Top legal AI tools in 2025: the expert guide
Key takeaways
- AI adoption is now the norm. In 2025, three in four legal and compliance teams are using AI to manage workloads and compliance demands.
- Tools are designed for different users. Some platforms are designed for law firms, focusing on research or litigation, while others are aimed at in-house teams managing contracts and compliance.
- The market is crowded. With dozens of platforms available, the challenge is not using AI but choosing a tool that aligns with your workflows, governance requirements, and long-term strategy.
For many legal teams, using AI is now a baseline expectation. Stakeholders assume contracts can be turned around faster, regulators assume compliance can be monitored more closely, and executives assume the department can absorb extra work without extra headcount.
Three forces are driving those expectations: rising workloads, the mainstreaming of generative AI, and the information-heavy nature of legal work. Together, they have fuelled a surge of platforms promising speed, accuracy, and insight.
Some of these legal AI tools are built by global companies, others by legal specialists or newer entrants. The difficulty is not finding a system that claims to help, but working out which one fits how your team actually operates.
This guide will help you choose. It explains what today’s legal AI tools really do, why adoption is accelerating, and which platforms are worth your attention in 2025.
3 in 4 legal teams (77%) are using AI in 2025.
The AI Governance Gap, June 2025
At a Glance: Top Legal AI Tools in 2025
What are legal AI tools?
Legal AI tools are applications that use artificial intelligence to support the practice and operations of law. They apply large language models, natural language processing, and increasingly agentic AI, or systems that can follow instructions through a workflow and complete multi-step tasks.
In 2025, these tools are no longer limited to search or clause spotting. A contract review platform can ingest third-party paper, apply your playbook, redline the draft in Word, and escalate only the clauses that require judgement. Research systems can generate a first draft of a memo with citations, linking back to trusted sources. Litigation platforms analyse case data to help with resource allocation. Compliance tools monitor regulatory updates and feed obligations directly into dashboards.
The variety of tools now available means teams can select an approach that suits how they work. Some prefer drafting support embedded in Word. Others need enterprise platforms to find legal precedents. The right fit depends on workflow, scale, and governance requirements.
Read more: In numbers: AI adoption among legal teams. Discover our useful statistics about the adoption and value of legal AI based on research by Gartner, Thomson Reuters, Wolters Kluwer, and LEGALFLY.
Why 2025 is a turning point for legal AI adoption
AI in legal services has moved beyond testing. For legal teams in 2025, the question is no longer whether to adopt AI but which type of tool best matches their way of working. Smaller teams may favour lightweight research assistants, while larger organisations may need full lifecycle platforms with compliance monitoring.
All in all, teams are deploying it at scale, and it is reshaping how legal work is delivered. The main drivers are:
Rising demand: legal functions face growing workloads without matching budget increases. AI helps absorb routine work so lawyers can focus on tasks that require judgement.
Advances in model capability: the latest models can process longer documents, reason across multiple inputs and operate under stricter privacy controls. This makes them suitable for use in sensitive legal workflows.
Read more: A lawyer’s guide to Large Language Models (LLMs)
Workflow automation: AI is now able to complete multi-step processes. A contract review system can extract clauses, apply playbooks, draft redlines and prepare approval summaries. In litigation, AI can classify evidence, build timelines and highlight arguments.
Read more: What makes a great legal AI playbook
Market maturity: most leading platforms now meet enterprise standards for compliance and security. AI is available within Microsoft 365, contract lifecycle management (CLM), and document management systems (DMS), making adoption simpler and reducing friction.
The key categories shaping the legal AI market
The legal AI market is crowded, but most platforms can be grouped by the workflows they support. Some tools sit firmly within one category, while others extend across several.
With such a range of options, the decision for any legal team comes down to fit. A small in-house function may only need a drafting assistant in Word or Outlook. A global department managing thousands of contracts may require a CLM with compliance monitoring across jurisdictions.
