Step 3 — Review, Edit & Citation Checks

Drafting produced a document; now you review it. Review is the third step in the matter workflow — client → matter → outline → draft → review → export — and the place where your judgment shapes the filing. You read each section, edit or rewrite where it falls short, confirm the authorities, and mark the work reviewed. Nothing leaves your office until you say it does.

Where review fits on the matter

Review is a node on the Matter Progress strip at the top of the matter workspace: Outline → Draft → Review → Drafts ready. Once a draft comes back in sections, the Review node lights up as in-progress, and the matter header tells you how many drafts still need attention — for example, "1 needs review."

A draft that is ready for your eyes carries a Review badge in the matter's "Documents created for this matter" list. The badge means the draft has sections to work through but hasn't yet been finalized into a Word document.

You reach the review screen two ways, and both land in the same place:

• From the matter — click the draft with the Review badge.
• From the progress strip — click the Review node. If one draft is awaiting review, it opens directly; if several are, you pick which one.

Either path opens the review screen at /drafty/revision-workflow/.

Section-by-section review

Your draft is laid out as sections — the petition's argument headings, the cover letter's parts, the brief's points. You work through them in whatever order suits you. For each section you can:

• Read the generated text along with any citations and supporting sources tied to it.
• Edit the text directly when it needs a light touch — a name, a date, a turn of phrase.
• Rewrite with AI assistance when a section needs a different approach, then accept or refine the result.
• Mark it reviewed once it reflects your work.

Every section starts Pending and moves to Reviewed as you approve it. There is no forced order — you control the pace, skip ahead, and circle back as often as you need. When you've worked through them, Mark All as Reviewed clears the remaining sections in one step. The matter's Review node shows your progress the whole way through.

Confirming citations

When a draft cites case law or a statute, DraftyAI checks each citation against its verified legal sources. Rather than interrupting the draft to ask, it lets the draft finish and brings the results to you here in review: the authorities the draft relied on are listed in the document's table of authorities, and any the automatic check couldn't confirm are flagged there for a closer look. Treat this as a review aid, not a guarantee — a prompt to look closely, never a sign-off on accuracy.

The check is deliberately pinpoint-tolerant: a citation found under a slightly different form is treated as a match, not failed over a different page or format. What it can't confirm — a citation it couldn't locate in the sources, or one an automatic check couldn't complete — is what's flagged for you to read closely: confirm it's correct as written, or replace it with the accurate one.

This is the one thing to hold onto: you must independently verify every authority and every fact in the finished draft — whether or not the gate flagged it. Immigration filings turn on precision. A wrong citation, a missing pinpoint, or an inaccurate fact can derail a case, and a citation that passes a check has not been verified by you until you've read it. The check helps you find issues; you make every final call.

Deeper editing in the Document Improvement Studio

When a draft needs more than section-level edits — tightening prose, strengthening an argument, smoothing consistency across a long brief — open the Document Improvement Studio from the matter's "Improve a document" action (route /ai/document-studio). Upload or paste the document, then use AI-assisted, paragraph-level refinement to polish and improve it. You review each suggested change and accept or reject it, so nothing changes without your approval. The improved document saves back to the matter alongside your other artifacts.

RFE, NOID, and NOIR matters verify in their own flow

Responses to a USCIS notice — Request for Evidence, Notice of Intent to Deny, or Notice of Intent to Revoke — don't use this review screen. They run inside the Notice Response Builder, which carries its own Verification step in sequence: Notice → Issues → Evidence → Draft → Verification → Export. Verification runs automated checks for issues without linked evidence, unlinked exhibits, and similar gaps before you finalize. For how that flow works end to end, see Specialized Matter Types.

Important: you review and own every filing

DraftyAI accelerates drafting — it does not replace your review or your judgment. Read every section. Confirm or correct every flagged citation, and verify the ones that weren't flagged. Check the facts, then read the full document before it leaves your office. The draft is a starting point; the filing is yours to review, edit, and stand behind.

When the document reflects your work and every section is reviewed, you're ready to produce the final Word file — see Step 4 — Export Your Filing.

DraftyAI accelerates drafting; it is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. You review, edit, and are solely responsible for every document you file.