Thinking of using AI tools for legal help and information? Read this first.
Earlier this year, CPLEA worked with Alberta Law Libraries (ALL) to gather frontline insights about how people are using AI tools to find legal help and information. We used our findings to develop a new public resource, Using AI for Legal Help. This article is part of a two-part series that shares key insights and tips from the project.
AI tools can be helpful, if used properly – but they’re not without their risks. The following tips and best practices can help you avoid common traps when using AI for legal help and information. The first part of this article series, Part I: Know Your Tools, covers how AI tools work and non-grounded versus grounded AI tools.
Have someone check the AI output
Do not rely on AI-generated answers or outputs without checking for accuracy. Make sure to check the output yourself or have someone familiar with the relevant laws check the AI output for accuracy (in other words, have a human in the loop!).
Check the jurisdiction
While AI tools can generate a lot of information in seconds, the output is not useful if it references laws from the wrong province or territory (jurisdiction). Some common jurisdiction errors in AI output include references to British Columbia, Ontario, or American law when seeking legal help and information in Alberta. So, if you see references to Ontario or British Columbia law, or unique terms in American law like “the 5th amendment” in the output, know that these are immediate red flags.
Tip: When prompting AI tools, you can limit sources to your jurisdiction to increase the chance that the output will be accurate. For example, you can include “limit sources to Alberta only” in your prompt. However, prompting is a skill in itself – be aware that the same prompt with such limits can still generate different outputs within a tool or amongst tools.
Check every reference and citation
When using AI tools for legal help and information, they can generate fake legal cases with nonexistent names, citations, details and even excerpts. They can also generate real cases that are irrelevant to your legal topic or issue. Check where the AI tool is drawing the information from by checking the listed references or citations. When checking references or citations, ask yourself:
- Does the reference or citation exist?
- Is the reference or citation made up?
- Is it about the right legal issue or topic?
- Is it for the right jurisdiction?
- Is the information current?
Be sure to cross-check the AI output with two or three other official or authoritative sources to verify the information is correct. Official or authoritative sources include:
- Official court websites
- Trusted legal publishers (in Alberta, you can get access to some through Alberta Law Libraries)
- Well-established public services (such as CanLII)
Do NOT rely on the AI output if you can’t verify the information in an official or authoritative source.
Tip: You can also check whether you get the same output with another AI tool, then repeat the reference and citation checking process. This same logic applies to output generated by grounded, law-specific AI tools, too. While they can be less risky than non-grounded tools, you should dig more into the links, references and citations to verify the output.
Remain skeptical
AI tools can make the law or court processes sound easy or straightforward, even when they are not. You can get legal information and advice from AI tools that sound convincingly correct, even when they’re not. For example, we heard of people getting convincing output on the following:
- Their court cases will be sure wins, or court processes are simple. Here’s a reality check: you don’t ever hear lawyers saying something like that.
- Charter issues are easy to deal with. Here’s another reality check: Charter issues are notoriously complicated.
- Official looking AI-generated court forms and documents. Here’s yet another reality check: AI-generated forms and documents may have errors or use templates from the wrong jurisdiction.
Tip: Do not rely on AI to explain the law or how court processes work. Check and review the actual law, regulation or court decision, not just the AI summary of it. Also, review the official court rules, such as the Alberta Rules of Court, to understand the rules that apply to you. And always ensure the AI output relates to the correct jurisdiction and court or forum.
If you are reviewing AI-generated output and start wondering “Is reality wrong?” or “Is this for real?”, you may be onto something. If the output is starting to sound too good to be true or leading you to delusional spirals (which is a real problem that can happen with AI chatbot conversations), you should stop. In situations like this, here’s your friendly reminder to step away from the digital world and literally and metaphorically go touch grass. Remember, using AI does not replace getting real legal help. If you need help with legal research and navigating legal information and resources, visit your local law library.
Conclusion
Does the process of checking and verifying AI outputs sound as exciting as scrubbing away grease and grime? We get it, the process seems tedious – especially when you may already have a lot going on in your life and are short for time. While using AI tools to get legal help and information can be helpful, it’s not without potential risks and consequences – especially when you do not properly check and verify outputs.
How about all the shocking developments you read about in the news and those AI cases publicly shaming lawyers and litigants for AI misuse? They often involve users misusing AI tools, including not properly checking or verifying outputs.
Courts in Canada have ordered lawyers and litigants (including self-represented litigants) to pay costs when they use AI irresponsibly in court. This includes filing AI-generated documents or relying on AI-generated false information or hallucinated cases. The courts have also warned that they may impose severe consequences for irresponsible use in the future. It also takes time, cost and effort for everyone involved to correct AI misuse. Whether it’s on you, other people, or the legal system, misuse has ripple effects on the administration of justice.
Lastly, how about this possibility to keep you up at night – do you want to end up on official public record, forever immortalized as misusing AI (even if unwittingly)?! Now that’s a hard stain to remove from public record. After all, there is no incredible, multi-purpose RAG* to clean up a situation like that.
* NOTE: If you have no idea why the author is talking about RAG, you really need to read Part I: Know Your Tools of this series. We guarantee it’s worth the manual effort – just like checking and verifying AI outputs. But wait…there’s more: act now and we’ll throw in a user-friendly CPLEA tip sheet to supercharge your manual checking efforts – absolutely free!
Resources to learn more
- Using AI for Legal Help (CPLEA tip sheet)
- Alberta Law Libraries – help with online legal research and information navigation in Alberta
- Rob Hudson and Madhu Ichhpuniani, A Day in the Life of Alberta Law Libraries
- Robert Hamilton, “The Alberta Court of Appeal Weighs in on the use of AI in Court Submissions” (15 October 2025), online: ABlawg
The information in this two-part article series, AI Quick Start Guide for Legal Help, is based on CPLEA’s current understanding of how AI tools work today (which is ever evolving). The analogies and metaphors used to explain these concepts reflect the author’s perspective.
Special thanks to Angela Ashton and Rob Hudson of Alberta Law Libraries, and to Lindsey Zess (former CPLEA placement student), for their contributions to this resource project.
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DISCLAIMER The information in this article was correct at time of publishing. The law may have changed since then. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of LawNow or the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta.
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