Part II Capstone: Grounded Research Assistant
Part II Capstone
Grounded Legal Research Assistant
A source-explorer evolution connects corpus manifests, query analysis, citation lookup, scope filters, lexical and semantic retrieval, graph neighborhoods, source reading, claims, verification, audit logs, abstention, corrections, and human research judgment.
Structured Visual
Jurisdiction: US; as of 2026-08-28; not legal advice; Render structure, refuse interpretation, cite, abstain, and hand off.
RENDER STRUCTURE · REFUSE INTERPRETATION · CITE · ABSTAIN · HAND-OFF: render structure, refuse interpretation, cite provenance, abstain when unsupported, and hand off to human review.
Scope and honesty note
Jurisdiction: United States computational-law classroom model; source snapshot 2026-08-28; curriculum as of 2026-08-29. Synthetic inputs, code, labels, measurements and outputs are teaching artifacts, not law, legal advice, authority, eligibility, benefits, tax, court, filing, research, ranking, or outcome determinations. Code encodes selected interpretations and can be incomplete, wrong, outdated, biased, overprecise, underinclusive, or non-isomorphic. The system must cite source and version, expose assumptions and gaps, abstain when unsupported, and hand legal judgment to accountable humans.
See the essential structure first
Start with this deliberately incomplete structure, then use the pinned authorities, worked application, exceptions, and handoff below. This deliberately incomplete preview has 6 nodes; exceptions and legal consequences remain in the sourced prose below.
Jurisdiction: US; as of 2026-08-28; not legal advice; Render structure, refuse interpretation, cite, abstain, and hand off.
RENDER STRUCTURE · REFUSE INTERPRETATION · CITE · ABSTAIN · HAND-OFF: render structure, refuse interpretation, cite provenance, abstain when unsupported, and hand off to human review.
Begin with computational-law doctrine
A grounded research assistant should evolve the source explorer, not replace legal research judgment. It must expose corpus scope, filters, queries, ranks, citation neighborhoods and opened sources; require primary-source reading; decompose notes into verifiable claims; search for contrary sources; separate measurements from authority; exclude invalid categories; and abstain when support is absent or conflict unresolved. Audit logs and reproducible packets permit correction. The assistant cannot determine holdings, current validity, legal conclusions or case outcomes without accountable human analysis.
Primary-source research target
The provision anchors a research question answerable from exact text and related cases only after source reading. Pinned source or measurement: “§706. Scope of review To the extent necessary to decision and when presented, the reviewing court shall decide all relevant questions of law, interpret constitutional and statutory provisions, and determine the meaning or applicability of the terms of an agency action. The reviewing court shall- (1) compel agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed; and (2) hold unlawful and set aside agency action, findings, and conclusions found to be- (A) arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law; (B) contrary to constitutional right, power, privilege, or immunity; (C) in excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority, or limitations, or short of statutory right; (D) without observance of procedure required by law; (E) unsupported by substantial evidence in a case subject to sections 556 and 557 of this title or otherwise reviewed on the record of an agency hearing provided by statute; or (F) unwarranted by the facts to the extent that the facts are subject to trial de novo by the reviewing court. In making the foregoing determinations, the court shall review the whole record or those parts of it cited by a party, and due account shall be taken of the rule of prejudicial error. ( Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 393 .)” Coordinate: 5 U.S.C. § 706; https://www.neochart.com/catalog/federal/title_5/section_706/title5_sec706_9a580d7b5bc7/706_scope_of_review_to_the_extent_necessary_to_decision_and_0001/index.html; data via neochart.com, snapshot 2026-08.
Citation-neighborhood source
The bounded graph expands discovery while preserving neutral edge meaning. Pinned source or measurement: “[{"from": "/f-supp-2d/692/0170-01", "fromDate": "2010-03-09", "fromName": "Watkins v. Omni Life Science, Inc.", "to": "/us/559/0077-01", "type": "cites"}, {"from": "/f-supp-2d/712/0924-01", "fromDate": "2010-05-17", "fromName": "In re Arrowhead Capital Management LLC Class Litigation", "to": "/us/559/0077-01", "type": "cites"}, {"from": "/f-supp-2d/718/0805-01", "fromDate": "2010-03-10", "fromName": "Astra Oil Trading NV v. Petrobras America Inc.", "to": "/us/559/0077-01", "type": "cites"}]” Coordinate: case-citations-hertz-inbound-slice as of 2026-08-28; https://www.neochart.com/catalog/cases/us/volume_559/0077_01/index.html; data via neochart.com, snapshot 2026-08.
