Legal Research Roadmap
Describe a legal issue and jurisdiction. Receive a structured research roadmap: the statutes to check, case law areas to explore, recommended search queries for Westlaw/Lexis/CourtListener, and a prioritized research sequence. Adapted from Anthropic's claude-for-legal clinic skill.
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Not legal advice. This tool is for informational and research purposes only. AI outputs must be reviewed by a licensed attorney before any reliance. Do not input confidential client information. Outputs are generated by Claude and may contain errors.
What Is the Legal Research Roadmap?
Legal research is a skill — and like any skill, doing it efficiently requires knowing where to start, what to look for, and how to prioritize sources. An experienced attorney approaching a research question knows to check primary sources first, to identify the controlling statute before looking for case law, and to use specific search queries that surface relevant authority rather than a flood of tangentially related cases. This tool gives you that structured approach.
Describe the legal issue and jurisdiction, and the tool produces a complete research roadmap: the primary statutes you should check first, the relevant areas of case law to explore, recommended search queries optimized for Westlaw, LexisNexis, and CourtListener (a free federal case database), secondary sources worth consulting, and a prioritized research sequence that moves from primary to secondary authority.
This is especially useful for attorneys researching in unfamiliar practice areas, law students learning research methodology, legal aid attorneys handling high case volumes, and clinic students preparing for client matters. The roadmap does not replace research — it structures and accelerates it by telling you where to go and what to search before you open a database.
This tool was adapted from Anthropic's open-source claude-for-legal clinic skill library (Apache 2.0). The roadmap is a starting point — not a comprehensive research memo. All cited authorities and research paths should be verified and followed up using authoritative legal databases. This tool does not conduct research; it plans it.
Example Output
How to Use This Tool
- 1Describe the legal issue clearly: the core question, the jurisdiction (federal, specific state, or both), the parties and their relationship, and the relevant facts that give rise to the issue
- 2Note any constraints: is this for litigation, transactional advice, regulatory compliance, or academic research? The roadmap is calibrated differently for each
- 3Click 'Generate Research Roadmap' and allow 20–30 seconds
- 4Use the roadmap to guide your research in Westlaw, LexisNexis, or CourtListener — following the prioritized sequence from primary statutes to case law to secondary sources
Who This Tool Is For
- ✓Associates starting research in an unfamiliar practice area and needing a structured starting point
- ✓Law students learning research methodology for a legal writing assignment or law review note
- ✓Legal aid attorneys and clinic students preparing for client matters across a wide range of legal issues
- ✓Solo practitioners handling matters outside their primary practice area
- ✓Public defenders and prosecutors prioritizing research for upcoming hearings
- ✓Law librarians helping patrons identify the right research starting points
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this tool actually conduct legal research?
No — it produces a research plan, not research results. It tells you which statutes to check, which areas of case law to explore, and what search queries to run in legal databases. The actual research must be done by you using Westlaw, LexisNexis, CourtListener, or other legal research tools.
What is CourtListener?
CourtListener (courtlistener.com) is a free, open-access database of federal court opinions maintained by the Free Law Project. It covers federal district and circuit court opinions and all Supreme Court decisions. It is a valuable free alternative to Westlaw and Lexis for federal case research, though it does not include state court cases as comprehensively.
How should I prioritize sources in legal research?
Start with primary authority in your jurisdiction: the controlling statute, then constitutional provisions if relevant, then administrative regulations. Then move to primary case law interpreting those sources, starting with the highest court in your jurisdiction. Secondary sources (treatises, law review articles, restatements) are useful for understanding doctrine but are not binding authority.
Can this roadmap work for any jurisdiction?
Yes — you can specify any U.S. state or federal jurisdiction, and the tool will identify the relevant primary sources for that jurisdiction. For international legal issues, the tool provides a more general framework since it is primarily trained on U.S. legal materials.
Is this useful for law students?
Absolutely — this tool is an excellent learning aid for 1Ls and 2Ls developing legal research skills. It models the thought process of an experienced researcher approaching a new issue: identifying the primary sources, understanding the research hierarchy, and generating effective database search queries.