Generative AI native workspaces: These are the most versatile platforms, bringing together drafting, review, contract comparison, compliance checks, and legal research in a single secure environment.
Contract lifecycle management (CLM): End-to-end systems for managing contracts from drafting through negotiation, execution, and renewal. Many now embed AI features such as playbook-driven drafting or obligation tracking, but their focus remains on contract workflow management at scale.
Contracting point solutions: These platforms focus on a single aspect of the contracting workflow - usually either review or drafting. Using AI to make these processes more efficient, they overlap with Generative AI native workspaces, but are narrower in scope.
Read more:
The 9 best AI contract review software tools for 2025
Best AI tools for legal drafting in 2025
Litigation and e-discovery: These tools are designed for disputes. They can sort and classify evidence, search through very large sets of documents, and model possible outcomes. Adoption is strongest in the US, where more structured litigation data is available. Some also generate case summaries, memos, and draft arguments, making them useful everyday assistants for law firms and in-house counsel.
Compliance and risk management: These platforms monitor regulatory changes, extract obligations from contracts, and produce reports. They are valuable for global businesses that need to manage compliance across multiple jurisdictions.
Legal operations and workflow management: These tools focus on the systems, tools, and processes that optimize how legal work is managed, tracked, and delivered. They support knowledge search, reuse of past work, matter management, time recording, and spend analysis. The aim is to deliver consistency and reduce wasted effort.
Intellectual property and trademarks: This category is more specialised. Tools here help automate the drafting of patent claims and support trademark searches and clearance.
Our expert picks: the top 5 legal AI platforms in 2025
The legal technology landscape in 2025 is crowded with AI platforms, but not all of them are built with the same audience in mind. Some focus on in-house legal teams, others on law firms. Here are five of the most notable platforms.
LEGALFLY – AI for in-house legal teams
LEGALFLY is built for corporate legal, compliance, and procurement work. It is designed to help in-house teams work faster, more securely, and with greater accuracy. As a secure AI associate, LEGALFLY supports contract drafting, review, legal research and compliance monitoring, while keeping teams in full control of confidentiality and outputs.
Key features:
- Enterprise-grade anonymisation: Automatically removes confidential data before processing.
- Microsoft integration: Works directly in Word.
- LLM-agnostic approach: Selects the best model for each task.
- Agentic workflows: Configurable AI agents for reviewing, drafting, comparing, and discovery.
- Legally grounded outputs: Results are validated against legal sources.
Security-first: Certified to ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II standards.
See LEGALFLY in action
Request a demo today to see how LEGALFLY could work for your organisation.
2. CoCounsel Legal (Thomson Reuters) – built for law firms
Branded as an AI assistant, CoCounsel extends Thomson Reuters’ Westlaw and Practical Law ecosystem with AI research and drafting capabilities. It helps law firms deliver precedent-backed answers quickly but is less relevant to the day-to-day needs of corporate legal teams.
Key features:
- Access to Westlaw and Practical Law content.
- AI-assisted drafting for memos and contracts.
- Automated legal research with references.
- Designed primarily for firm-based advisory work.
3. Clio Duo – practice management with AI
Clio Duo is integrated into the Clio practice management suite and uses GPT to streamline case workflows. It focuses on law firm administration and client service, not enterprise legal operations.
Key features:
- Extracts insights from case files.
- Suggests billable time entries.
- Generates draft emails and documents.
- Manages litigation tasks and deadlines.
4. Everlaw – AI for eDiscovery
Everlaw is a litigation and eDiscovery platform that helps law firms process vast amounts of case data. It is valuable for disputes and investigations but not tailored for contract-heavy in-house work.
Key features:
- AI Assistant for large-scale document review.
- Intelligent clustering to identify patterns.
- Automated case timeline generation.
- Collaboration features for litigation teams.
