Aug. 7, 2024 – It’s August and back to school season is in full swing. For newly admitted attorneys, it’s not “back to school,” but rather “ready for practice.”
The practice of law is a knowledge-based profession, and the dispensation of legal counsel is often centered on sound legal research and the effective and ethical use of standard and emerging legal technologies.
This article offers research tips for jump-starting legal research and provides insights on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in legal research and drafting as well as related ethical considerations.
Start with Secondary Sources
When beginning legal research on an issue it can be difficult to know where to start. Several research tools are available to help you frame an issue and point to related authorities and relevant sources.
Laura Olsen is Manager, Research Training & Engagement, at Quarles & Brady LLP, Madison.
Kris Turner is Associate Director of Public Services at U.W. Law Library.
Secondary sources, such as treatises and practice guides, provide topical and jurisdictional overviews, and often identify seminal case law authorities and controlling statutes and regulations. It can be tempting to dive into primary law sources such as cases and codes, yet often advisable to take a step back and get a good framework from secondary sources.
The subscription-based digital resource
Books UnBound from State Bar of Wisconsin PINNACLE® offers numerous treatises and practice guides, such as
Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and the Law and
Wisconsin Discovery Law and Practice.
These State Bar publications are considered a cornerstone in Wisconsin legal research, and access via the digital platform provides links to cited primary law authority on
FastCase, a State Bar member benefit. Many law libraries carry print counterparts.
Leverage Practical Guidance Tools for Know-how
Practical guidance tools, a relative newcomer in the legal research marketplace, are available in many of the leading legal research platforms and have both litigation and transactional applications. You can find many from PINNACLE via
WisBar’s Marketplace.
These how-to resources include standard documents with drafting guidance, checklists, toolkits aggregating related resources on a legal topic, comparative state law survey tools, legal updates, and more. Practical guidance tools cover myriad topics, including charts on which jurisdictions have court rules or standing orders governing the use of generative artificial intelligence in court filings, and a Q&A guide on Wisconsin nonprofit corporation law.
Secondary sources and practical guidance tools help jump-start research in unfamiliar areas to provide you with solid footing to expand legal research.
Use Research Guides as a Roadmap
Government and academic law libraries, as well as state and federal government agencies, offer research guides designed to curate knowledge and share information.
The Wisconsin State Law Library resource
A-Z Topics provides information on subjects ranging from abandoned property to zoning law. For example, the entry for adverse possession includes links to relevant statutes, selected State Bar articles from
InsideTrack and
Wisconsin Lawyer, and specialized resources from the Wisconsin League of Municipalities and Legislative Reference Bureau.
Similar tools are available via the
University of Wisconsin Law School Library’s Research Guides and
Marquette University Law School Library’s Research Guides. Such guides are also available from many government agency websites. Check out these time-saving tools providing overviews and links to core content.
Remain Curious and Ask Questions
The adage “you don’t know what you don’t know” may ring true at times for new lawyers. One way through this conundrum is to remain ever-curious and ask questions.
Remember the mnemonic device JUST ASK to remember questions to ask when tackling a legal research issue:
J –
Jurisdiction – Identify the courts or branches of government you should include in research.
U –
Useful Tips – Probe for advice on how and where to begin your research, such as significant cases, key treatises, or internal subject-matter experts.
S –
Scope – Clarify the anticipated work product deliverable, such as a quick overview or comprehensive deep dive.
T –
Terms of Art – Unique terms of art can impact the thoroughness of a search. Ask for relevant terms of art, synonyms, and related terms to incorporate in your research plan and database queries.
A –
Acronyms – The law is filled with an alphabet soup of legal acronyms, such as RESPA, HIPAA, and EMTALA. Ask for insights and clarification on any acronyms that may help further your research.
S –Sources – Inquire whether colleagues have go-to recommended sources. When in doubt, ask a law librarian.
K –Key Cost and Time Restraints – Ask whether there are any key cost or time restraints. Your organization may or may not bill clients for use of electronic research tools, and it is essential to understand your organization’s approach to cost recovery, as well as internal and client expectations on costs, time investments, and deadlines.
These practical tips to jump-starting legal research will help you initiate legal research on solid footing. Emerging and evolving technologies, however, play an ever-increasing role in legal research and drafting.
Next, we explore utilizing artificial intelligence in legal research and drafting, including caveats and ethical considerations.
Artificial Intelligence: Powers and Pitfalls
The constantly evolving nature of technology is a never-ending source of stress and confusion for lawyers both new and experienced. The recent advent and ensuing tidal wave of generative AI tools, starting with ChatGPT in late November 2022, has only made the already difficult task of keeping abreast of new developments all the harder.
However, that doesn’t mean the solution is to stick your head in the technological sand and continue with the same tools you’ve always used. The new AI-enhanced tech has the capability to make your work more efficient – but there are also plenty of practical and ethical decisions that lawyers must make when using these tools. Making informed decisions about how to use these tools responsibly is a critical skill in the new attorney’s toolbox.
