LegalDeep AI Legal Assistant
Case law research
Case law research requires more than finding a decision with similar words. LegalDeep AI Legal Assistant can help develop a first-pass research path, surface cited material where available, and organize questions about how a decision relates to your issue.
Define the question before searching
Identify the legal issue, court system, and procedural setting. A ruling on a motion to dismiss may address a different question from a decision after trial. Include the facts that matter to your research and ask the assistant to explain which additional facts could affect the analysis.
Read the decision, not only the summary
Follow citations to the underlying source and inspect the actual opinion. Compare the facts, legal question, reasoning, and disposition. Distinguish the court's holding from background discussion, party arguments, and commentary. If an opinion cannot be located or a citation does not match, set that result aside until it can be verified.
Separate binding and persuasive authority
Ask for the issuing court and jurisdiction to be identified for each authority. Whether a case is binding depends on the court and issue involved; a similar result from another jurisdiction may only be persuasive. Confirm the relationship independently instead of relying on a generated label.
Check for later developments
A case may have been limited, distinguished, reversed, or overruled. Use an appropriate citator or other authoritative research process to check subsequent treatment. LegalDeep AI can help frame follow-up research, but its answer is not a guarantee of exhaustive coverage or current validity.
- Confirm the case name, citation, court, and date.
- Record the proposition and the supporting passage.
- Check subsequent treatment before using the case in a filing or advice.
- Record contrary authority and material factual differences.