Ask LexisNexis®
Learn how to use Ask LexisNexis as a knowledge source in Harvey
Last updated: Nov 24, 2025
Overview
Ask LexisNexis® enables you to get trusted AI-generated answers grounded in LexisNexis® U.S. primary law directly within Harvey. You can pose legal questions, receive citation-supported answers validated through Shepard’s® Citations, and refine your results through follow-up queries for greater depth or specificity.
When you Ask LexisNexis®, Harvey will surface answers from the LexisNexis Protégé™ Al assistant. Answer content includes:
- Federal and state case law: Cite legal precedent to support your arguments.
- Regulations and statutes: Get answers that directly reference up-to-date laws and regulations to supplement case law.
- Shepard’s® Citations: A visual system from LexisNexis® that shows whether a case is still good law. It flags cases that have been overruled, criticized, or followed—so you know whether you can rely on them.
For more information on security and types of content, see the attached overviews:
Adding Document Context to LexisNexis® Queries
You can upload documents with your Ask LexisNexis® queries to give Harvey additional context—such as filings, briefs, or internal memoranda—before generating research or drafting results.
For drafting, Harvey analyzes both your uploaded content and LexisNexis® primary law to produce more targeted, citation-supported responses.
Use Ask LexisNexis® as a Knowledge Source
Note: LexisNexis® is a paid add-on feature within Harvey. You do not need an existing LexisNexis® subscription to purchase it, and existing LexisNexis® customers must still buy the add-on separately to use it in Harvey. If you’re interested in piloting, please reach out to your Harvey Success team.
Once you have Ask LexisNexis in your workspace, follow the steps below to get started.
- Ask any query that implicates US case law, statutes, or regulations and Harvey will direct you to Ask LexisNexis® with pre-filled jurisdictions.
- For more control over your jurisdictions, select the LexisNexis® knowledge source from the homepage.
- Select content to search within, then click Add to save selections.
- Publication status of case law (required and pre-selected): Whether to include unpublished case law.
- Jurisdiction (optional): All content or up to three filters.
- Legal Classification (optional): Civil or criminal case law.
Upload Documents with Ask LexisNexis®
After selecting Ask LexisNexis® as your knowledge source, you have the option to add supporting documents to strengthen your query context. This is useful when analyzing filings, motions, or specific cases.
- In the query window, click Files and sources, then Upload files and attach one or more documents (e.g., PDFs, Word files).
- Enter your query and click Ask Harvey.
How to Review the Output
- All sources in the output will display their applicable Shepard’s Signals for immediate review.
- You can reference this overview for descriptions of each signal.
- Sources are grouped by content type—case law, statutes, and regulations.
- Click a source to open the full material in LexisNexis®. You do not need to be signed in to view the source text, but you do need to be signed in to access active links and full case history.
- Hover over footnotes in the output to preview source content. Click anywhere in the preview to view the full text within LexisNexis®.
Watch the video below for a full walkthrough of the steps above.
Using Ask LexisNexis® Effectively
Use the examples below to understand which types of work and queries Ask LexisNexis® handles best, and which may produce less reliable results.
Use Case | Recommended? | Example Query |
|---|---|---|
Targeted research on specific holdings | Yes | Does the Howey or Reves test determine whether a stablecoin is a security? |
Queries for legal standards, rules, elements and case analyses | Yes | What elements do you need to establish for an FCA claim predicated on an AKS violation? |
General overviews on circuit splits or basic jurisdictional trends | Yes | Explain the circuit split on this issue: who bears the burden of proof when a defendant moves to dismiss a civil suit on the grounds that it was brought in an improper venue? |
Draft legal memoranda with detailed analyses and proper formatting | Yes | Draft a memo on how courts typically define causation under the AKS. Is it but-for causation or a different standard? |
Search by hypotheticals or fact patterns for analogous material facts | Yes | My client is a CEO and primarily lives in London. About two weeks out of the year, he will go to New York to stay in his second home. We just received a notice of deposition for him, and plaintiffs requested the deposition be held in New York. Can we argue that it would be unduly burdensome to depose him at his second home in New York over London? |
Large-scale trend analysis across thousands of case studies | No | Based on all product liability holdings across the Second and Fifth Circuit, how do courts differ in their analysis on strict liability? |
Exhaustive “scorched earth” legal research projects for litigation | No | Is there a single case, or set of cases, that discuss whether data surveys can be used to establish damages in nationwide false claims act cases? Search all federal opinions. |
“Find every case on [topic]” research | No | Pull me every case that analyzes Adequacy and Numerosity for class certification between 2009 and 2018 |
50-state surveys or comprehensive jurisdiction comparisons | No | Send me every state’s law on biometric data protection. Compile your results into a 50-state survey. |
Note: The search algorithm is sensitive about full case citations, so please double check reporter citations if you include them in your queries
- This will fail because of the wrong reporter citation: "What did the court in United States v. Sorensen, 134 F.4th 400 (7th Cir. 2025) hold?"
- This will succeed because of the correct reporter citation: "What did the court in United States v. Sorensen, 134 F.4th 493 (7th Cir. 2025) hold?"
When to Use Ask LexisNexis® with Document Uploads
The examples below show how to get the best results when combining LexisNexis® with your uploaded documents.
In general, use prompts that focus on specific issues, arguments, or citations. Avoid overly broad tasks that ask Harvey to review or draft entire filings.
Category | Recommended Use | Effective Prompts | Not Recommended | Ineffective Prompts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cite Checking | Use for finding case law that supports or challenges arguments in a filing. | Does our use of In re American Express align with the court's holding in the attached brief? | Avoid broad, exhaustive cite-checking or line-by-line validation of long filings. | Cite check this entire brief and flag any sentences that are not properly supported by case law |
Analyzing Cases | Use for focused case analysis — evaluating whether cited authorities actually support a specific section or argument. | Do the cases in the section on harmless error support defendant's argument? | Avoid mass case extraction or summarizing every cited decision. | Pull every case in this brief, outline all the material facts and holding, and flag any cases that defendant is inaccurately relying on |
Drafting | Use for idea generation and argument structuring — developing research-backed outlines or strategy memos. | Explain plaintiff's argument on fraudulent omission. Draft an outline on case law that we could use against it. Focus on the Second Circuit. | Avoid full-length drafting or Bluebook-style citation generation. | Attached is a plaintiff's motion to dismiss. Draft a response brief that responds to all of the arguments with definitive case law research. Use proper Bluebook formatting and in-text citations |
Tip: When using file uploads and LexisNexis® together, follow our prompt techniques recommended for Multi-Source Queries.
Note: LexisNexis® currently works only with document uploads and cannot be combined with other sources at this time.
FAQs
Tip: Follow our Roadmap to discover upcoming features and enhancements related to LexisNexis®.