AI workflows for legal research.

Planning research on a legal question, comparing the authorities and checking every citation in the draft against its source.

Who does this work

  • Associate attorney
  • Research attorney
  • Law librarian

3 workflow templates ready to adapt, and 3 workflows identified.

Updated

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Examples of the workflows identified
  1. Check citations in a draft against their sources
  2. Compare legal authorities on a defined question
  3. Plan the research for a legal question

The workflows identified

Check citations in a draft against their sourcesA worksheet or corrected reference list linking each citation to its source record, with duplicates, mismatches and outstanding checks listed. Prepares work for a lawyer. Not legal advice.Workflow templateCompare legal authorities on a defined questionA source-linked comparison of holdings or operative text, procedural context, contrary material and unresolved differences. Prepares work for a lawyer. Not legal advice.Workflow templatePlan the research for a legal questionA research plan listing issues, jurisdiction, sources to consult, suggested queries and gaps in work already done. Prepares work for a lawyer. Not legal advice.Workflow template

Workflow templates

Authority comparison tableFrom the opinions, statutes and regulations counsel selected, and only those, the researching lawyer gets one side-by-side table: each authority's court, date, stated issue, operative words, posture and separate opinions, quoted with pinpoints, and a list of every quotation to check. The lawyer decides what applies. Prepares work for a lawyer. Not legal advice.Workflow templateCitation and quotation checkBefore a draft is filed or relied on, the associate or paralegal has one worksheet: every citation, quotation and record cite counted, then set against the sources supplied, and every good-law check left for the lawyer. No result calls anything confirmed; each says only what was compared. Prepares work for a lawyer. Not legal advice.Workflow templateResearch plan for counselBefore an associate or paralegal starts on a partner's research question, they hold a one-to-two-page plan: the question split into sub-questions, the stated facts against each, the firm's own notes to read first, where to search and with what terms, and the gaps. Leads, not authorities: nothing is named from memory. Prepares work for a lawyer. Not legal advice.Workflow template

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Where to go next

All of litigation and disputesThe broader area this belongs to, with its workflows.All of legal and contractsEvery area of the function, with workflow templates and examples.Map your team in the PlannerPut this work in your plan, with the roles that do it.

Also within litigation and disputes

Other areas of legal and contracts