Can You Use AI for Legal Research?
In today’s digital world, there’s a seemingly endless amount of legal information published every day – everything from court opinions, government agency materials, statutes, and regulations, to books, practice guides, law reviews, legal white papers, and news. And while much of this information may be available online, scouring the internet to determine which documents and sources are most accurate, current, and trustworthy can often leave attorneys unsure and looking for peace of mind.
“There’s so much to review and you have a limited amount of time to do the research,” said Golriz Chrostowski, a Bloomberg Law legal analyst. “To make sure that you’ve covered your bases and found the very best case law to support your case is a daunting task.”
AI for legal professionals can offer additional support and enable them to be more efficient and strategic, and ultimately offer more value to their clients.
Can AI do legal research?
Yes. Lawyers can use AI for legal research to quickly comb through large sets of data so they can focus on gathering insights from the information that matters most. AI technology has the potential to shift through much more legal data than a human can in the same amount of time, increasing the speed and breadth of research that can be done under tight deadlines or heavy workloads. AI tools can make the legal research process more efficient and effective, especially when it comes to tasks such as writing briefs or preparing oral arguments.
The best AI for legal research leverages technologies such as natural language processing and machine learning to understand and interpret human language rather than just read it. These AI tools can take in massive amounts of data from multiple sources and then almost instantaneously create an original response to a user prompt based on that data. This can help lawyers find new angles, interpretations, or case law to support their argument. Ultimately, legal AI tools help users find those key pieces of information they’re looking for – those needles in a haystack that will help them craft a strong winning argument.
What are the risks to using AI for legal research?
Not all AI software is created specifically for the legal field. When AI is used improperly for legal work, the resulting professional risks can be serious.
AI can’t replace human expertise and judgment
With enhanced speed and time savings come one of the biggest risks of AI legal research tools: that people will rely on them entirely instead of using the tool to enhance their existing legal expertise, judgment, and experience. Chrostowski cautions that such productivity tools for lawyers can’t fully replace the human insights and instincts developed through firsthand practice.
“Do the research, and then feed whatever your question is through AI and use it as a gut check,” Chrostowski said. “It’s another set of eyes. It can’t be the beginning and the end of your legal research. It can just be something to supplement what you’ve done.”
Hallucinations can undermine your case
Hallucinations, the phenomena by which AI chatbots confidently provide false information in response to a prompt, are a major ethics concern for legal professionals. However, this risk can be mitigated by using authoritative AI legal research tools that have appropriate parameters in place, such as providing the source of the information used to inform the AI’s response to a user prompt.
“To have the benefit of a starting point – you ask a question, it gives you the sources – that’s the benefit [of AI],” Chrostowski said. “It’s not the end of research, you have to read those cases. But it’s giving you that starting point.”
How is AI used in litigation?
“As a litigator, the research is the basis for it all,” Chrostowski said. “From the very beginning, we’re researching the case law that pertains to our case.”
Because of the complexities and demands of their work, attorneys tend to rely on a variety of research, including court opinions that may support their arguments, materials from similar federal or state cases, comparing state-level legal standards, and the background and history of the presiding judge or opposing counsel. Bloomberg Law’s Litigation Analytics tool in particular uses AI to streamline litigation preparation.
“It’s a really helpful tool to parse out all of the cases that the judge you’re in front of has issued on a particular point or a proposition that you’re arguing,” Chrostowski said.
For instance, if an attorney were preparing to argue an appeal in front of five judges with varying backgrounds, the attorney could ask about what those five named judges could potentially ask on appeal. The tool would use all the data available to it, such as past cases the judge has overseen, to generate a list of questions the attorney could then use to better prepare for oral arguments.
“It’s another creative way to use the tool, without relying on it entirely,” Chrostowski said. “It would have taken the associate weeks to review all of the opinions of these judges and come up with questions. But now you have the added benefit of reviewing another set of questions that could be asked.”
Is there an AI that helps with legal matters?
Yes. Bloomberg Law’s Brief Analyzer employs machine learning to streamline the traditional brief analysis process. This AI-powered legal tool automates tedious legal review tasks such as checking legal citations, whether in your own draft or that of an opponent’s, and then finding additional relevant content such as case law to include, with explanations of the reasoning for the suggestions. Simply upload the opposing side’s brief into the tool, and Brief Analyzer will generate a report of the cited authorities and arguments contained in the brief.
Simply upload a brief to view a side-by-side comparison of the brief and AI-generated analysis of its arguments and citations. Brief Analyzer will point you directly to Points of Law and Practical Guidance to jump-start your research.
Is there an AI for legal questions?
Yes. Built within Bloomberg Law’s top legal intelligence platform, our Points of Law feature pinpoints the best case for a particular legal question so you can quickly find the right precedents to strengthen your argument. This can enhance a legal researcher’s efficiency and prevent them from missing key, relevant documents while also minimizing research errors.
Get your bearings on an issue before diving into reading cases in full. Points of Law uses machine learning to identify key legal principles in court opinions and directs you to related cases so you can quickly drill down to what’s relevant.
Gain a competitive edge with AI-powered research tools from Bloomberg Law
AI for legal professionals is a buzzworthy topic because there are so many benefits to using AI in law and myriad ways to apply AI for legal research. However, legal professionals must understand the risks and complexities involved with using AI and know how to choose the best AI for legal research before adopting the technology in their practice.
Download our report on AI and the Legal Profession in 2024 for a look at how generative AI is transforming the practice of law, with insights into the hot topics our analysts are watching.
Bloomberg Law’s integrated AI-driven legal research tools can help litigators streamline their workload and drastically reduce the time it takes to perform comprehensive legal research. Request a demo to see how our research solutions can help you tackle complex legal research tasks with ease.