Deploy a Legal Research Agent and Find Your Firm's Prior Memos First
The AgentWorks Legal Research Agent takes the search and first-draft work off your associates. When an attorney poses a research question, the Legal Research Agent checks the firm's own memo files for prior analysis first, then runs focused searches in Westlaw or Lexis, ranks the authorities it finds, and produces a first-draft memo with proper citations. Your associates review, sharpen and apply it, and spend the time they saved with clients.
What it takes off your plate
Every firm has the same story. A partner asks an associate whether a tolling argument works in a given jurisdiction. Somebody in the firm answered nearly the same question two years ago, but that memo lives in a closed matter's folder under a name nobody remembers. So the associate starts from scratch in Westlaw. A broad search returns more results than anyone can read; a narrow one misses the controlling case. The research subscription keeps getting more expensive while the firm pays for the same analysis twice.
Meanwhile the client who raised the question is waiting for an update. The associate who should be calling them back is on page six of the search results, and the partner is asking when the memo will be ready.
What the Legal Research Agent does, step by step
It starts with the communication around the question, because a research request is rarely complete when it arrives.
- Confirms the question. When a partner assigns research by email or in the matter, the Legal Research Agent replies to confirm the issue, the jurisdiction, the deadline and the facts that frame it, and asks for anything missing.
- Reports what already exists. If the firm has prior memos on the point, it tells the assigning attorney right away, so they can decide whether an update is enough.
- Sends the draft with a status note. When the memo is ready, it routes it to the associate and partner with a note on what it found, what it could not resolve, and which authorities need a closer read.
Then the research itself:
- Searches the firm's memo database. It looks through prior research memos across matters, by issue and jurisdiction, not just by file name, and pulls the relevant analysis.
- Queries external databases with a plan. It runs targeted searches in Westlaw or Lexis built from the issue and the prior memo, rather than broad keyword sweeps.
- Summarizes and ranks authorities. Each case or statute gets a short summary and a relevance ranking, with binding authority separated from persuasive.
- Drafts the memo. It produces a first-draft research memo in the firm's format with citations formatted properly, ready for an associate to verify every authority and refine the analysis.
If intake is where your firm loses time, our post on capturing overnight legal client intakes covers that front door.
Where the work is recorded
The matter record shows the research request, the questions the Legal Research Agent asked and the answers it received, the prior memos it found and the draft it delivered, all logged against the client and the matter. The finished memo is saved to the matter's documents and indexed back into the firm's memo database, so the next associate asking a similar question finds it on the first search.
When an associate opens the matter the next morning, they see the draft, the ranked authorities, and the open points flagged for them. The research becomes part of the firm's knowledge rather than something that disappears into a closed file.
What your people do instead
Your associates spend their time where a lawyer is needed: checking that each authority actually says what the draft says it does, applying the law to the client's facts, and calling the client to explain what the research means for their matter. Partners get to the strategy conversation sooner, and the client hears back while the question is still fresh.
The judgement stays with your lawyers. The agent carries the searching, the sorting and the first draft. For how firms keep new matters moving from the first call, see reclaiming law firm retainers.
One next step
If your associates keep repeating research the firm already has, take the free Legal Industry Assessment. It shows which workflow an agent should take first in your firm, whether that is the Legal Research Agent or another. You can see every legal agent AgentWorks runs on the Legal industry page.
See where the Legal Research Agent would start in your legal business.
I'm Victoria, the Legal ambassador here. The free Industry Assessment reads your website and asks how calls, follow-ups and records happen today, then shows the first workflow worth handing to an agent like this one — and what your team gets back. Leave your email and I'll send the link.
Victoria replies from legal@agentworksstudio.com. One email with the link — no list, no drip, unless you ask for the weekly letter. Or go straight there →