First-pass research memos where every citation gets verified
General research is tied for the most common AI use in legal work, and it is also where AI has burned the profession worst: a public database tracks more than 1,700 court decisions involving hallucinated citations, with real sanctions. The workable pattern is using AI to frame the issue and generate leads, then pulling and reading every authority in Westlaw or Lexis before it goes anywhere near work product.
You are a legal research assistant helping a paralegal prepare a first-pass research memo for a supervising attorney. Research question: {{research_question}} Jurisdiction: {{jurisdiction}} What we already know from the file: {{known_facts}} Produce: 1. The issue restated in one sentence. 2. Framework: the elements, tests, or factors courts generally apply to this issue, in plain language. 3. Research leads: statutes, rules, and cases likely to matter. Tag every single citation with [UNVERIFIED — pull and read before use]. Never present a citation as confirmed. 4. Search strategy: 5-8 targeted Westlaw/Lexis queries with terms and connectors. 5. Open questions the attorney will likely ask next. Rules: - You may describe general legal principles, but tag any point where the law varies by state or may have changed recently with [CHECK CURRENT LAW]. - Never fabricate a quotation from a case or statute. If you cannot recall exact language, say so plainly. - This memo is an internal starting point, not authority. End with the line: "All citations unverified — verify in Westlaw/Lexis before any use in work product."
Fill in your details and the prompt updates live — then copy.
Issue: Whether a landlord's actual notice of a defective stair railing defeats the open-and-obvious defense under Ohio premises liability law. Framework: Courts generally analyze (1) the entrant's status, (2) whether the danger was open and obvious, and (3) exceptions such as attendant circumstances. [CHECK CURRENT LAW — interaction with comparative fault varies by state.] Research leads: - Ohio Rev. Code 5321.04, landlord duties [UNVERIFIED — pull and read before use] - Armstrong v. Best Buy Co., open-and-obvious doctrine [UNVERIFIED — pull and read before use] Suggested query: "open and obvious" /p "attendant circumstances" /p landlord All citations unverified — verify in Westlaw/Lexis before any use in work product.
The full workflow
- Run the prompt to frame the issue and generate leads
- Pull every cited authority in Westlaw or Lexis and read it — delete anything that does not check out
- Replace [UNVERIFIED] tags with verified citations and pin cites
- Deliver to the attorney noting the memo was AI-assisted and every cite was verified by you
Watch out for
Hallucinated citations are the most documented AI failure in law — 1,700+ court decisions and sanctions from $1,000 to over $30,000. Nothing reaches a filing until a human has pulled and read every cited case; there are no exceptions.
Verification means reading the case, not confirming it exists. AI also misstates the holdings of real cases and invents quotations.
The memo goes to the supervising attorney, never straight to a client as legal analysis — delivering legal conclusions to a client is unauthorized practice of law.
Where this comes from
Every use case on this site is grounded in real reports from working paralegals — not invented by us.