What should lawyers know before using AI?

A 2025 study by the Federal Bar Association found that:

• 54% of legal professionals use AI to draft messages

• 14% use it to analyze firm and case data

• 47% want AI tools to help them interpret financial data

The use of AI is increasing in the legal field, but many lawyers haven't caught up to new tools.

Learning about the uses of AI for lawyers can help you keep up with the fast-changing legal industry.

Before you dive into how lawyers use AI, you'll need to understand AI's capabilities.

Generative AI has witnessed quick development in the last 5 years, becoming a popular tool for education, businesses, healthcare, and social media.

It can create a variety of media like text, images, videos, and computer codes. Common Generative AI platforms include:

• ChatGPT

• Gemini

• Claude

• Copilot

• BlackBox

• MidJourney

• Runway

AI automation can be used to facilitate routine tasks such as e-mail correspondence, customer support, and data entry and processing.

Agentic AI takes things a step further. These are models that work with prompts with little to no supervision. They handle multiple tasks at the same time.

Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on Unsplash

AI has been a reliable support tool at law firms, spanning a wide range of AI capabilities.

Generative AI uses:

• drafting legal briefs

• drafting correspondence

• generating transcripts

• preparing depositions

• managing digital records

AI Automation uses:

• summarizing content

• email and online requests automations

• business operations and marketing

• routine human resources tasks

• risk assessment and reporting

Agentic AI for legal work can take different forms. One example could be an AI agent that scans past case information, develops arguments to support a new case, and drafts a comprehensive report about it.

AI tools can provide fast, effective assistance for lawyers.

2025 research by the Thomson Reuters Corporation anticipates that using AI tools can save lawyers around 240 hours per year when performing time-consuming tasks, such as:

• reviewing documents

• researching legal information

• drafting contracts

• proofreading documents

Imagine this scenario:

Maria is a solo lawyer who's feeling a bit overwhelmed.

She has client calls in the morning, documents to review, and a court filing due by the end of the day. Trying to make her routine easier, she types a prompt into an AI-powered tool:

Review the case documents and recent laws about my client’s job termination. Summarize the key facts, mention any recent cases that matter, and write a short report with possible legal options, risks, and next steps. Also write a short, easy message I can send to the client explaining their options.

With that prompt, Maria would get a response that includes:

• a summary from her documents

• a breakdown of relevant laws and recent cases

• a short report with her client's options, risks, and next steps

She'd also get a message she could send to her client, saving her the mental effort of figuring out how to explain a stressful legal situation in simple terms.

That's everything she needs to handle the case confidently, in a fraction of the time it would normally take her.

Besides having AI to help save time with routine procedures, lawyers like Maria can benefit from:

• extra time to focus on expertise-driven demands

• reduced human error

• improved productivity and quality of service

• improved work-life balance

Besides providing fast, effective assistance, the use of AI is surrounded by concerns.

1. Confidentiality

In the legal field, personal information should be handled with confidentiality. But many AI platforms haven't yet developed proper privacy policies to protect client information.

The same concern applies to law firm business data, which fears a leak of financial and contract information.

2. Quality of Information

Another important aspect is the quality and reliability of information obtained with AI-generated legal research.

"AI hallucinations" are a common occurrence, when AI makes up false information and cites nonexistent sources for it.

In some recent cases, lawyers have used inaccurate AI-generated information when filing documents in U.S. courts, delaying the course of justice.

An example is the case of O'Brien vs. Flick and Chamberlain (January 2025), which was dismissed with prejudice after a series of "AI-hallucinated" citations.

3. Possible Employment Crisis

Work unions and organizations are worried about job security if AI keeps progressing at the current pace. Some professions, like legal assistants and paralegals, could be affected by AI in the future.

4. Environmental Risk

Besides the ethics of AI use by lawyers, the environmental aspect is often discussed, as AI use is directly tied to water waste.

A study by the University of California estimates that a 100-word AI prompt uses around the equivalent of one bottle of water.

Some of the most common AI tools designed for legal work are:

1. Research Tools

• Harvey AI: a generative AI platform focused on legal tasks

• CoCounsel: an AI tool integrated into Westlaw and Practical Law, legal platforms commonly used by lawyers

• Clio: provides automated tasks, research, and management features

• Lexis+ AI: a platform that works well on mobile devices, and has a very easy and intuitive design, ideal for beginners

• 2. Analysis and Drafting Tools

• Diligen: a platform focused on contract analysis

• Spellbook: ideal for commercial law document drafting and review

• PatentPal: specializes in patent documentation

• Gavel.io: a tool for document automation

3. Workflow

• AILawyer: a multi-platform ideal to combine work and client interaction

• Paxton AI: brands itself as an "all-in-one legal assistant", constantly updating regulations

• Law Droid: uses AI chatbots to handle client communication and fact-check information

Most of these platforms have multiple features, so depending on the size of the law firm, one or two platforms of choice would be necessary to handle most routine legal demands.

Some points considered by lawyers before picking an AI platform are:

• usability (user experience design)

• ability to handle multiple tasks at the same time

• multi-platform aspect (computer and mobile)

• price

Photo by Aerps.com on Unsplash

AI tools can be extremely helpful for legal tasks. But don't forget that as a lawyer, you have the duty of competence and must verify your work.