A comprehensive overview of AI and law in this one-stop guide.
Highlights
- AI usage among legal professionals has nearly doubled in the past year, with 26% now using GenAI at work.
- Professional-grade AI, trained on verified legal content, is essential for accuracy and security, unlike consumer-grade tools that can provide incorrect information.
- Ethical obligations, including human supervision to manage bias and factual inaccuracies, are paramount, with the ABA and state bars issuing guidance for lawyers using AI.
As legal professionals increasingly integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into their workflows, the essence of legal work is shifting. According to the Thomson Reuters Institute 2025 Generative AI in Professional Services Report, 26% of legal professionals now utilize generative AI (GenAI) in their daily activities—almost double the 14% reported in 2024. Leading this charge are attorneys from law firms, followed closely by in-house counsel and government lawyers. This shift suggests that AI will not just assist, but profoundly transform the roles of legal practitioners.
Insights from the 2025 Thomson Reuters Future of Professionals Report reveal that 80% of professionals anticipate a significant or transformational impact on their roles due to AI within the next five years. Many express excitement over AI’s potential to free up time, enhance efficiency, and elevate the quality of work produced. To thrive in this evolving environment, legal teams must adapt to these advancements while adhering to their ethical duties. This guide serves as a comprehensive resource for attorneys in both law firms and in-house settings, helping them navigate this intricate AI landscape.
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What is AI in the legal context?
Core use cases of AI in legal practice
Legal ethics and regulatory considerations
Perspectives from legal leaders
How can your legal team prepare?
What is AI in the legal context?
It’s essential to clarify some of the fundamental terms associated with AI in the legal domain:
- AI refers to technologies capable of simulating human capabilities, including learning, reasoning, and language comprehension.
- Machine Learning (ML) is a subset of AI that utilizes patterns in data to inform decisions.
- Generative AI (GenAI) produces new content—text, images, audio, and video—based on user input. Notable examples include ChatGPT and CoPilot.
- Natural Language Processing (NLP) enables machines to understand and generate human language, acting as a backbone for many AI applications.
- Agentic AI applies reasoning to execute multi-step tasks while under human supervision.
- Consumer-grade tools, such as ChatGPT, draw from a broad yet sometimes unreliable base of information, leading to possible inaccuracies.
- Professional-grade AI, as seen with products like CoCounsel Legal, relies on rigorously curated, verified legal content, making it suitable for essential legal processes.
Importantly, while AI may enhance legal reasoning, it does not replace it. Legal professionals must still apply their expertise and judgement when interpreting the information AI provides.
Timeline of AI in law
The integration of AI into the legal field has accelerated dramatically in recent years, although its roots reach back more than a decade. The early 2000s saw the rise of e-discovery technologies leveraging AI to improve document searches, with companies such as Clio pioneering these innovations. Between 2010 and 2018, the focus shifted toward legal analytics, with Thomson Reuters Westlaw incorporating AI into legal research in 2010, followed by LexisNexis in 2017.
From 2020 onward, the advent of GenAI has revolutionized legal practices, allowing unprecedented efficiency gains. New companies like Harvey AI emerged, alongside existing legal vendors enhancing their capabilities.
Core use cases of AI in legal practice
Legal professionals leverage AI in various areas, some of the standout use cases highlighted in the 2025 Generative AI Report include:
Document review and analysis
Document review and analysis are among the most frequent applications, with AI processing vast amounts of data in mere seconds—tasks that traditionally consume hours, if not days. This empowers lawyers to sift through extensive case files and contracts efficiently.
Legal research
Professional-grade AI tools facilitate in-depth research grounded in proprietary, reliable content, ensuring that legal professionals can access accurate information.
Document summarization
AI’s ability to summarize documents significantly reduces the time spent on finding relevant details for particular cases or projects.
Brief or memo writing
Legal AI tools streamline the process of writing briefs and memos, helping professionals locate citations, maintain consistency, and provide answers to relevant queries.
Contract drafting
AI aids in contract drafting by identifying pertinent documents, suggesting established clauses, and incorporating preferred language effectively.
Correspondence drafting
Drafting correspondence, often a laborious process, is expedited with AI assisting in email and letter writing, suggesting phrasing, and automating various elements.
AI in the courtroom
A notable instance occurred in June 2023 when an attorney submitted a brief authored with ChatGPT’s assistance, only for the judge to discover that six of the cited cases were fabricated. This incident underscores the caution surrounding AI’s deployment in legal settings. The Thomson Reuters Generative AI in Professional Services Report 2024 revealed that 31% of court workers expressed concern regarding AI’s use—more than any other professional sector in the survey.
