside Gmail and Outlook and connects to Clio, Filevine, MyCase, Docketwise, Mitratech INSZoom, Visalaw, Litify and Salesforce, reading client, matter, deadline and correspondence data into the inbox and, through Candle Work, writing record updates, filing documents to the matter and logging activity once a user approves. Partnership posts describe the direction for several: the MyCase post of 27 April 2026 says "Everything you do then syncs back to MyCase automatically"; Filevine (5 June 2026) and INSZoom (16 June 2026) log emails and time to the matter; DocketWise (19 June 2026) drafts emails, creates tasks and logs communications from Gmail or Outlook; and the Clio connection brings matter, contact and case details into Gmail or Outlook.
Candle Work connects other systems through MCP. The Privacy Policy lists the Google access Candle requests: Gmail read, modify and metadata scopes, Pub/Sub and Drive read. Smokeball, Neostella, iManage and NetDocuments are listed as coming soon. No technical documentation describes what each connector syncs in detail or what a firm must configure.
Deployment Model and Data Residency
Where the software runs and where the data sits. Multi tenant cloud, single tenant, private deployment, on premises, and whether region of residence is a published option or an enterprise conversation.
The Security page says customer data is hosted in the United States and that the subprocessor list identifies each provider's hosting region; Candle's trust center lists Google Workspace, AWS and Google Cloud Identity, all in the USA. The product runs as a Chrome extension and an Outlook add-in on top of the firm's existing email. No residency option, private deployment or tenancy choice is offered, and the terms say the service is intended only for users in the United States.
Security Certifications and Trust Center
Independent attestation a buyer can pull without a sales call: SOC 2, ISO 27001, penetration test summaries, a trust center with current reports and named scope rather than a badge image.
A completed SOC 2 Type II examination and maintained HIPAA compliance are stated on Candle's Security page. The trust center, powered by Sprinto, marks SOC 2 and HIPAA as Compliant, publishes control status and offers supporting documents through a managed request process. No auditor, report period or scope is stated.
Model Supply Chain Disclosure
Which models sit underneath, whose they are, where they run, and whether the vendor commits to telling customers when that changes. A legal buyer inherits every dependency it cannot see.
Mention of Candle's models on the Security page comes with no named model, model provider or processing location. The Privacy Policy lists AI model inference providers among its vendors without naming any, and the subprocessors in the trust center, AWS, Google Workspace and Google Cloud Identity, include no AI model provider. No commitment to notify customers of model changes is published.
Commercial Transparency
Whether a buyer can learn what this costs without entering a sales process: published rates, the unit being charged, what sits behind an enterprise tier, and what implementation adds.
The product FAQ says: "Candle is priced per user, per month, with plans based on team size and an annual Candle Work task pool included in every plan. Each plan starts with a free trial against your firm's real inbox. Book a demo for current pricing." Candle's listing in the Clio App Directory, where Candle is the seller, states pricing starting at $49 per month in US dollars, and its link to view all plans leads to a demo request.
Capterra lists a Starter plan at $59.00 per user per month, not confirmed by the vendor. The Terms of Service renew subscriptions monthly unless canceled and allow price changes on 30 days' notice. The company's own site publishes no figure, and higher tiers are not stated.
Firm and Practice Coverage
Who the product is actually built for. AmLaw, midlaw, small firm and solo, in house departments, government and courts, and which practice areas are supported rather than merely claimed.
The buyer is law firms, across practice areas, with the customer list and integrations showing a particular base in immigration and personal injury work. At ABA TECHSHOW 2026, Candle was described as an "email intelligence layer built specifically for small and mid-sized law firms". The terms say the service is intended only for users in the United States. Firm size limits beyond that description and practice areas the product does not suit are not stated.
3 public documents
The public pages on file for Candle AI, with the recorded signals each one supports and the date it was last read. Open any of them and check the reading against the record.
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trycandle.ai/terms-of-service3 signals
Prompt and Output Retention, Third Party Request and Subpoena Notice, Bar Guidance Alignment
Read Oct 7, 2026
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trycandle.ai/security2 signals
Client Data in Training, Outside Counsel Guideline Readiness
Read Sep 22, 2026
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Fabricated Citation Record
Read Sep 22, 2026
From $49 per month
- Candle's listing in the Clio app store says plans start at $49 a month, without saying whether that is per person or for the whole firm.
- Candle's own FAQ says it charges per person per month, with plans based on team size, but shows no prices and asks you to book a demo.
- Every plan starts with a free trial on your firm's real inbox.
- Plans renew every month unless you cancel, and Candle can change prices with 30 days' notice.
- The link to see all the plans on the Clio listing goes to the demo page.
Clio App Directory listing, where Candle is the seller: "Starting at $49 per month USD". The listing's "View all plans" link resolves to Candle's demo request page, and trycandle.ai publishes no figure. The product FAQ says Candle is priced per user, per month, with plans based on team size and an annual Candle Work task pool included in every plan, and that each plan starts with a free trial against the firm's real inbox. Capterra lists a Starter plan at $59.00 per user per month, not confirmed by the vendor. Higher tiers are not stated.
Implementation: None published.
Confidentiality and data terms: The Security page states HIPAA compliance and the trust center marks HIPAA compliant. The Terms of Service say a customer that is a HIPAA covered entity signs Candle's Business Associate Agreement separately; the agreement and any plan tier for it are not published.
