Many legal projects start with legal research. CoCounsel's AI-Assisted Research skill uses Thomson Reuters' trusted legal content in Westlaw Precision to answer your legal questions.
A. How the AI Works
When you request legal research, CoCounsel will understand your intent and route you to the correct skill: AI-Assisted Research. AI-Assisted Research is a skill within Westlaw, which integrates with CoCounsel Core. How do I connect CoCounsel to other technologies with integrations?
To request practical guidance, use CoCounsel Core: Ask Practical Law AI.
1. Enter your legal research question into the chat, then press Enter or click send.
You may also request legal research starting with the skills menus and Research category. Then select AI-Assisted Research, and enter your request.
2. CoCounsel will use the correct skill and interpret your request. Make edits, cancel, or click "Submit request." Notice, you may also change the skill, from legal research with AI-Assisted Research to practical guidance with Ask Practical Law AI.
3. CoCounsel begins researching the question using Westlaw Precision's legal content. A bar shows CoCounsel's progress. Click "Email me when complete" to be notified when your results are ready. You may also cancel your request or click "View results" to watch CoCounsel work.
4. When the results are ready, click "View results."
5. The results confirm the request and provide a narrative response with clickable, inline citations. Select a citation to read it in Westlaw, or select a reference number to auto-scroll to that source in the list below (See 6.).
6. CoCounsel lists the most relevant supporting materials with quoted highlights to key relevant portions, and organized under expandable headings.
Sources, like cases, statutes, and regulations
Administrative decisions and guidance
Practical Law guidance
Additional secondary sources
Expand each heading to review and verify the supporting materials with links to continue researching in Westlaw Precision.
Click the link in the title to read the full text.
Hover and select a quoted highlight to read that part.
7. Rate the response, ask follow-up questions, or download and copy the results.
The results of a follow-up question display the current and previous question.
8. Your history in Westlaw Precision will include research with AI-Assisted Research in CoCounsel.
B. Samples
1. Requests
Ask legal questions, and AI-Assisted Research will answer them. See limitations.
Where a contract is silent as to foreseeability must an event be unforeseeable to enforce a force majeure clause in either Illinois or Michigan?
Is a shareholder authorized to bring an action against a California corporation or director for failure to disclose a conflict of interest?
2. Refine results
Follow-up questions
You may ask follow-up questions. For example, you may need to change the jurisdiction or provide a more specific explanation of the legal issue, or the key facts.
In the chat
You may also reference results from the AI-Assisted Research skill in the chat. Here are a few examples.
After researching whether elements of the common law rule against perpetuities are still in force in my jurisdiction.
💬 Please use the legal analysis from the Response in the above AI-Assisted Research to help me identify 10 questions here in the chat that I should use to evaluate the provisions of very old trust instruments that our private client group sometimes encounters.
📂 Upload the trust instrument
💬 Please use the 10 questions identified above in the chat to review this trust.
After researching whether a shareholder is authorized to bring an action against a California corporation or director for failure to disclose a conflict of interest.
Option 1: Use the results in CoCounsel's Draft Correspondence skill
💬 Please use the Response from AI-Assisted Research to help me draft a letter to my client, Mrs. Miles, a shareholder, that explains her options to bring an action against the corporation and directors. Please keep it formal and explain any legal terms in plain language.
CoCounsel will start its Draft Correspondence skill and offer a suggested prompt to write the letter. Review and edit the prompt, before submitting. Review the results.
Option 2: Use the results in CoCounsel's chat
💬 Please use the Response from AI-Assisted Research to help me draft a letter here in the chat to my client, Mrs. Miles, a shareholder, that explains her options to bring an action against the corporation and directors. Please keep it formal and explain any legal terms in plain language.
CoCounsel will write the letter in the chat. Review and verify the results.
C. Limitations
1. Inputs
Jurisdiction
Westlaw Precision with AI-Assisted Research analyzes Westlaw’s comprehensive primary law authorities, which includes state and federal cases, statutes, and regulations, administrative decisions and guidance, Practical Law guidance, and additional secondary materials. You can make up to three jurisdiction selections, including:
Any 3 state jurisdictions,
Any 3 federal jurisdictions, or
Any combination of 3 state or federal jurisdictions, including "nationwide."
Note: Selecting more than 3 jurisdictions defaults to a nationwide search.
Requests
Write a clear, concise, and focused query that is 1-2 sentences long
Provide relevant facts, but not extra information
Do not write a query in the style of a prompt, command, or instruction.
Focus on a single issue or question
Avoid including proper names of people or parties
AI-Assisted Research does not yet support:
Finding documents by citation, such as "5 U.S. 137"
Boolean or fielded queries, such as "summary judgment" /p "breach of contract"
Questions about particular documents, such as "Does the Jones v. Smith case include a situation with a supervisor as a defendant?"
Requests for analytics, such as "Which law firm has the most torts cases in 2023 so far?"
Commands to execute certain tasks, such as "Summarize the Jones v. Smith case" or "Email me the Jones v. Smith case and any cases that have negative KeyCite treatment"
Requests for comprehensive document retrievals, such as "Find all cases granting summary judgment on negligent misrepresentation claims"
Instructions to filter supporting authority, such as "Exclude any unpublished cases or criminal regulations"
Requests for timing or mathematical calculations, such as "By which date do I need to file a notice of appeal for a judgment entered on July 8th"
Questions about predictions of outcomes, such as "Will the Supreme Court overturn the Chevron doctrine?"
Requested comparisons across many jurisdictions, such as "How does each state address the privacy of data stored on a mobile device?"
Requested summaries of how the law has changed over time.
Follow-up questions
For each AI-Assisted Research result, you may ask up to 5 follow-up questions. Follow-up questions must be asked within 24 hours of the initial question.
2. Outputs
AI-Assisted Research will provide the most relevant supporting materials, including:
Sources, like cases, statutes, and regulations
Between ~10-20
Administrative decisions and guidance
The most relevant 3 results
Practical Law guidance
The most relevant 3 results, but only if the connected Westlaw Precision account also has access to Practical Law.
Users must have a subscription to Westlaw Precision to use its AI-Assisted Research capability within CoCounsel Core. How do I connect CoCounsel to other technologies with integrations?
Additional secondary sources
The most relevant 3 results
3. Professional responsibility
CoCounsel Core is an AI legal assistant. Review and verify all results.
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