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The adoption of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) technology in law firms and in-house legal departments has also made its way prominently into law schools. A 2024 survey by the American Bar Association, AI and Legal Education, found that 83% of law schools reported the availability of curricular opportunities where students can learn how to use AI tools effectively, and a majority (55%) now offer classes dedicated to teaching students about AI.
“The survey suggests that AI is already having a significant impact on legal education and is likely to result in additional changes in the years ahead,” reported the ABA. “With a majority of responding law schools offering dedicated AI courses and providing opportunities for students to engage with AI tools, it is evident that legal education is evolving to meet the demands of a professional increasingly shaped by technological advancements.”
For today’s law students, the looming job market is very competitive, which makes it important that new lawyers stand out as first-year associates or junior staff attorneys who can work quickly and accurately. One of the foundational skills for entry-level lawyers is legal research — and in order to be a standout legal researcher, you need to be proficient at using leading-edge legal research tools.
In 2025, that means Legal AI, or Gen AI tools that have been trained for the legal profession. Legal AI tools are changing the way that lawyers work and law firms are rapidly investing in these tools. The 2024 LexisNexis Investing in Legal Innovation Survey found that 53% of law firms have purchased a Gen AI solution for use in legal matters and 94% intend to increase their firm’s Gen AI budget over the next five years.
The truth is, however, that not all AI tools are alike. Relying on the wrong technology solution can be risky in the high-stakes world of law school and — eventually — working in the fast-paced legal profession.
Law students should be mindful of a few key considerations when evaluating Legal AI solutions so they can be sure to choose the most complete tool for their purposes. You want a tool that simplifies legal research tasks and saves you time, but you also want a tool that is trusted and verifiable.
Here are three important factors to consider:
For starters, consider what kind of content in which the AI-generated answers are grounded. The responses surfaced by any tool are only as good as the underlying content on which the solution was trained. Is that content being leveraged for all tasks you are conducting on the Legal AI platform, including both searching and drafting tasks? Make sure the tool you choose is grounded in authoritative legal content and provides linked citations to underlying authority so you can trust that you have the most authoritative answers.
It is important to look underneath the hood of the tool a bit in order to assess how accurate the responses are. Which large language model (LLM) is being used? And is it providing an easily verifiable answer? The most complete Legal AI solutions use a “multi-model” approach to Gen AI, which improves performance and accuracy by deploying the LLM that performs best for each task you need to complete.
A third key consideration is whether the AI solution is private and secure. What privacy safeguards are in place to ensure that data is kept confidential and protected? All interactions with the Legal AI tool should be walled and private to the individual user. Your searches should be encrypted as they are processed securely and should not be stored or used to train the system.
These three factors do not comprise a comprehensive checklist, but they provide a solid framework for helping you to identify a Gen AI solution that is more likely to deliver a tool that you can rely upon to demonstrate your proficiency as a legal researcher.
LexisNexis was the first legal technology company to make a legal generative AI solution available to students at American Bar Association (ABA)-accredited law schools.
Lexis+ AI, our breakthrough Gen AI platform that we believe will transform legal work, provides law students with trusted, comprehensive legal results that are backed by verifiable and citable authority. Lexis+ AI pairs our unsurpassed legal content with breakthrough AI technology in a way that redefines the way that legal research is conducted and legal work product is created. Its answers are grounded in the world’s largest repository of accurate and exclusive legal content from LexisNexis with industry-leading data security and attention to privacy.
Learn more about Lexis+ AI today.
LexisNexis also offers a wide range of resources to help law students learn research skills, including free training webinars, class and exam preparation, and practical career search steps.