Legal research is essential but time-consuming. AI accelerates the synthesis stage.
How to use AI for research:
- Use traditional legal databases (Westlaw, LexisNexis) to find relevant cases
- Paste case summaries or headnotes into AI
- Prompt: ‘Summarize the holding and reasoning of each case. Identify the common thread. How do these cases apply to my situation: [describe facts]?’
What AI does well: Synthesizing multiple cases, identifying patterns, explaining reasoning in plain language, suggesting related legal concepts to research.
What AI does not do reliably: Cite specific cases accurately (hallucination risk is real). Never rely on AI for citations — always verify in your legal database.
Best use: AI is your research synthesizer, not your researcher.