5. Lexis+ AI – legal research and analytics
Lexis+ AI is the flagship AI platform from LexisNexis. Built on proprietary case law and analytics tools like Lex Machina, it gives litigators deep research and predictive insights, rather than supporting corporate contracting workflows.
Key features:
- AI-driven legal research with citations.
- Litigation outcome analytics.
- Drafting support for legal arguments and memos.
- Optimised for law firm use cases.
Honourable mentions: the general-purpose AI shaping legal work
Not every tool transforming legal workflows in 2025 is built specifically for the legal sector. A handful of general-purpose AI platforms are setting the pace in model development, and legal teams are adopting them through secure deployments, APIs, and integrations. They are not replacements for dedicated legal AI platforms like LEGALFLY, but they influence how fast the industry moves.
Microsoft Copilot
Copilot is embedded directly into Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Outlook, Excel, and Teams. For lawyers, this means AI support is available inside the tools they already use every day. Copilot can summarise correspondence, draft a first version of a contract clause, or extract data from spreadsheets. It is not legal-specific, so its use is limited to basic workflows. However, its ubiquity makes it an important entry point for legal AI adoption, particularly in enterprises already running on Microsoft infrastructure.
ChatGPT (OpenAI)
ChatGPT is widely deployed across industries and is often a first step into generative AI for legal teams. Its advantages include flexible drafting, research assistance, and secure data handling policies that prevent training on customer inputs. While it lacks legal grounding out of the box, firms and in-house teams use it for brainstorming, summarisation, and structured queries, often in combination with more specialised platforms.
Claude (Anthropic)
Claude has a very large context window and the ability to reason across long documents. This makes it attractive for legal use cases such as contract review, where entire agreements can be ingested and analysed in one prompt. In August 2025, Anthropic said it will train its AI models on chat transcripts and coding sessions from consumer accounts unless users actively opt out.
Gemini (Google DeepMind)
Gemini is Google’s most advanced AI model and is multimodal, so capable of working across text, code, and data. For legal operations, its potential lies in compliance monitoring, knowledge management, and integration with Google Workspace. While adoption is still emerging compared to Microsoft Copilot, it could play a growing role in knowledge-heavy sectors, including law.
What the strongest legal AI platforms have in common
Not every tool marketed as “AI for law” is worth your time. The features that matter depend on context. What a small in-house team needs is not the same as what a global law firm requires. Still, the strongest tools share a set of characteristics:
Grounded outputs
Drafts and summaries should be linked to trusted sources such as case law, prior contracts, or internal knowledge repositories.
Contract intelligence at scale
Clause extraction, playbook enforcement, and redline suggestions are important. Larger organisations often need platforms that can manage the full review cycle from intake through escalation, while smaller teams may only require a redlining assistant in Word.
Predictive analytics with transparency
Litigation and risk tools use predictive analytics to surface judge behaviour, venue data, and outcome probabilities. For litigators, this informs high-stakes strategy and settlement planning. For in-house teams, it supports resource allocation and early case assessment.
Workflow automation
Systems that string tasks together are valuable for high-volume functions. Teams with lighter caseloads may prefer point solutions that fit alongside existing processes.
Discovery and compliance at volume
The ability to sift terabytes of documents, flag privilege, and map obligations into dashboards will be a priority for global businesses managing regulatory exposure, but less relevant to leaner legal teams.
Enterprise-grade security
Reliable platforms will anonymise sensitive data before processing, enforce strict data segregation, and provide governance controls that stand up to regulatory scrutiny, backed by recognised certifications such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II.
Choosing the right legal AI tool: what to prioritise
The right choice depends on how closely the product maps to your own workflows. A few points that matter:
Focus on bottlenecks
Start with tasks that are slow but repetitive, or where external spend is highest. That is usually contracts, discovery, or compliance monitoring.
Integration is everything
Tools embedded into Word, Outlook, Teams, CLM or DMS will be easier to use. Platforms that force lawyers to leave their core environment often stall.
