Ask Research Questions in Clio Work

The Ask a Research Question workflow allows you to perform authoritative legal research using the Clio Library. Unlike general conversations with Vincent, this workflow focuses on queries that require cited legal support from primary sources (such as case law and statutes) and secondary sources (such as journals and books). Vincent provides answers with verifiable links to these sources and suggests follow-up research based on your query or uploaded documents. 

Ask a research question with Vincent

The Ask a Research Question workflow is designed to help you get started with research across various legal and regulatory areas, providing answers supported by authoritative legal resources. You can perform both general research and matter-specific research using this workflow.

1. From Clio Work, click Vincent in your navigation panel.
2. Select a matter using the Select Matter dropdown if your question relates to a specific case, or skip this step to perform general research.
3. Select the Ask a Research Question workflow card.
   • You can use the search bar or select the Research topic filter to quickly find this workflow.
4. Enter your specific legal research question in the text box.
5. Select the relevant jurisdiction under the main text box to ground your research and click OK to confirm.
6. Click the blue arrow submit icon to start the query. 
7. Optional: Review Vincent's suggested phrasing and click to submit them if they improve the clarity of your original question. 
8. Review the generated response and the list of citations in the Legal Authorities panel.

Ask research questions in conversations

You are not limited to the Ask a Research Question card to find legal answers. You can ask a research question during any conversation with Vincent, regardless of the initial workflow you selected.

• Contextual research: If you are currently analysing a document (such as a contract or complaint), Vincent may recognise your follow-up questions as research-based and automatically reference the Clio Library.
• AI suggestions: During a conversation, Vincent may suggest research questions based on its initial analysis of your uploaded files or the facts of your matter.
• Seamless transition: Simply type your research question into the persistent "Ask any follow-up question" text box at the bottom of any active conversation.

Understand responses to research questions

When you submit a research question, Vincent does not simply generate an answer based on patterns. Instead, it retrieves and analyses specific documents from the Clio Library to ground its response. This process ensures that every claim is tied to a verifiable authority. The response includes a Legal Authorities panel. This panel serves as your primary tool for due diligence. By reviewing this panel, you can audit the reasoning used by Vincent, verify the current standing of the cited law, and ensure the response is tailored to the correct jurisdiction.

Review legal authorities

The Legal Authorities panel is Vincent’s verification mechanism. You can verify the legal accuracy of the AI's response by accessing the source documentation directly from the Clio Library.

1. Click Legal Authorities below Vincent’s response to the question if the panel is not immediately visible. This panel appears on the right-hand side of the conversation.
2. Review source components. Each item on the panel provides crucial context.
   • Document title: Click on the title to open the document in Clio Library for review.
   • Source summary: A brief summary of the document.
   • Excerpt (Proof of source): The direct quote or excerpt from the document that is relevant to Vincent’s response. This direct citation proves the AI's answer is grounded in verifiable legal text.
3. Optional: Click the copy icon in the top right corner of the listed source to copy a single source’s title, summary, and excerpt. 
4. Click into the various subtabs (e.g., Cases, Legislation) to organise the list by legal text type.

Modify the list of sources used

You can modify the list of Legal Authorities to exclude specific legal authorities.

1. Find a research question in your conversation and click Legal Authorities below the response.
2. Click Modify List.
3. Using the checkboxes, deselect any document(s) that you do not want referenced in the response.
4. Click Apply > Confirm to regenerate the response.