# Legal Research Agent

> Source: https://ibl.ai/resources/agents/legal-research-agent


*Researches case law and the firm's own work product with citations, drafts research memos, and runs air-gapped so privileged matter stays in the firm.*

The Legal Research Agent is an autonomous AI agent that researches a legal question across case law and the firm's own briefs and memos, returning answers grounded in cited authority.

It reasons over the issue, retrieves on-point authority, checks citations, and drafts a research memo — with links back to the source so an attorney can verify everything.

This is not a chatbot that invents citations. It is an active agent that retrieves, verifies, and synthesizes, deployed air-gapped or on-premise so privileged work product never leaves the firm.

## Agent vs. Chatbot

A research chatbot returns prose that may cite cases that do not exist. The Legal Research Agent retrieves real authority and the firm's own work product, verifies citations, and drafts a memo grounded in sources — autonomously.

| Dimension | Chatbot | Agent |
|-----------|---------|-------|
| Execution | Summarizes a legal topic from memory | Retrieves on-point authority, verifies citations, and drafts a sourced research memo |
| Grounding | Can hallucinate cases and quotes | Grounds every assertion in retrieved authority with links back to the source |
| Memory | No recall of the firm's prior work | Searches the firm's briefs, memos, and prior arguments alongside published authority |
| Tools & APIs | Cannot reach research databases or the DMS | Queries Westlaw, LexisNexis, and the firm's iManage/NetDocuments corpus |
| Data Control | Queries and matter context leave the firm | Runs air-gapped or on-premise; privileged matter never leaves the firm |
| Model Flexibility | Locked to one vendor's model | Model-agnostic — Claude, GPT, Gemini, Llama, Mistral, or a fine-tuned model |
| Confidentiality | Vendor assurances, not architecture | Privilege protected by design, with a complete audit trail |
| Autonomy | An attorney drives every query | Runs a continuous research-verify-synthesize cycle and follows leads on its own |

## Core Capabilities

### Issue-Driven Case Research

Takes a legal question and retrieves on-point statutes, regulations, and case law from connected research sources.

*Autonomous action:* Expands the query into sub-issues, retrieves authority for each, and assembles the relevant set without an attorney searching manually.

### Firm Work-Product Search

Searches the firm's own briefs, memos, and prior arguments so a first-year can find what the firm has argued before.

*Autonomous action:* Surfaces the firm's most relevant prior work alongside published authority, with links to the source documents.

### Citation Verification

Checks that cited authority exists, is quoted accurately, and remains good law.

*Autonomous action:* Flags any unverifiable or superseded citation before it reaches a draft, eliminating hallucinated-citation risk.

### Research Memo Drafting

Synthesizes findings into a structured research memo with a clear answer, supporting authority, and counterarguments.

*Autonomous action:* Drafts the memo with pinpoint citations for the attorney to verify and refine.

### Argument & Counterargument Mapping

Identifies authority on both sides of an issue and the strongest opposing positions.

*Autonomous action:* Builds a balanced view so attorneys see the contrary authority before opposing counsel raises it.

## How It Works

1. **Receive — Frame the Question:** The agent takes the legal issue and jurisdiction, pulling matter context and the firm's relevant prior work.
2. **Reason — Decompose and Retrieve:** It breaks the question into sub-issues and retrieves on-point authority from research databases and the firm corpus.
3. **Act — Verify and Synthesize:** The agent verifies citations, synthesizes the answer with supporting and contrary authority, and drafts the memo.
4. **Evaluate — Check Currency:** It confirms authority is still good law and notes anything recently distinguished, reversed, or superseded.
5. **Report — Deliver the Memo:** The agent writes the cited memo back to the matter workspace and logs the research to an audit trail.

## ROI & Impact

| Metric | Value | Description |
|--------|-------|-------------|
| Research Time Reduction | -60% | Issue-driven retrieval and drafting cut time spent on routine legal research substantially. |
| Citation Error Elimination | near zero | Mandatory citation verification removes the risk of hallucinated or superseded authority reaching a draft. |
| Associate Leverage | high | Associates research at the level of a larger team by drawing on the firm's full body of prior work. |
| Knowledge Reuse | significant | Prior briefs and memos become reusable, citeable assets instead of forgotten files. |
| Licensing Cost vs. Per-Seat Tools | ~10x cheaper | Enterprise-wide flat-fee licensing eliminates per-seat legal-AI pricing. |

## FAQ

**Q: Does it hallucinate citations like generic chatbots?**

No. It retrieves real authority and verifies that every citation exists, is quoted accurately, and remains good law before it reaches a draft. Grounding and verification are core to the agent, not an afterthought.

**Q: How does it protect privilege and confidentiality?**

It runs air-gapped or on-premise, so matter context and queries never leave the firm. That architecture, not a vendor promise, is the cleanest answer to confidentiality duties under ABA Model Rule 1.6.

**Q: Can it search our own briefs and memos?**

Yes. It searches the firm's work product in iManage or NetDocuments alongside published authority, surfacing what the firm has argued before with links to the source documents.

**Q: Which research sources does it use?**

It integrates with Westlaw and LexisNexis for published authority and your DMS for firm work product, citing sources so attorneys can verify every assertion.

**Q: Does it replace attorney judgment?**

No. It retrieves, verifies, and drafts, but the attorney exercises judgment and signs off. It removes the search-and-assemble grind, not the lawyering.

**Q: Do we own the source code?**

Yes. ibl.ai delivers the complete source code, so the firm can audit, modify, and operate the research system permanently, independent of ibl.ai's pricing or roadmap.