Best AI tools for lawyers

How to choose AI tools for lawyers

Start by splitting the work in two. Practice work is research, drafting and document review. Business work is intake, scheduling, billing and client updates. Legal specific AI helps most with the first. Your practice management software often already covers the second.

For research and drafting, grounding matters. CoCounsel Legal, our top pick, says it reasons from Westlaw content, Practical Law guidance and your firm's own knowledge, and links answers back to sources Thomson Reuters ↗. It can review up to 10,000 documents against 100 questions in one table Thomson Reuters ↗. Tools grounded in a trusted legal database tend to make fewer errors than general chatbots, but not zero Stanford HAI ↗.

For practice management, look at what your software includes. MyCase includes an AI writing and document assistant on its Pro plan, and adds a case assistant and discovery assistant on Advanced MyCase ↗. Clio includes AI on Core and above, with features such as drafting bills and client updates from matter activity Clio ↗. If you already pay for one of these, check its AI features before buying something new.

• Answers link to the source so you can check them
• The vendor states in writing that it does not train models on your data
• Security certifications and a trust center you can review
• Works inside the tools you already use
• Lets you control who in the firm can use it and on which matters
• Fits your bar's guidance on AI use

What it costs

Legal AI pricing is often hidden. CoCounsel Legal does not publish prices, and you contact sales for a plan Thomson Reuters ↗. Spellbook is custom quote only.

Practice management tools are clearer. MyCase costs $50 per user a month on Basic, $100 on Pro and $130 on Advanced, billed yearly, and AI starts with Pro MyCase ↗. Clio starts at $49 per user a month for Starter, which does not include AI. Core and above include AI, but Clio does not publish those prices Clio ↗.

The real cost includes review time. If a tool saves an hour of drafting but adds an hour of checking, it has not saved anything. Track time saved on a few matters before you commit firm wide.

What AI can and can't do here

AI can invent cases, quotes and holdings that look real. A Stanford study found that legal research tools from major vendors still gave incorrect or misgrounded answers more than 17 percent of the time, and one tool more than 34 percent of the time Stanford HAI ↗. General chatbots did worse on legal questions in earlier research Stanford HAI ↗. Check every citation and legal statement against the source before it goes into a filing or to a client.

Confidentiality is your duty, not the vendor's. Before you upload client documents, read how the tool stores data, who can access it and whether it trains on your inputs. CoCounsel Legal says it never uses your data to train underlying models Thomson Reuters ↗. Get the same commitment in writing from any tool you use.

Supervision and billing still apply. Treat AI output like work from a new associate. A lawyer must review it, and your billing should reflect the time actually spent. Check your bar's guidance, since several have issued opinions on AI use.

How to get started

• Read your state bar's guidance on AI use and write a one page firm policy.
• Check which AI features your practice management software already includes.
• Pick one low risk task, such as summarizing a deposition, and compare AI output with your own.
• Ask vendors for their data use terms and security certifications in writing.
• Require a lawyer to verify every citation before anything leaves the firm.