Overview
Practice areas have been replaced. You no longer choose a practice area before you research, and there's no longer a detect mode that chooses one for you. Instead you pick a jurisdiction and an optional focus area for a conversation, and Nylon searches across the whole library for that jurisdiction to find the right authority wherever it sits.
Every plan now includes all areas of law in multiple jurisdictions, so nothing is locked behind a practice-area purchase.
Choosing a focus area
You now have more choice to direct Nylon to where you want it to look.
Open the focus-area selector from the chat box. It has two columns: jurisdiction on the left (for example New Zealand, Australia, the UK and Global) and focus areas on the right.
Pick a jurisdiction on the left.
Optionally, pick a focus area on the right, or leave it on "All Focus Areas".
Some Australian focus areas let you further choose a specific State, or search across all.
Ask your question. Your choice applies to that conversation.
Recently Used, also lets you find your favourite and commonly used Focus Areas in the future.
Searching the selector
Start typing and the two columns collapse into a single result list. Search spans both columns:
Type a country (e.g. Australia) to see that jurisdiction's focus areas.
Type an area (e.g. Criminal) to see it paired with each jurisdiction it exists in.
Each row is a complete choice, so one tap sets both the jurisdiction and the focus area.
Why we made this change
Choosing a practice area up front, needed for earlier versions of our underlying LLM, but meant guessing where an issue belonged, which was hard for questions that span more than one area. Now the AI cross-references everything for your jurisdiction, so it can surface the right source even when a matter crosses several areas. Selecting a focus area directs Nylon in the direction you want, without limiting access.
What is global
Global lets you do a search across Australian, NZ and UK law and will provide comparisons of the law in each country.
Frequently asked questions
Q: What happened to practice areas?
A: They're gone as a selection. You no longer pick one to research, and you no longer buy them separately — all areas are included on every plan. You choose a jurisdiction and focus area for a conversation instead.
Q: Is there still a detect mode?
A: No. Because the AI searches across everything, there's nothing to detect. Focus areas provide guidance to Nylon of where to look, but are not exlcusionary.
Q: I don't want Nylon to reference specific Acts or types of documents
A: You can still use the Library feature in the left side-panel to toggle sources and source types on and off for a more specialised search.
Q: Can I research more than one jurisdiction at once?
A: You set one jurisdiction per conversation. Change the jurisdiction, or start a new conversation, to research another.
Q: Will my saved work change?
A: No. Your history and folders are unchanged.
Troubleshooting
I can't find my old practice area
Practice areas have been replaced. Open the focus-area selector, choose your jurisdiction and focus area, and ask your question as normal — the area you used before is included.
Still stuck?
Get in touch via the chat widget in-app or email [email protected] and we'll help.
Last updated: June 2026