How a German Lawyer Works with Zeno

At the German desk of Dutch law firm Damsté, German lawyer Lena Broszeit has been testing Zeno on German legal matters every day, from analysing cases to preparing court filings.

Lawyers hold their AI tools to the highest standard on the market, because the responsibility never moves. “At the end of the day, when I'm standing in court, it's me who has to defend every legal opinion—not AI,” Broszeit says. Zeno earned its place in her workday. Here is what makes the difference.

Every claim links to a source you can verify.

Nothing undermines a lawyer's trust faster than a citation that doesn't hold up. "I cannot file a lawsuit basing my legal opinion on a source that doesn’t exist," Broszeit says. She checks every citation she relies on, and Zeno's source references are built for exactly that: every claim links directly to the legal source behind it, with the exact passage highlighted. Those references come from a structured database of German legal sources, making verification fast and reliable.

What once meant spending hours locating and navigating lengthy court decisions now takes seconds.

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"To have the opportunity to just click on the citation and see where the exact source is mentioned, that's the biggest help of all. I can really see in seconds where Zeno found the source and evaluate if it's right and correct. That has a huge impact on the efficiency of my work."

Reasoning you can follow, step by step

Zeno reasons in the open, showing each step while it analyses. "I like that you can actually see what Zeno is doing. It tells you when it's looking for legislation, searching for sources or analysing a document. You can follow its whole line of reasoning."

That transparency allows a lawyer to apply their own judgment at every step rather than only at the end. "I can immediately see if it's taking a direction I wouldn't take - or if it finds something I hadn't considered."

A second perspective on every case

Zeno is designed to think alongside a lawyer, not instead of one. Broszeit always analyses her files herself and runs Zeno in parallel. "In case I'm missing something and it catches something I haven't seen, or the other way around." Every file gets her read, and a second look from Zeno, to ensure she doesn’t miss anything.

The biggest impact, Broszeit says, is strengthening legal arguments with Zeno. "For me the biggest impact has been on constructing arguments. Zeno can analyse a story and translate it into a legal perspective."

Every case arrives as a story: the facts, the parties involved and the client´s objectives. Turning that story into a legal position is the craft of the job, and Broszeit sharpens hers by testing it against another perspective. “Zeno offers me a fresh perspective on my cases. I know my client and the facts of the case best, so I'm ultimately the one who decides on the right strategy. Still, it's incredibly helpful to get alternative viewpoints that broaden my thinking, strengthen my decision-making and my arguments.”

Personalised to each lawyer's way of working

Zeno adapts to the lawyer, not the other way around. Broszeit has set it up around her own practice: her folders, her files, her preferences, her writing style. " I can personalise it a lot. I have my own folders, I can organise all my files, and if I need a Word document, I can transfer Zeno's answer immediately."

The output sounds like her, not like AI. "I can ask it to write a statement in my style, and it will phrase the statement the way I need it." That personalisation extends across languages: working daily in Dutch, German and English, her desk relies on Zeno for native drafting rather than literal translation. "'Can you write this in Dutch' is a totally different prompt when using Zeno. Zeno will write it in a way a Dutch lawyer would."

It's what transforms sceptical lawyers into everyday (Zeno) users. “Zeno did earn my trust because of the personalisation, because of all the outcome I got.”

Built so the judgment stays with the lawyer

Every design choice above serves one principle: the professional judgment remains central. Zeno supports the lawyer who must know the case, the documents and the law in detail. Broszeit’ s way of working matches it exactly: "I don't have Zeno in court. So, I think the most important part is to use it as a teammate, as someone who's helping and supporting, but not replacing."

That matters to her clients as much as to her. "By the end of the day, law depends on many, many details in one case. Not one case is like the other. And it is important that a lawyer has an eye on the output and works with AI as a help and not a replacement." The final check is always hers: "Zeno tells me where to check, but at the end of the day, I'm the one who verifies everything and decides on how to finalize a document."

That is the teammate lawyers want to keep.

Zeno is now available in Germany, with structured German legal sources behind every reference. Curious what Zeno could look like in your practice? Get in touch.