Validity-filtered discovery set
The sample demonstrates that only validated categories enter the assistant's source explorer. Pinned source or measurement: “{"case_count": 1534, "cases": [{"case_path": "/us/410/0113-01", "date": "1973-01-22", "importance": 0.003491912312537867, "name": "Roe v. Wade", "sections": ["28 U.S.C. § 1253"], "url": "catalog/cases/us/volume_410/0113_01/index.html"}, {"case_path": "/us/501/0722-01", "date": "1991-06-24", "importance": 0.003330523929892698, "name": "Coleman v. Thompson", "sections": ["28 U.S.C. § 1257"], "url": "catalog/cases/us/volume_501/0722_01/index.html"}, {"case_path": "/us/501/0808-01", "date": "1991-06-27", "importance": 0.002951839720053311, "name": "Payne v. Tennessee", "sections": ["28 U.S.C. § 2281"], "url": "catalog/cases/us/volume_501/0808_01/index.html"}], "key": "usc_title_28", "label": "Judiciary and Judicial Procedure", "title": 28}” Coordinate: cases_by_law validity-filtered Title 28 sample as of 2026-08-28; https://www.neochart.com/cases-by-law/; data via neochart.com, snapshot 2026-08.
Measurement firewall
The exact value may aid exploration only with the explicit non-authority disclaimer. Pinned source or measurement: “{"case_path": "/us/559/0077-01", "importance": 2.1810471734751303e-06}” Coordinate: Hertz Corp. v. Friend case_importance measurement as of 2026-08-28; https://www.neochart.com/catalog/cases/us/volume_559/0077_01/index.html; data via neochart.com, snapshot 2026-08.
Pin the synthetic computational record
A synthetic research-assistant run populates the corpus manifest, scope and validity filters, exact citation and hybrid queries, candidates and ranks, Hertz neighborhood and measurement firewall, opened statute and case leaves, passages and context, atomic claims, quote and citation checks, contrary searches, treatment and currentness questions, invalid-title exclusions, abstentions, reviewer edits, bibliography and export hash.
Work the audited application
The assistant retrieves section Seven-Zero-Six by exact citation, opens and quotes its standards, then uses citation edges only to discover later cases. It refuses to call the highest-ranked case controlling. The corporate-citizenship branch finds Hertz through citation lookup and keeps doctrine separate. A record from an impossible title never appears. The packet flags unresolved treatment and leaves the final legal synthesis to the researcher.
Read the populated computational artifact
The research-assistant record contains request, jurisdiction, date, issue, facts, corpus, snapshot, manifest, validity filter, query, citation lookup, lexical run, vector run, hybrid run, filter, candidate, rank, graph edge, measurement, firewall, source opened, passage, context, posture, holding field, treatment, currentness, claim, support, quote, paraphrase, inference, contradiction, contrary search, abstention, invalid exclusion, audit event, model version, edit, correction, bibliography, export hash, and reviewer. The artifact contains 18 populated rows.
Jurisdiction: US; as of 2026-08-28; not legal advice; Render structure, refuse interpretation, cite, abstain, and hand off.
RENDER STRUCTURE · REFUSE INTERPRETATION · CITE · ABSTAIN · HAND-OFF: render structure, refuse interpretation, cite provenance, abstain when unsupported, and hand off to human review.
Read the complete record
The complete record keeps sources, stated facts, and questions for review separate. Pinned sources and measurements: Verbatim text or bounded snapshot data. 5 U.S.C. § 706: Primary-source research target: The provision anchors a research question answerable from exact text and related cases only after source reading.. case-citations-hertz-inbound-slice as of 2026-08-28: Citation-neighborhood source: The bounded graph expands discovery while preserving neutral edge meaning.. cases_by_law validity-filtered Title 28 sample as of 2026-08-28: Validity-filtered discovery set: The sample demonstrates that only validated categories enter the assistant's source explorer.. Hertz Corp. v. Friend case_importance measurement as of 2026-08-28: Measurement firewall: The exact value may aid exploration only with the explicit non-authority disclaimer.. Synthetic computational record: Classroom inputs and intermediate states. Research request: Researcher asks for federal judicial-review standards, later citing cases and a comparison to corporate-citizenship doctrine. System: Manifest and scope selector, citation resolver, BM-twenty-five and vector search, hybrid reranker, citation graph, source viewer, claim notebook, verifier and export. Packet: Question, assumptions, search log, sources opened, passages, claim-source links, contrary sources, unresolved issues, abstentions, citations and reviewer notes. Audit trace: Semantics, provenance, execution, evidence, limits and handoff. Scope: Jurisdiction, court, date, authority types, issue, facts, exclusions, corpus snapshot, validity and user role. Discovery: Citation lookup, lexical query, semantic query, filters, candidate list, citation neighborhood, measurement with firewall and duplicate control. Source reading: Open primary leaf, heading, full text, pages, passage, context, holding versus dicta question, posture, later treatment and currentness review. Claim notebook: Atomic proposition, support span, quote, paraphrase, inference, contradiction, uncertainty, citation and reviewer. Verification: Citation resolves, passage exists, quote matches, source supports claim, jurisdiction fits, version fits, contrary search completed and invalid categories excluded. Abstention: No source, ambiguous question, missing jurisdiction, unresolved conflict, stale snapshot, inaccessible text, invalid category, unsupported claim and no outcome prediction. Audit and export: Queries, filters, candidates, clicks, passages, model version, edits, feedback, correction, bibliography, packet hash and reproducibility.
Narrow summary
Expose discovery and source reading, verify claims and contrary authority, firewall measurements, exclude invalid data, abstain on gaps, and export an auditable packet for human research judgment.