Legal AI’s reputation took a hit from early, well-publicized cases of lawyers submitting briefs with fabricated citations. The tools have gotten more reliable since — but the lesson about verification stuck, and rightly so.
Contract review and due diligence
AI tools that scan contracts for non-standard clauses, missing terms, or deviations from a firm’s playbook are now common in corporate and real estate practice, turning a first-pass review that took hours into one that takes minutes — with a lawyer still required to sign off on anything that gets flagged.
Legal research with citation checking built in
Newer legal research tools are built specifically on verified case law databases rather than general-purpose models, directly addressing the fabricated-citation problem — a meaningful improvement, though the professional norm remains to verify every cited case before it goes in front of a judge.
Where AI is not replacing lawyers
Negotiation strategy, courtroom argument, and client judgment calls remain firmly human — the tools are compressing the research and drafting phases, not the advisory relationship itself.
What’s next
- AI-assisted contract negotiation — flagging likely sticking points before they reach the table.
- Court and bar association guidance continuing to formalize disclosure rules for AI-assisted filings.
- Smaller firms and solo practitioners gaining research capacity that used to require a large associate pool, narrowing a long-standing resource gap with big firms.
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