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AI Tools for Lawyers: Work Smarter, Bill More

February 7, 20259 min read

85% of lawyers now use AI tools daily. If you're not using AI, you're competing against lawyers who are. Here's how to use AI effectively while maintaining ethics and confidentiality.

The AI Tools Transforming Legal Work

Legal Research

What AI does: Searches case law, statutes, and secondary sources faster than human researchers. Summarizes relevant holdings and identifies key precedents.

Top tools:

  • CoCounsel (by Casetext/Thomson Reuters)
  • Harvey
  • Westlaw Edge AI features
  • Lexis+ AI

How to use effectively:

  • Use AI for initial research, then verify citations
  • Ask AI to find opposing arguments and weaknesses
  • Never cite a case without reading it yourself
  • AI occasionally hallucinates citations - always verify

Contract Review and Drafting

What AI does: Analyzes contracts for risks, extracts key terms, suggests edits, and drafts from templates.

Top tools:

  • Kira
  • Luminance
  • Ironclad
  • Spellbook

How to use effectively:

  • AI handles first-pass review, you handle judgment calls
  • Use AI to ensure consistency across documents
  • Let AI draft routine agreements, you customize for client needs
  • Always review AI output for context-specific issues

E-Discovery

What AI does: Reviews thousands of documents, identifies relevant materials, and reduces human review time by 70-90%.

Top tools:

  • Relativity
  • Logikcull
  • Everlaw
  • DISCO

How to use effectively:

  • AI for initial culling and categorization
  • Human review for privileged and hot documents
  • Use AI to find patterns across large document sets
  • Train AI on matter-specific relevance criteria

Use our [Will AI Replace Lawyers](/tools/will-ai-replace-lawyers) tool to understand how AI affects your specific practice area.

Ethics and Confidentiality

The Rules

Bar associations are clear: AI use is permitted, but you must:

  1. Maintain competence: Understand how AI tools work and their limitations
  2. Protect confidentiality: Never input confidential client data into unsecured AI
  3. Supervise output: You're responsible for all work product, AI-generated or not
  4. Disclose when required: Some jurisdictions require disclosure of AI use

Protecting Client Data

Do:

  • Use enterprise AI tools with proper data agreements
  • Anonymize client information when possible
  • Use firm-approved tools only
  • Check your state bar's AI ethics opinions

Don't:

  • Input confidential information into consumer ChatGPT
  • Share client documents with AI tools without data protections
  • Rely on AI output without verification
  • Assume AI tools are automatically compliant

The Billing Question

Can you bill for AI time? The consensus:

  • Bill for the value delivered, not time spent
  • AI makes you more efficient - clients benefit from lower costs
  • Don't bill for AI tool subscription fees as disbursements
  • Be transparent about your use of technology

Practice Area Applications

Litigation

  • Legal research for briefs and motions
  • Discovery document review
  • Deposition preparation and analysis
  • Trial preparation and exhibit organization
  • Predictive analytics for case outcomes

Transactional

  • Due diligence review
  • Contract drafting and negotiation
  • Regulatory compliance checking
  • Deal document management
  • M&A target analysis

General Practice

  • Client intake and conflict checking
  • Document automation
  • Legal writing assistance
  • Time tracking and billing
  • Client communication

The Competitive Reality

The legal market is splitting:

Lawyers using AI:

  • Handle more matters with same resources
  • Deliver faster turnaround
  • Offer competitive pricing
  • Focus time on high-value strategic work

Lawyers avoiding AI:

  • Compete on price alone
  • Slower delivery
  • Less capacity
  • More time on routine tasks

The winners aren't being replaced by AI - they're using AI to outcompete others.

Getting Started

This Week

  1. Try ChatGPT or Claude for a non-confidential research question
  2. Explore what AI tools your firm already has
  3. Read your state bar's AI ethics opinions

This Month

  1. Identify one repetitive task AI could help with
  2. Request training on available AI tools
  3. Experiment with AI for drafting (internal documents first)

This Quarter

  1. Develop a personal AI workflow
  2. Track time savings and efficiency gains
  3. Share best practices with colleagues

The Bottom Line

AI won't replace lawyers who use AI. The legal profession is transforming, and the lawyers who thrive will be those who leverage AI for routine work while focusing on what clients actually pay for: judgment, strategy, and advocacy.

Your expertise isn't typing documents - it's knowing what the documents should say. AI handles the typing faster. You handle the thinking.

Use our [AI Job Impact Analyzer](/tools/ai-job-impact-analyzer) to get specific recommendations for your legal practice.

💼Try Our Free Tool

Will AI Replace Lawyers?

Understand how AI is transforming legal work. Get an honest assessment of which legal tasks are vulnerable and how lawyers can adapt.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, with proper safeguards. Bar associations are issuing guidance that permits AI use while requiring competence, confidentiality protection, and supervision. You remain responsible for all work product - AI is a tool, not a replacement for legal judgment.
Common tools include: CoCounsel and Harvey for legal research and drafting, Kira and Luminance for contract review, Relativity and Logikcull for e-discovery, Clio and PracticePanther for practice management with AI features, and general tools like ChatGPT and Claude for drafting and brainstorming.
Use enterprise AI tools with data protection agreements, never input confidential client data into consumer AI products, anonymize information when possible, check your jurisdiction's ethics opinions, and consider on-premise AI solutions for sensitive matters.

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