What AI Should I Use As A Law Student?
The first thing you want to do when using AI as a law student is make sure you are complying fully with all of your law school’s AI policies. I can not stress that enough.
Different AI’s perform different functions. And they are trained on different data, so they have varied sources from which to take their answers from.
As such, I don’t think there is any one AI that is a perfect fit for everything a law student has to do yet. I think you should try a few different options and experiment to see what works correctly for you. That’s because the technology is so new that law students are figuring out new ways to use AI in law school every day.
Here is an example of Harvard 3L Alec Winshel discussing ways to use AI for law school. I used his article as a source for this post, along with my own research, so definitely take a look at Alec’s thoughts on the matter as well.
For Case Summaries, Legal Analysis, Article Summaries In Law School Use Westlaw and LexisNexis AI.
The Westlaw and LexisNexis AI are tools that could be incredibly useful to you as a law student because of their source material. AI is only as good as the materials it can draw answers from, and these particular AI have exclusive access to the LexisNexis and Westlaw databases, respectively, which standard AI models shouldn’t have access to.
While standard AI models can look to the general web as a source for legal materials, the Westlaw and LexisNexis AI are going to be trained on data that is already highly and specifically organized for the purpose of presenting legal solutions. The AI here simply has less to do to present you with correct answers, and is trained on more relevant data. I believe it is a superior resource for those reasons.
So, for very legalistic purposes like sase summaries, legal analysis, and article summaries, these two AI are my idea of a no-brainer for a starting point for a law student using AI.
That being said, the law surrounding what AI can be trained on is evolving very quickly. So, the monopoly on the best data sets (Westlaw and LexisNexis’s databases) for training AI in regards to legal matters may become fair use in the near future. At minimum, there is great uncertainty. However, as things currently stand as of 2025, I still believe these two AI are the best for the purposes outlined above.
For Outlines And Summarizing Sources You Already Have, Standard AI Models Are Great For Law Students
Standard AI models like: ChatGPT and Perplexity can be amazing at helping you combine information sources quickly, and effectively. These can be particularly useful for combining multiple outlines for the same class into one “super” outline, and then adding your semester notes to that outline.
You can also use them to summarize cases you have from your courses, and you can ask them for specific information about the cases like what the ruling was, what each party was claiming, etc… Just feed them the relevant documents or files with cases and the like as part of your prompt.
If you want some help with ideas on how to use AI to most effectively merge outlines and notes, you can have a look at our suggestion guide for making law school outlines with AI here.
Education-Focused AI's Are Great For Helping Law Students Study
I learn really, really effectively with flash cards. You may learn really well from mini-quizzes. Yet others learn really well through entirely different means. With education based AI services, you can find the study method that’s right for you and have an AI facilitate the logistics of learning, so you can just concentrate on the learning itself (to think of all the time I spent in my life writing out flash cards before AI was invented…ahhh!).
If you learn best from listening, rather than reading, you can also try an AI like Speechify. There you can get your study materials read to you by various celebrities of your choice, helping those with more aural learning styles absorb materials more effectively. A cool aspect of this is that you can speed up the text to speech so you can hear a half hour’s worth of material in 15 minutes if you like.
In combination with other AI summaries, you could be listening to summaries of cases on your commute, or while going for a run. This could help save tons of time, making your studying that much more efficient.
Business-Oriented AIs Are Great For Summarizing Classes Taken Over Video. They Also Have Practical Real World Applications For Job Hunting After Law School.
There are AI’s that you can use when on digital meetings that will summarize the meeting and create follow ups for you. These AI can also interact with CRM’s and other digital business tools. Here, here, here, and here are some you can look into using.
While the specific functions of integrating with business tools may not be strictly necessary in law school, they can help you in your legal career. Be it in the area of case management, client communications, billings, or other professional areas, AI is going to become more and more impotent to the office place, legal and otherwise, both in the near future, and now. As such, practicing using these tools to create follow ups for yourself that are integrated into project management software can be a marketable skill as you look for your first job as an attorney.
Who would you hire? The first year associate who knows how to use AI to make all the processes in your established law office more efficient? Or a first year associate who works really hard and keeps his or her head down? The first one clearly brings more immediate value to the table than the second to a law office. So, if you can position yourself in the former category, you can potentially help yourself gain an advantage in the job market.
AI Is a Great Tool For Law School, And A Distinctive Digital Resume Is a Great Tool For Getting Your First Job As A Lawyer
Speaking of advantages in the job market (here comes an upsell…!), a distinct digital resume can really set you apart from your competition in the same way knowing how to use AI to streamline office processes can. You can buy a digital resume template here with outline success, and we’ll build it for you with your LinkedIn Profile information and writing samples of yours. You’ll get your own URL (outlinesuccess.com/your_name), and we’ll set up the SEO targeted at your name, so whenever someone (a hiring manager…) searches for your name, this resume should come up toward the top of the results (this ranking can take time to accomplish, but we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves to make it more likely to happen.).