GenAI for Legal Researchers: Accelerating Case Analysis
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GenAI for Legal Researchers: Accelerating Case Analysis
This course is part of AI in Law: Research, Risk, and Legal Drafting Specialization
Instructors: Harvey Zeytuntsyan
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What you'll learn
Explain GenAI conceptually and its relationship to legal research and analysis.
Analyze the role of human-in-the-loop and how it unlocks the abilities of GenAI tools.
Apply GenAI to conduct initial legal research of a novel issue area using secondary sources.
Instruct GenAI to navigate, parse, and analyze primary sources such as statutes and regulations.
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There is 1 module in this course
In this course, we will challenge you to think of GenAI as a strategic partner in your research and analysis. Not as a magical tool that solves all problems on its own. We will explore how you can guide it to be your powerful legal assistant that enhances and augments human analytical effort and expertise. We will see how human-supervised GenAI tasks can help us capitalize on the unique strengths that GenAI presents while accommodating its current limitations. We will focus on analysis and parsing of lengthy statutes and regulatory sections. We will use ChatGPT and Claude – the two most widely available GenAI tools - to establish foundational skills and best practices that you can continue to build upon as you engage with these evolving and innovative technologies. Additionally, we will see how human supervision of GenAI can help accelerate drafting and enable quality assurance checks for human-created draft content.
This course is designed for legal professionals, law students, paralegals, legal assistants, and in-house counsel who want to integrate GenAI into their research and analysis workflows. Whether you are a practicing attorney looking to optimize legal research, a law student seeking to enhance analytical skills, or a legal assistant aiming to improve efficiency, this course provides practical strategies for leveraging AI-powered tools effectively. Learners should have a basic understanding of legal research and analysis concepts to engage with GenAI in a meaningful way. Familiarity with AI-driven tools like ChatGPT and Claude is beneficial but not required, as the course will introduce best practices for applying these technologies in legal contexts. Prior experience in statutory interpretation and case law analysis will help participants maximize the benefits of AI-assisted research. By the end of this course, learners will be able to explain the conceptual foundations of GenAI and its relevance to legal research and analysis. They will analyze the role of human oversight in unlocking the full potential of AI-powered tools. Participants will also apply GenAI for conducting initial legal research on novel issues and instruct AI to navigate, parse, and analyze primary sources like statutes and regulations. Additionally, they will utilize GenAI both as a quality assurance tool for reviewing human-generated drafts and as a writing assistant for generating initial legal documents.
In this course, you’ll explore the role of GenAI in legal research and analysis, focusing on its capabilities, limitations, and real-world applications in law. Through hands-on experience with tools like ChatGPT and Claude, you’ll learn to leverage AI for parsing statutes, analyzing regulations, and enhancing research efficiency. You’ll also examine the importance of human oversight in AI-assisted workflows, ensuring accuracy, reliability, and ethical use in legal practice.
What's included
16 videos6 readings5 assignments1 peer review
16 videos•Total 72 minutes
- Introduction and Welcome •2 minutes
- GenAI and Legal Research Basics •5 minutes
- Enhancing Research Skills with GenAI•11 minutes
- Supervising AI and Ethical Frameworks•5 minutes
- Navigating Secondary Sources and LLMs •3 minutes
- Accelerating Initial Research •4 minutes
- Prompting and Validation Strategies •5 minutes
- Human Analysis of Outputs •3 minutes
- Analyzing Primary Sources •3 minutes
- Identifying Statutory Frameworks Quickly with GenAI •4 minutes
- Spot Analysis & Validation •6 minutes
- Case Law Analysis •7 minutes
- Editing Human Drafted Content with GenAI•4 minutes
- Human Editing of GenAI Drafted Content•3 minutes
- Using GenAI to Tune Complexity and Tone •4 minutes
- Congratulations and Continuous Learning Journey•2 minutes
6 readings•Total 30 minutes
- Welcome to the Course: Course Overview•5 minutes
- “Generative AI in Legal Research, Education, and Practice” Univ. of Chicago, Library Guide •5 minutes
- Law and Computation: A Conversation” MIT, Computational Law Report•5 minutes
- “AI Tools for Lawyers: A Practical Guide,” by Schwarcz and Choi, Minnesota Legal Studies Research Paper •5 minutes
- "Can ChatGPT 'Think Like a Lawyer?' A Socratic Dialogue," by Bishop •5 minutes
- From Briefs to Bytes: How Generative AI is Transforming Legal Writing and Practice” by Regalia (Part V) •5 minutes
5 assignments•Total 140 minutes
- Probing GenAI on a Known Legal Topic•30 minutes
- Getting to Terms of Art•30 minutes
- Verifying GenAI Proposed Analyses and Follow-Up Prompting•30 minutes
- Project - Your GenAI Playbook•30 minutes
- GenAI for Legal Researchers: Accelerating Case Analysis•20 minutes
1 peer review•Total 60 minutes
- Project: Your GenAI Playbook •60 minutes
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Frequently asked questions
In this course, GenAI-assisted legal research means using conversational AI as a supervised assistant for legal research and analysis. The emphasis is on guiding the tool with prompts, using it to explore secondary and primary sources, and checking its output with human judgment.
You would use this approach when you need a first-pass understanding of an unfamiliar issue, a faster read on lengthy statutes or regulations, or a review of draft language. In the course, it is most useful for getting oriented and narrowing your focus before you rely on your own legal analysis.
It fits into the earlier and middle stages of legal work, helping you move from broad issue exploration and secondary-source-style guidance toward closer reading of primary sources. The course then treats GenAI output as something to verify, refine, and use in later analysis or drafting.
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¹ Some assignments in this course are AI-graded. For these assignments, your data will be used in accordance with Coursera's Privacy Notice.