Interrogate security claims
Don’t take “enterprise-grade” at face value. Get specifics on certifications, data retention, and training exclusions.
Proven ROI
Build a model that shows hours saved, reduction in outside counsel use, or error rates avoided. General “efficiency” claims will not persuade a CFO or GC.
Vendor durability
Check reference clients, financial stability, and the product roadmap. Many providers will not survive consolidation, so choose with an eye on continuity.
The risks legal teams face when adopting AI
AI is no longer experimental, but adoption is not without risks. Much depends on the provider a team chooses and the safeguards they put in place:
Data privacy and confidentiality
Enterprise-grade vendors offer encryption, segregation and strict data-use policies. Others may not. Selecting the wrong provider can expose sensitive client information.
Bias and accuracy
Models differ in training data and reasoning methods. Some providers prioritise transparency and validation, while others leave more to the end user. Inaccurate or biased outputs remain a risk without human oversight.
Overreliance on automation
Tools vary in scope. Platforms designed to support workflows can keep lawyers in control, while less mature products may encourage over-delegation. Judgement must remain with the lawyer.
Change management
Vendors differ in how much support they provide for rollout. Without training and integration help, licences alone will not deliver results.
Read more: The hidden AI dangers in your organisation
Legal AI is now a core layer of the legal stack
The legal AI market in 2025 is diverse. There are platforms for every function, from contract lifecycle management and litigation support to research, compliance, and operations. Each tool has its place, but the right choice depends on workflow, scale, and governance requirements.
For in-house legal teams, the best fit is LEGALFLY. It is a secure legal AI associate, built specifically for corporate legal, compliance, and procurement functions. LEGALFLY integrates directly with Microsoft 365 and focuses on the operational tasks that consume the most time: comprehensive contract review, multi-document comparisons, and compliance checks. At the same time, agentic workflows extend into the broader role of the in-house lawyer, supporting due diligence, legal research, and drafting.
Legal teams use LEGALFLY for:
- Contract review & redlining
- Multi-document clause comparison
- Compliance monitoring across jurisdictions
- Due diligence review
- Legal research summaries
- Contract drafting
Beyond the platform itself, we support adoption. From playbook setup to data privacy safeguards, we help legal departments deploy AI in ways that are practical, safe, and sustainable. With LEGALFLY, teams can reduce cycle times, cut costs, and focus on higher-value legal judgement.
FAQs on legal AI tools in 2025
What is the best legal AI tool in 2025?
The answer depends on your role. Law firms often choose research and drafting platforms such as Harvey AI or Lexis+ AI, while in-house legal teams need tools built for contracting and compliance. For corporate teams, LEGALFLY is a top choice. It’s a secure AI associate designed to accelerate review, drafting, and due diligence.
Are legal AI tools safe to use with confidential data?
For legal work, confidentiality is non-negotiable. Not all platforms meet enterprise standards, so look for automatic anonymisation, alongside certifications such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II, and clear data-use policies. LEGALFLY was designed with privacy at its core: sensitive information is anonymised before processing, ensuring it is never exposed or reused.
Will AI replace lawyers in 2025?
No. AI tools automate repetitive work such as clause extraction, summarisation, and playbook enforcement, but legal judgement remains with lawyers. Platforms like LEGALFLY are built to act as secure associates that reduce cycle times, not replace decision-making.
How do I choose the right legal AI tool for my team?
Start by mapping your team’s biggest workflow bottlenecks, integration needs, and governance requirements. Some teams need support with drafting, others with compliance checks, research, or knowledge management. Law firms may prioritise litigation and analytics, while corporate legal departments look for tools that integrate into day-to-day operations.
Disclaimer: We wrote this article in Q3 2025. The information was based on our own online research and we were not able to manually test each tool or provider. The information is provided for educational purposes only and a reader should consider the specific requirements of their business when evaluating providers. This research is reviewed every six months. If you would like to request an update, feel free to contact us at marketing@legalfly.com.
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