Ask a plain-English question. Get an answer built on the actual legislation and decided cases — with traceable citations — across NSW, QLD and VIC. Then auto-draft a submission from the research.
Sopal's AI is trained and constrained to security-of-payment law. It will not drift into general contract principles or make things up to fill a gap — it tells you when authority is limited or unclear.
Every proposition is linked to a legislative provision or a real decided case. You can click through to the source — Sopal does not fabricate case names, section numbers, or outcomes.
Once the research is done, Sopal can auto-draft a structured written submission — arguments organised, authority cited, ready for you to review and refine before lodging.
General-purpose large language models — ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and others — are impressive at many tasks, but they are poorly suited to legal research in a specialist area like security of payment. The failure modes are specific and serious.
General AI models frequently fabricate plausible-sounding case citations: real-looking party names, real-looking court references, real-sounding outcomes. In legal practice this is not a minor annoyance — it is a professional liability risk. Submitting a written case before an adjudicator or a court that cites a case that does not exist is, at minimum, acutely embarrassing. Sopal's AI only cites authority that exists in its verified corpus.
The SOP legislation differs materially between Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Claim notice periods, adjudication application windows, the definition of "construction work", and the treatment of excluded amounts all vary. A general model trained on the open web may blend jurisdictions, cite superseded provisions, or omit jurisdiction-specific nuance entirely. Sopal tracks the current legislation for each jurisdiction and keeps its corpus current.
A significant body of SOP authority sits in adjudication decisions — not in reported court judgments. General AI has no access to this material. Sopal's Queensland adjudication database covers 7,300+ decisions and the AI research draws on that corpus as well as court judgments from NSW, QLD and VIC.
Even when a general model produces accurate research, you are left to translate it into a structured submission yourself. Sopal closes that loop — the research feeds directly into a submission drafting step, with arguments organised under the correct heads and authority cited in the right places.
Type your question as you would ask a colleague. Sopal searches the legislation and case law corpus, assembles the relevant authority, and returns a structured answer with every claim linked to a source.
Type the issue you are working on in plain English. There is no special syntax to learn. You might ask something like "Can a payment claim be served after practical completion under the QLD BIF Act?" or "What is required for a payment schedule to effectively dispute an amount in NSW?" The AI understands the legal context and identifies the precise issues raised by your question.
Sopal returns a structured answer that identifies the operative legislative provisions, summarises the relevant case law, and applies both to your question. Critically, every proposition is sourced — legislation is cited to the specific Act and, where known, the relevant provision; cases are cited with their decision reference so you can locate and read the source material yourself. The AI also flags where the law is genuinely unsettled or where different outcomes have been reached in different jurisdictions.
Research is iterative. You can ask follow-up questions in the same session — drilling into a specific case, asking about a factual variant, or testing an opposing argument. The AI maintains the thread of the conversation and keeps its answers grounded in the same verified corpus throughout.
When you are satisfied with the research, Sopal can generate a draft written submission structured for the relevant SOP process — whether that is an adjudication application, an adjudication response, or a supporting document. The draft is organised under the appropriate heads, cites the authority identified in the research, and is designed as a starting point for your professional review and refinement. It is not a final product — it is a first draft that eliminates the blank-page problem and gives you something concrete to work with.
Sopal's AI operates under a set of hard constraints designed to make it reliable enough for professional use — not perfect, but transparent about its limits.
Sopal's AI research is built on a curated, verified corpus specific to security-of-payment law. Understanding what is and is not included helps you use the tool appropriately and interpret its answers correctly.
| Jurisdiction | Legislation | Court judgments | Adjudication decisions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queensland | Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (BIF Act) and predecessor Acts | Yes — Supreme Court and Court of Appeal | Yes — 7,300+ decisions (searchable via Adjudication Search) |
| New South Wales | Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 | Yes — Supreme Court and Court of Appeal | Not individually indexed — key decisions referenced via court judgments |
| Victoria | Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 | Yes — Supreme Court and Court of Appeal | Not individually indexed — key decisions referenced via court judgments |
| South Australia | Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009 | Limited | Not covered |
The corpus is updated on an ongoing basis. Where the AI's knowledge of a particular decision or legislative amendment may be incomplete, it will tell you so. You should always verify the current version of the relevant Act directly from the official legislation website for your jurisdiction before relying on a specific provision.
Sopal's AI research is not a substitute for general construction law advice. It does not cover: general contract law principles not specific to SOP; building defects claims; variations and quantum disputes outside a SOP context; building licensing and insurance; workplace health and safety; or any matter in a jurisdiction other than NSW, QLD and VIC. For those questions, you will need a construction lawyer.
Compress the research phase on adjudication applications, responses, and related court proceedings. Surface cases you might not have found, validate the ones you have, and get to a draft submission faster — particularly useful for time-pressured SOP work where the application or response window is tight.
