Legal Researcher

Overview

This is an hourly, remote contractor role for a Legal Research Subject Matter Expert (SME). You will review AI-generated legal research outputs and/or produce expert legal research content. Work includes evaluating reasoning quality and step-by-step issue analysis, providing precise written feedback, and generating high-quality explanations and model research memos that demonstrate correct, risk-aware legal reasoning.

Responsibilities

• Develop AI training content: Create detailed prompts and gold-standard legal research outputs, including issue outlines, research plans, memo templates, and authority summaries.
• Optimize AI performance: Evaluate and rank AI responses to improve accuracy, defensibility, citation support, and clarity.
• Ensure model integrity: Test outputs for inaccuracies, misleading certainty, jurisdictional errors, and bias; validate reliability across legal scenarios.
• Assess quality and adherence: Check accuracy, clarity, completeness, and adherence to the prompt.
• Identify research and citation issues: Detect errors in issue spotting, jurisdiction handling, authority selection, citation accuracy, and rule application.
• Verify support by primary authority: Where required, confirm legal statements are appropriately supported by primary authority.
• Provide written feedback: Deliver precise, written feedback identifying issues, risks, and corrections.
• Compare multiple responses: Rate and compare multiple responses based on correctness and reasoning quality.

Requirements

• Education/experience: JD/LLB (or equivalent) or advanced paralegal/legal research background with substantial primary-law research experience. Active bar membership is a plus.
• Professional experience: 5+ years of professional experience performing legal research (law firm, in-house, government, academia, or legal publishing).
• Structured research capability: Ability to conduct structured research, including issue framing → jurisdiction selection → authority retrieval → synthesis → caveats/uncertainty.
• Legal analysis competence: Proven experience interpreting statutes, regulations, and case law, including understanding holdings vs dicta and relevance of procedural posture.
• Citation hygiene: Ability to verify quotations, pinpoint citations, and ensure proposition support; flag unsupported assertions.
• Jurisdictional variation: Comfortable handling jurisdictional variation and clearly stating assumptions/limits (e.g., US state vs federal, EU member states, common law vs civil law).
• Writing and attention to detail: Excellent attention to detail; minimum C1 English proficiency and clear, concise legal writing.
• Work style: Reliable, self-directed, able to deliver consistent quality in an hourly, remote contractor workflow across time zones.
• Tools/formats (plus): Familiarity with legal research tools (e.g., Westlaw/Lexis or equivalents) and citation formats (Bluebook or local standards) is a plus.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience with AI data training/annotation, editorial QA, knowledge management, or legal publishing.

Important

There is no immediate project for this role; however, if qualified, you will be among the first experts contacted when relevant opportunities arise. Future projects may be available through the organization’s expert network.

Location

Remote (hourly contractor). Availability across time zones is required.