Note: The only price the vendor publishes is on Candle's Clio App Directory listing. The listing's link to view all plans leads to a demo request on Candle's site, which publishes no figure, so the figure may not reflect current plans. Subscriptions renew monthly unless canceled before the month ends, and the Terms of Service allow price changes on 30 days' notice, without changing the price for the current month.
Legal Signals
What each signal meansA signal records what public sources say on the date shown. It is not a grade and it is not a recommendation. Where a signal reads Not addressed, it means the index did not locate the material in public sources on that date, which is a statement about disclosure rather than about the product.
Client Data in Training
Can material a lawyer puts into this product be used to train a model?
A public policy or trust page states no training on customer content, with no matching term located in the published agreement.
The Security page states that a firm's emails, matter details and client information are never used to train Candle's models or models for another customer. The Terms of Service, effective 5 June 2026, contain a narrower covenant: privileged information in user data will not be used as input to, or to train, any AI model other than Candle's. They also reserve Candle an irrevocable right to compile anonymous aggregated statistics from user data, which it may make public.
Prompt and Output Retention
How long does the product keep what a lawyer typed, and can that be set to zero?
Retention is acknowledged in public materials with no stated period.
Under the Terms of Service, effective 5 June 2026, Candle keeps User Data for 30 days after termination, after which it has no obligation to keep it and may delete it. The Privacy Policy, effective 4 June 2026, keeps personal information as long as reasonably necessary, with no period. The Security page, the terms, the Privacy Policy and the trust center publish no retention period during the term and no customer control over how long email content, drafts or matter data are kept.
Ethical Walls and Matter Segregation
Does retrieval respect the firm’s ethical walls, or can the model read across them?
No located public material addresses walls or matter level segregation.
Access controls are mentioned generally on the Security page, but nothing there, on the Product page or in the terms addresses whether Candle respects ethical walls or matter permissions set in the connected case management systems when it surfaces context or drafts.
Third Party Request and Subpoena Notice
If someone subpoenas the vendor for a firm’s data, does the firm hear about it first?
Terms commit to notice where lawfully permitted. No transparency report located.
The Terms of Service, effective 5 June 2026, let either party disclose Confidential Information to comply with a court or government order or applicable law only after giving the other party written notice and making a reasonable effort to obtain a protective order. The terms define Confidential Information broadly without naming User Data. The Privacy Policy, effective 4 June 2026, reserves disclosure to comply with legal obligations, including to respond to a subpoena, warrant, court order or other legal process, or a formal or informal request from law enforcement or a government authority, with no notice term of its own.
Primary Law Corpus Provenance
Where does the law in this product come from, and does the vendor have the right to use it?
No located public material identifies the corpus behind the product’s answers.
The product works on the firm's own email and case management data, and no body of primary law behind its output is identified on the home or Product pages.
Good Law Verification
Does the product tell you when the authority it just cited has been overruled?
No located public material addresses whether authority is checked for subsequent history.
The product drafts correspondence from matter data rather than citing legal authority, and nothing on the home or Product pages addresses checking authority for later history.
Refusal and Uncertainty Behavior
What does the product do when the answer is not in the corpus?
No located public material addresses what the product does when it cannot ground an answer.
Every draft and proposed action waits for approval, but the home, Product and Security pages describe no confidence indicator and no path in which the system declines to draft when the matter data is insufficient.
Fabricated Citation Record
Does a public court record exist addressing fabricated or hallucinated legal citations in output from this product?
No court order, opinion or disciplinary record addressing fabricated or hallucinated legal citations produced by this product has been located as of the date shown. This is a statement about the public record on that one subject, not a finding about the product, and this signal is not a litigation history.
The AI Hallucination Cases database maintained by Damien Charlotin records no case naming Candle, and no court order, opinion or disciplinary record naming the product is on the public record. This is a statement about the public record rather than a finding about the product.
Bar Guidance Alignment
Has the vendor engaged in public with the ethics opinions its buyers are bound by?
Public materials refer to professional responsibility in general terms without naming guidance.
The Terms of Service state that the provision of the Platform does not constitute the practice of law and is not intended to be a substitute for professional legal advice, and that output should not be relied on as a source of truth or as a substitute for professional or legal advice. No bar or ethics opinion is named.
Billing and Fee Posture
Does the vendor address what happens to the bill when the work takes an hour instead of six?
Public materials claim time savings without addressing billing or disclosure, and the product sits inside a fee relationship between a lawyer and a client where those savings would change the bill.
The product logs every email read, drafted and sent as billable time and activity automatically, and the company markets it as turning time that used to be lost into time that is billed, with an hour saved per person per day. Nothing addresses how time logged by machine should be reviewed before it reaches a client's invoice, or what the client is told; the time log is a record of work, not a record of which output the AI produced.
Outside Counsel Guideline Readiness
Can a firm get this vendor through a client’s AI clause without a bespoke negotiation?
A current subprocessor or model provider list is published.
The Security page says a current public subprocessor list, with each provider's service and hosting region, is kept in the trust center, and that list names AWS, Google Workspace and Google Cloud Identity, all in the USA. No AI model provider appears among them, although the Privacy Policy names AI model inference providers as a vendor category, and no client facing disclosure pack on AI use is published.
Court Disclosure Support
If a judge’s standing order requires an AI disclosure, can the product produce one?
No located public material addresses court disclosure or verification certification.
The home, Product and Security pages describe no record of AI involvement in a filed document, no export of that record and no disclosure guidance.