Sentiment on the future of GenAI
| Hesitant |
35% |
| Hopeful |
23% |
| Excited |
21% |
| Concerned |
16% |
| Fearful |
2%% |
| None of these |
2%% |
Source: Thomson Reuters 2024 Generative AI in Professional Services
“Courts will likely face the issue of whether to admit evidence generated in whole or in part from GenAI or LLMs, and new standards for reliability and admissibility may develop for this type of evidence.”
Head of Product, CoCounsel Transactional & GCOs
Despite the sensationalized narratives surrounding AI in legal proceedings, the hesitation observed within courts indicates a careful approach to adopting these technologies as they seek to define their role within the legal framework.
One US judge expressed, “AI saves time and levels the playing field for certain tasks and professions, but it’s also a bit dangerous. If it gets censored, it will inevitably be biased. However, for computing and translating data, I think it is amazing.”
Legal ethics and regulatory considerations
The deployment of AI brings forth numerous benefits for legal practitioners, yet it simultaneously introduces ethical challenges. Potential biases in training data stem from historical inequities and flawed algorithms, underscoring the necessity of human oversight when utilizing general-purpose AI.
The American Bar Association (ABA) formalized its stance on AI in 2024, addressing the ethical implications surrounding GenAI. Various state and local bar associations have also begun providing recommendations in line with these guidelines.
AI regulations continue to evolve, with the European Union leading the charge by enacting a comprehensive AI regulatory framework in June 2024. In contrast, the U.S. lacks equivalent federal mandates, although existing laws like the California Privacy Rights Act address certain aspects of AI use.
Infographic
Data and AI ethics principles. Promoting trustworthiness and integrity in AI development and deployment.
Data privacy and security
With the increasing risk of cyber threats, legal professionals must prioritize data privacy and security, particularly when handling sensitive client information. Professional-grade AI solutions should adhere to stringent security standards to maintain client trust.
Thomson Reuters underscores its dedication to data security and compliance through a robust information security management framework. For further details, you can visit the Thomson Reuters Trust Center.
What do legal leaders say about AI?
Legal leaders’ experiences with AI have highlighted both its benefits and challenges. Many have vocally praised AI’s ability to save significant amounts of time in various tasks.
Jarret Coleman, general counsel at Century Communities, noted, “A task that would previously have taken an hour was completed in five minutes or less. Something that would have taken us a couple of weeks to do now gets back to the business side in a day or two. That’s huge.”
John Polson, Chairman and Managing Partner at Fisher Phillips, LLP, added, “CoCounsel is truly revolutionary legal tech. Its power to increase our attorneys’ efficiency has already benefited our clients. And we have only scratched the surface of this incredible technology.”
While productivity improvements enhance work-life balance, security and reliability remain primary concerns.
Echoing this enthusiasm, Scott Bailey, director of research and knowledge services at Eversheds Sutherland, stated, “The AI landscape is transformed with CoCounsel. The power of this technology, deployed in a product that is secure and reliable, is a huge leap forward.”
How can your legal team prepare?
Legal teams that approach AI tool adoption thoughtfully are more likely to succeed:
AI readiness checklist
A well-structured checklist can assist you in:
- Identifying relevant use cases
- Understanding responsible AI usage
- Gaining support from peers and leadership
- Researching and selecting appropriate tools
AI education and training resources
Thomson Reuters offers scholarly articles covering valuable topics such as:
- Segmenting handwritten and printed text in marked-up legal documents
- The best techniques for prompting GenAI
- Effectiveness of uncertainty quantification in text classification
- Concepts for developing a computational attorney
AI evaluation criteria
When evaluating legal AI tools or vendors, consider the following:
- Is the tool trained on a reliable legal database, not just the open internet?
- If yes, what legal sources are utilized?
- Does it cater to the specific legal tasks you need assistance with?
- Will it integrate smoothly with your existing platforms?
- What’s the vendor’s history in working with AI technology?
- Above all, how does the solution ensure data privacy and security?
Cross-functional planning
Engage all relevant teams to ensure comprehensive AI adoption throughout the organization.
A new era for legal thinking
The time to embrace AI legal solutions is now. Legal professionals and organizations that seize AI’s capability to enhance expertise will find themselves at a distinct advantage—not as a replacement for human insight, but as a valuable augmentation of their skills.
Investment in education and a reflective approach to adopting these tools can drive significant progress within the profession. Thomson Reuters stands committed to supporting legal professionals eager to lead in this transformative era.