Turn Any Client Problem Into a Legal Research Plan
Convert scattered client facts into focused legal questions, search terms, and a practical research plan.
Prompt Overview
Tips For You
Frame research questions neutrally. A question designed to confirm the client's preferred answer can hide adverse law before the research even begins.
From Operations TeamNexusAi TechnologyProblem It Solves
Legal research becomes slow and unfocused when client facts are not separated into material facts, legal issues, missing information, and answerable research questions.
Material Fact Table
Separates verified facts from allegations and assumptions.
Issue Map
Turns a client problem into discrete legal research questions.
Search Term Builder
Generates broad and proposition-specific legal search language.
Research Priority
Orders work by urgency, dependency, and decision impact.
AI Prompt Instructions
Act as a legal research planning assistant supporting a qualified lawyer or solicitor.
Turn the supplied client problem into a structured legal research plan. Do not provide final legal advice, invent facts, or state legal conclusions. Identify what must be researched and verified.
Inputs:
- Jurisdiction: [insert]
- Practice area: [insert]
- Client objective: [insert]
- Client facts and documents: [paste summary]
- Known deadline: [insert]
Produce:
1. Matter Snapshot: parties, client objective, current stage, time pressure, and known constraints.
2. Material Fact Table: fact, source, verification status, legal relevance, and missing detail.
3. Legal Issue Map: primary issues, threshold issues, secondary issues, procedural issues, and potential remedies requiring research.
4. Research Questions: convert each issue into a neutral, answerable legal question.
5. Search Plan: legislation, regulations, cases, official guidance, procedural rules, commentary, and factual sources to locate.
6. Search Terms: broad terms, narrow proposition searches, alternative terminology, defined terms, and likely statutory phrases.
7. Research Order: rank tasks by dependency, urgency, and potential effect on the advice.
8. Lawyer Review Questions: list assumptions and issues requiring professional confirmation before research begins.
Separate known facts, client allegations, assumptions, and missing information.
Expected Outcome
A matter snapshot, material-fact table, legal issue map, research questions, source plan, search terms, and prioritised research sequence.
Implementation Journey
Build the research plan
Paste the promptText and a redacted factual summary into Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or LawY. Expect an issue map, research questions, search terms, and prioritised plan.
8–15 minutesConfirm scope with a lawyer
Compare the issue map with the original instructions, documents, jurisdiction, limitation or response dates, and supervising lawyer's scope before beginning substantive research.
15–30 minutesRun and track the research
Use LawY, Lexis+ AI, Thomson Reuters, Perplexity, or official databases to locate sources, then track questions, sources, and status in Word, Excel, Notion, or the matter system.
30–120 minutes