As part of NYLS’s commitment to prepare students to be competent users of legal technology, this innovative course introduces students to the evolving technological landscape of legal research in the context of cutting-edge Generative AI (GenAI) legal research tools. Through a series of engaging weekly assignments, students will compare and contrast established research strategies using traditional legal research platforms such as Westlaw and LexisNexis with emerging GenAI-enhanced tools like Westlaw CoCounsel, Lexis+ AI, and new open-access solutions such as Descrybe.ai. Students will also interact with Socratic-style GenAI-based educational tools like Khan Academy’s Khanmigo to identify legal rules and their application to real-life scenarios.

This course will explore pitfalls lawyers, litigants, and expert witnesses have experienced thus far with GenAI-based legal research, and how judges in the United States and overseas are beginning to use GenAI-driven research to solve legal problems.

This course will expose students to rigorous practice of two essential GenAI-based skills: (1) prompt engineering to craft effective research queries, and (2) “output discernment” to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of GenAI-generated legal authority. Students will practice using GenAI platforms in the context of identifying elements or factors of doctrinal rules and learning how to narrow voluminous case law research results accurately and efficiently. Students will be required to stay on top of breaking news related to GenAI research tools.

Students will write reflection papers, a legal research memorandum, and a persuasive argument (either a brief or a policy paper).

This course satisfies the Writing Requirement. It does not satisfy the Experiential Learning Requirement. Enrollment is limited.

Recommended for the following Professional Pathways: Business and Financial Services; Intellectual Property and Privacy; Government and Public Interest Law

2 Credits