Some of the pitfalls of generative AI have been widely reported. Hallucination, which is the generation of incorrect or misleading information, has created some very concerning situations, such as attorneys
filing briefs with made-up cases,
results containing cites to opinions dated '2025' or '2026', and
academic studies highlighting the prevalence of inaccurate research and findings by AI tools. AI tools have also
misled customers, are
the focus of court cases for copyright violation, and have been
the source of deepfakes and misinformation.
Considering all these clear issues, should attorneys still use these tools? And if so, how?
These headline-grabbing problems are of clear concern. However, despite these issues, attorneys should still strongly consider using AI tools. Cautious and deliberate adoption of these tools can minimize the problems listed above, and instead make your work more efficient in a number of ways. Wordsmithing, brainstorming, and conducting initial rounds of legal research are all areas where AI excels.
New attorneys in particular may find AI a helpful starting point in getting first drafts down on paper and learning about new and complicated areas of law.
However, the final product cannot be simply lifted from the AI’s output. A competent attorney must read the output, modify and mold it, and put their own special signature on it to ensure that no AI-generated issues arise from the use.
When we teach law students about responsible AI use, we typically advise them to approach results with guarded skepticism, but to engage with the tech and not fall behind colleagues who are learning how to thoughtfully get the most out of tools that can, when used competently, make you a more efficient lawyer and advocate.
AI and Professional Responsibility
The word ‘competent’ was used twice in the previous paragraph. The Wisconsin Code of Professional Responsibility (and the ABA Model Rules) put competency at the forefront of a lawyer’s responsibilities in
SCR 20:1.1, and that extends to technology per Comment 8.
Generative AI use squarely falls under this rule, but it touches on many others. Just a few examples are listed below:
SCR 20:1.4 requires reasonable consultation and communication with clients about how objectives are accomplished. There are clients who may be leery of AI use and ask that their lawyers limit its use. In some situations, such as when the lawyer intends to input confidential information into an AI tool, a lawyer needs to inform the client in advance and obtain a client’s informed consent to the use of AI. Additionally, the lawyer must communicate with the client regarding the fees associated with using AI.
Generally, it behooves a lawyer to share how they use AI in their practice.
SCR 20:1.6 requires that lawyers not reveal confidential information. This seems obvious, but generative AI can, at times, take what you enter into it and make it another user’s output. Lawyers must be aware of the information-sharing policy of AI tools and the built-in privacy protections that the tools use. See
the Sept. 12, 2023, InsideTrack article for ethics insights on this rule from Stacie Rosenzweig.
SCR 20:5.1 makes the partners of law firms responsible for their staff conforming to the Code of Professional Responsibility. This means managers must ensure training and awareness of the limitations of AI and ensure a written policy about AI use at the firm.
This is only a small sampling of how generative AI impacts some of the professional responsibility rules. For more guidance on how ethically approach the use of generative AI tools in legal practice, see the newly issued
ABA ethics opinion 512, focused entirely on how AI and legal ethics interact.
Generative AI will continue to improve, but even those improvements will leave AI requiring oversight and legal training in order to ensure the best possible product is produced: one in which the skills of new and established attorneys are enhanced and supported by artificial intelligence.
Have questions about using AI?
State Bar’s PINNACLE offers a variety of CLE sessions and books that can help. Plus, check out these recent State Bar articles on generative AI:
Is It Time to Adopt Generative AI into Your Legal Writing? John Fuller, 96 Wis. Law. 43-47 (July/August 2023).
AI and Emerging Technology Can Increase Law Practice Efficiencies, Christopher Shattuck, 96 Wis. Law. 47-49 (May 2023).
Deepfake Content: It's Here, It's 'Dangerous,' and It Can Influence Your Client's Case,
InsideTrack, June 21, 2023.
Promise and Peril: Using AI for Transactional Documents, Jeff M. Brown,
InsideTrack, Feb. 7, 2023.
'Crazy Fast': As AI Evolves, State Bar Associations Respond, Jeff M. Brown,
InsideTrack, June 19, 2024.
Where to Find More Research Tips
New lawyers face unique challenges as they begin their practice. This article focused on actionable legal research tips, insights on the use of AI-enabled research technologies and associated ethical considerations, and how new lawyers can adapt to legal research and legal tech advancements and challenges.
Previous articles in this series provide more advice for new lawyers. Be sure to check out these past
InsideTrack articles:
Boost Your Research with Help from a Law Librarian
Don’t forget that a librarian can efficiently direct you to trusted legal practice materials. Reach out and ask your local law librarian for help with your research, or at these Wisconsin libraries:
Finding Legal Research Tips for Your Practice Area
Members of the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin (LLAW), a chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries, have written legal research columns for
InsideTrack for more than a decade (thank you!). These are a great resource that can quickly boost your research.
To find their columns, search on WisBar.org “legal research”, “legal research 101”, or “legal research” and the practice area, such as “legal research estate planning.”
