AI Assistant for Legal Research and Drafting
Research & Development · Education & Learning
What it collects that can identify you
- User research queries, prompts, and interactions entered by GC employees into the AI assistant at runtime. These queries shape the outputs generated but do not constitute personal information about third parties.
Also collects operational data, which is anonymized data.
- Run by
- Department of Justice Canada (JUS)
- Where
- No fixed location
- Kept
- Not stated by the Helpful Places.
- Shared with
- Accountable organization, Vendor
What it is for
Lexis+ AI is a pilot AI assistant used by Government of Canada employees at the Department of Justice to help with legal research, drafting, and summarization tasks. It draws on LexisNexis's proprietary legal content — including case law and legislation — to generate text, answer research questions, and summarize documents. The system does not process personal information, and users are informed when AI capabilities are in use.
What it collects and what happens to it
Data taken in
- Existing proprietary legal publications and datasets from LexisNexis, including case law and legislation. No personal information is included in the data sources.
- User research queries, prompts, and interactions entered by GC employees into the AI assistant at runtime. These queries shape the outputs generated but do not constitute personal information about third parties.
Processing
- Large language model capabilities underpinning the AI research assistant, drafting, and summarization functions within the Lexis+ AI platform provided by LexisNexis.
- Semantic search and retrieval over LexisNexis's legal content collection, surfacing relevant case law, legislation, and practical guidance to support user queries.
What it does
- Generates draft text, summaries, and legal analysis in response to user queries. GC employee users review and decide what to use or act upon.
- Retrieves and matches relevant legal content — case law, legislation, and practical guidance — from LexisNexis's proprietary databases in response to research queries.
- Performs analysis and summarization on legal content, producing structured insights for GC employees who retain final decision-making authority.
Outputs
- AI-drafted text, summaries, and legal analysis outputs produced by the system in response to GC employee queries. These are advisory outputs reviewed by human users before any action is taken.
- Research results, relevant legal authorities, and suggested analysis surfaced by the AI assistant to guide GC employees in legal work. All recommendations are advisory; human review is required.
Run by
- Government of Canada department responsible for deploying this pilot AI system for use by its employees in legal research and drafting tasks.
Built by
- LexisNexis builds and supplies the Lexis+ AI platform, an integrated legal information service combining legal research, practical guidance, and advanced AI capabilities. The system was developed by the vendor.
Kept for
Not stated by the Helpful Places.
Shared with
- Outputs and usage data from the pilot are available to the Department of Justice Canada for evaluation purposes. The system is restricted to GC employees.
- LexisNexis, as the technology provider, may have access to usage data and queries submitted to the platform as part of service delivery. Specific data-sharing terms are not detailed in the register entry.
Stored
Not stated by the Helpful Places.
How to read the colours
Can it identify you?
- Anonymized data
- Data about people with the link to who is broken. Stripped of identifiers, blurred, aggregated, or noised so this system can’t reasonably tie a record back to an individual.
- Pseudonymous data
- Each person’s data is tied to a token (hash, ID, template) that lets this system recognise the same person across events, but the token itself doesn’t reveal a name. Reidentification is possible with extra information.
- Identifiable data
- The data either contains a direct identifier (name, address, account name, recognisable face or voice, plate number) or carries a token this system uses to look up legal identity during processing.
Who completes the loop?
- Human decides
- This mode suggests; a person decides what to do next. The AI is always advisory — a human is in the loop on every decision. Example: a triage tool ranks cases for a clinician who chooses which to see first.
- Human executes
- This mode decides; a person carries out the result. Example: an optimizer plans the day’s trash-collection routes, and drivers run them.
- Autonomous
- This mode decides and acts on its own. No person reviews each decision or carries out the resulting action.
Definitions from the DTPR standard. Amber is about your data, violet about who decides. The fuller the shape and the deeper the colour, the more identifying the data or the less a person is involved.
- AI registerGovernment of Canada Algorithmic Impact Assessment Registry — Lexis+ AI (2526-JUS-004)Department of Justice Canada, AI Register entry 2526-JUS-004.
- AI registerGC AI Registry — 2526-JUS-004
- AI registerGC AI Registry — 2526-JUS-004
- Register entryPublished by the Helpful Places. Reference 98fc50b2. This disclosure was drafted with AI assistance.Schema: ai@2026-05-06-beta
What you can do
Ask about this system
Questions go to the Helpful Places, not the vendor.
Your rights
- Right to Be Informed of AI UseGC employees are informed when AI capabilities are in use within the Lexis+ AI platform. The register confirms AI use is disclosed to users.
- Right to Algorithmic TransparencyUsers have access to information about how the AI research assistant functions as part of the pilot evaluation. For more information, contact the Department of Justice Canada.
Risks and safeguards
- Societal & cultural harmAI-generated legal analysis may contain errors, hallucinations, or outdated content that could mislead GC employees if accepted uncritically.Safeguard: The system is in a pilot evaluation phase; AI use is disclosed to users; outputs are advisory and require human review before any action is taken.
- Reputational harmIncorrect legal citations or fabricated case law generated by the AI could damage the Department of Justice's credibility if used in official documents without verification.Safeguard: Users are informed of AI use; pilot evaluation ensures controlled deployment; human review is required before outputs are used in official contexts.