Research Guides: Resources for Law Student Research Assistants: AI

Know Your AI Tools (And Their Limitations)

General Tools (ChatGPT, etc.):	Legal-Specific AI Tools:	SciteAI:
Best for: Brainstorming, explaining concepts, drafting outlines Reality check: You are better at legal research than these tools Common failures: Hallucinated cases, outdated law, misunderstanding legal concepts When to use: Initial brainstorming, explaining concepts to yourself	Examples: Harvey, LexisNexis+, Westlaw Assisted Research Improvement: Better than general tools but still problematic Key limitation: Still prone to exaggeration about what cases "say" Faculty perspective: Even expensive legal AI tools make mistakes	What it is: AI tool using public databases and science/social science agreements Best applications: Interdisciplinary research, finding academic sources VLS access: Available through library Limitation: Limited legal database integration

The Cardinal Rule: Never hand faculty unverified AI output!

Citation verification: Check every case cite in Westlaw/Lexis. Check every general citation in Google/Scholar and other databases.
Substance verification: Read what the citation actually says! Don't trust AI summaries.
Currency checking: Shepardize/KeyCite everything. Double check that articles haven't been withdrawn or otherwise limited.
Context verification: Ensure AI understood your context correctly. (Is your position clear, e.g. I'm representing the defendant not the plaintiff, or I'm arguing in favor of something, not against it.)

Strategic Uses:

Research planning: "What are the key issues in employment discrimination cases?"
Gap analysis: "What haven't I considered about contract formation?"
Concept explanation: "Explain the difference between void and voidable contracts"
Brainstorming search terms: "What other ways might courts describe this issue?"
Note Summary: "Here are my notes on this article. Summarize the main points in two sentences."

Hotshot

A learning platform for legal professionals, which provides videos and short summaries of important topics. Hotshot’s specialty is videos that are short and practical, accompanied by interactive quizzes and written materials, and each is about 15 minutes long, broken into short sections of a few minutes each. Each video comes with an outline-style summary that you can use to review the materials before watching any videos.
Students, faculty, and staff will access by creating an account using their Vanderbilt email.
Lexis+

Legal research system for Vanderbilt Law School faculty, students and staff. Please see a reference librarian for assistance.
Midpage

Legal research platform with AI integration. Law students can register using Vanderbilt email.
Scite

A smart citation index that uses scientific publications to contextualize citations and indicate whether the content provides supporting or contrasting evidence for a referenced work. It offers a quantitative and qualitative insight into how scientific publications cite each other.

Access Note: Users must register for a personal account in order to use advanced features (create a custom dashboard, create a notification, save searches, etc.)
Westlaw

Legal research system for Vanderbilt Law School faculty, students and staff. Please see a reference librarian for assistance.

Please see a reference librarian for assistance.

Vanderbilt AI (Amplify)
Click on the login button and use your SSO credentials to access.