Use as a rapid scoping tool when briefed on a SOP matter. Identify the key issues quickly, check whether there is binding or persuasive authority on a contested point, and access the Queensland adjudication record — a body of material that is otherwise difficult to search systematically.
For developers, head contractors, and construction groups with in-house legal teams, the AI research tool provides a cost-effective way to handle routine SOP questions internally and to triage which matters warrant external advice.
SOP legislation has a direct impact on the day-to-day work of QSs and CAs — particularly on payment claim and schedule requirements. The research tool helps you understand what the legislation actually requires in your jurisdiction, without needing to brief a lawyer for every question.
AI research and the Queensland Adjudication Decision Search are complementary tools. They answer different questions.
The Adjudication Search is best when you want to find specific decisions — by adjudicator, by issue type, by jurisdiction, by outcome. It lets you read the full text of 7,300+ Queensland decisions and understand how individual adjudicators have approached particular fact patterns. It is a primary-source tool for practitioners who want to read the actual decisions.
The AI Research tool is best when you have a legal question and want an answer — synthesised from the legislation and decided cases, organised by issue, with the relevant authority surfaced for you rather than requiring you to find and read every decision yourself. It is a research synthesis tool.
In practice, many users start with the AI research to identify the applicable law and key authority, then use the Adjudication Search to pull and read the specific decisions flagged by the research. Both tools are included in Sopal Research and in Sopal Plus.
The information and research outputs produced by Sopal's AI research feature are general information only and do not constitute legal advice. They are provided to assist legal professionals and construction industry participants in identifying relevant law and authority — they do not substitute for professional judgment about how that law applies to the facts of a specific matter.
Sopal takes reasonable care to ensure its corpus is accurate and current, but legislation changes, courts hand down new decisions, and the law develops. You should always verify the current version of the relevant Act in your jurisdiction from the official source, and confirm that any case cited by the AI remains good law and has not been overturned or distinguished on relevant grounds.
If you are not a lawyer and are dealing with a live SOP dispute of significant value, we recommend engaging a construction lawyer who can advise on the specific facts of your matter.
General-purpose AI models are trained on broad internet data and have no access to specialised legal corpora. They frequently fabricate case citations — generating plausible-sounding but non-existent case names and references. They also lack access to the Queensland adjudication decision database, which contains a significant body of SOP-specific authority not found in reported court judgments. Sopal's AI only cites authority that exists in its verified corpus, tells you when it does not know, and is constrained to SOP-specific law rather than drifting into general legal principles.
The AI research covers New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria — including the current legislation in each jurisdiction and court judgments. For Queensland, it also draws on the 7,300+ adjudication decision database. South Australia is covered by Sopal Projects for calculators and document tools, but the AI case-law research does not currently extend to SA adjudication decisions or court judgments.
Sopal only cites cases that exist in its verified corpus — it does not invent citations. However, you should still verify every citation you intend to rely on professionally. Check that the case exists, that you have correctly understood the AI's summary of it, and that it has not been overturned or significantly qualified by a later decision. The AI is a research starting point, not a final authority check.
The AI research is strongest on questions that are well-defined issues of SOP law: payment claim validity requirements, what must be included in a payment schedule, the grounds on which an adjudication application can be challenged, the effect of a failure to serve a payment schedule, jurisdictional issues in adjudication, and so on. It is less suited to questions that require detailed analysis of a specific set of facts, or questions that turn on documents it has not been given (such as the specific contract between the parties).
After the AI completes its research on your question, you can prompt it to generate a draft written submission. The draft is structured for the relevant SOP process — adjudication application or response — with arguments organised under appropriate heads and the authority identified in the research incorporated. The draft is designed as a professional starting point: it eliminates the blank-page problem and organises the arguments, but it is not a finished product. You should review it carefully, adapt it to the specific facts of your matter, and apply your own professional judgment before lodging.
The AI research feature is part of Sopal Research ($89.95/month or $799.95/year) and Sopal Plus ($149.95/month or $1,299.95/year). It is not included in Sopal Projects, which is focused on payment claim and schedule tools for contractors and subcontractors. All plans include a 14-day free trial.
Sopal updates its corpus on an ongoing basis as new decisions are handed down and legislative amendments are made. However, given the pace of legislative change and the volume of cases decided, there may be a lag between a significant new decision and its incorporation into the corpus. The AI will flag where its knowledge of a particular area may be incomplete. You should always verify the current version of the relevant Act directly from the official legislation source for your jurisdiction before relying on a specific provision.
Yes — Sopal Research is used by construction lawyers, barristers, in-house counsel, quantity surveyors, contract administrators, and construction professionals generally. You do not need to be a lawyer to use the tool. However, the outputs are general information only and do not constitute legal advice. If you are dealing with a live dispute of significant value, we recommend engaging a construction lawyer who can advise on the specific facts of your matter.
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