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Generative AI Tools and Resources for Law Faculty

Below are prominent legal databases that have rolled out generative AI tools. Currently, law school faculty and students have access to generative AI features within Lexis and Practical Law. Faculty are eligible for early access to Westlaw’s CoCounsel, while students will gain access in January 2025. Additionally, both faculty and students can utilize some AI features within Bloomberg Law (see below for details).

Legal Databases with Generative AI

Lexis+ AI is a conversational generative AI tool that Lexis rolled out in 2023. Law school faculty and students have access to features such as Ask a legal question, Generate a draft, Summarize a case, and Upload to summarize or ask a question.

Review the FAQs to learn more about each feature and visit Lexis+ AI Faculty Resources for additional information such as guidance for effective prompting and sample exercises. On-demand AI-related webinars offered by Lexis for Faculty Training are available here.

You also may sign up for the Lexis+ AI Insider Program to keep up-to-date with webinars, workshops, and other news related to the product. 

On November 15, 2023, Thomson Reuters announced a new AI offering called AI-Assisted Research within Westlaw Precision. This feature leverages Casetext's legal AI technology, CoCounsel, which Thomson Reuters acquired in August 2023. CoCounsel is currently available for law firm, corporate, and court subscribers. Law schools will officially gain access in January 2025. However, on November 4, 2024, Thomson Reuters emailed law faculty and librarians with instructions for claiming early access to CoCounsel before the official release date. If you did not receive this email, please contact the library at lawlibref@ucdavis.edu for assistance. 

To help prepare law students and faculty, on-demand lessons and webinars are available now on the Countdown to CoCounsel webpage (Westlaw login required). 

Thomson Reuters launched its AI feature for Practical Law, now called Search & Summarize Practical Law (formerly Ask Practical Law AI), on January 24, 2024. This feature leverages Casetext's legal AI technology, CoCounsel, which Thomson Reuters acquired in August 2023. Practical Law is accessible through Westlaw, and UC Davis Law affiliates can find the AI tool in the upper-right corner of the Practical Law screen after signing in. A brief training video and handout are also available.

Bloomberg Law is a legal platform that covers primary and secondary legal content as well as chart builders and legal news for various practice areas including litigation, corporate, tax, just to name a few. Over the years, Bloomberg has rolled out various AI features such as analytics for litigation and corporate deals. Below are a few generative AI tools that Bloomberg Law has released.

  • Contract Assistant, released on October 3, 2024, is a generative AI search tool designed to extract and summarize essential information from lengthy contracts. It highlights key provisions and allows users to explore specific areas such as amendments, expiration dates, and renewals. Users can also pose comprehensive questions about the contract, facilitating a quicker review of important aspects relevant to negotiations. This tool streamlines the contract review process, making it easier for users to focus on critical details. Contract Assistant is a feature within Bloomberg Law Contract Solutions, available exclusively to in-house counsel.
  • Bloomberg Law Answers, announced on July 15, 2024, is a forthcoming feature that provides instant, concise responses to legal queries directly within the Bloomberg Law platform. This feature leverages generative AI technology alongside Bloomberg Law’s comprehensive repository of sources, including court opinions, practical guidance documents, and secondary materials. Each answer includes citations and links to the supporting Bloomberg Law authorities and source documents used to generate it. Bloomberg Law Answers is currently available to users participating in the Bloomberg Law Innovation Studio, an experimental environment for select Bloomberg Law users.
  • Clause Adviser was released on June 5, 2024, as a new generative AI-powered enhancement to the Draft Analyzer tool. Currently available for M&A agreements, it will be expanded to additional contract types later in 2024. The feature assists in drafting complex M&A agreements by providing plain English explanations of complex contract language and indicating whether it favors one side of a transaction. An easy-to-use slider allows users to modify contract language to be more buyer- or seller-friendly, resulting in redline comparisons between the original and suggested language. Clause Adviser is accessible to UC Davis law students and faculty.
  • Complaint Summaries, announced in April 2024, is an AI enhancement to Bloomberg Law Dockets. This feature generates summaries of the facts and allegations in a complaint. Currently, this feature appears in the docket entry for the complaint and is limited to certain federal district courts and select cases from the Delaware Court of Chancery. This feature is available to UC Davis law students and faculty.