Skill: AI-Assisted Research

Learn to use CoCounsel's AI-Assisted Research skill
Legal research is an important part of legal work. CoCounsel's AI-Assisted Research skill uses Thomson Reuters' trusted legal content in Westlaw Precision to answer your legal questions.
You may access AI-Assisted research in various ways.
In this situation, we will begin by telling CoCounsel we want to do legal research.
  1. Enter a legal research request into the chat, and then select the send icon. CoCounsel will take a moment to review your request and then provide a confirmation.
  2. Review CoCounsel's response.
    1. In the upper right corner of CoCounsel's response, the AI-Assisted Research skill is confirmed.
    2. In
      Sources
      , the source is
      AI-Assisted Research
      . You may change the source to
      Ask Practical Law AI
      .
    3. Under
      Legal question
      , the legal research request is confirmed. You may edit this.
    4. If you no longer need assistance, select
      Cancel
      .
  3. When you are ready to proceed, select
    Start AI-Assisted Research
    . CoCounsel will begin its work and show its progress
    1. To receive a notification when the results are ready, select
      Email me when complete
      .
    2. To stop CoCounsel's work, select
      Cancel
      .
  4. When your results are ready, select
    View results
    . The results window will appear.
  5. Review the results.
    1. At the top, CoCounsel restates the legal research question.
    2. Then CoCounsel provides a response with hyperlinked in-line citations and resource reference numbers in brackets.
      1. To go to a resource in Westlaw Precision, select the in-line citation. CoCounsel will open that resource in Westlaw.
      2. To review a resource within the list of all resources, select the resource reference number in brackets. CoCounsel will open the side panel and scroll to that resource.
      3. To open the list of all relevant resources and snippets, select
        View supporting content
        . CoCounsel will open the side panel.
    3. To navigate the side panel of relevant resources, collapse and expand the types of relevant resources and snippets CoCounsel used in its response. Relevant resources include
      Cases, statutes, and regulations
      ,
      Administrative decisions and guidance
      ,
      Practical Law
      guidance,
      Additional secondary sources
      , and
      News
      articles.
  6. To refine your result, select
    Refine result
    . The follow-up question box will appear.
  7. Enter your follow-up legal research question and then select the send icon.
  8. To copy the results to paste somewhere else, select
    Copy
    . To download the results as a Word Document, select the ellipsis icon, then select
    Download
    , and then
    Word Document
    . The results will download.

Limitations

Westlaw Precision with AI-Assisted Research analyzes Westlaw’s comprehensive primary law authorities. You can make up to 3 jurisdiction selections, including any 3 state jurisdictions, any 3 federal jurisdictions, or any combination of state and federal jurisdictions, including "nationwide".
AI-Assisted Research doesn't 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
Tips for getting a good response:
  • 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
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.
AI-Assisted Research will provide the most relevant supporting materials, including:
  • Cases, statutes, and regulations:
    Between about 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.
  • Additional secondary sources:
    The most relevant 3 results.
  • News:
    The most relevant 3 results.
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