5 Best Legal AI Applications to Simplify Litigation

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial intelligence isn’t a brand-new technology, but law firms are only recently coming to learn to adopt it. So, before we talk about AI tools for lawyers, let’s take a closer look at what AI is and what it can do.

AI refers to the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior. Essentially, it’s about creating systems that can perform tasks that would normally require human operation, such as recognizing speech, making decisions, translating languages, and identifying patterns.

AI can range from basic automation (like sorting emails) to more complex functions (like driving cars). However, for the legal industry, the central goal of AI is to make traditionally tedious tasks much faster, easier, and more consistent.

Machine Learning (ML)

Machine Learning (ML) is a core part of AI that involves algorithms and statistical models that allow computers to perform specific tasks without using explicit instructions. Instead, these systems learn and improve their performance based on the data they process.

This learning process can be supervised, unsupervised, or semi-supervised, and it’s widely used in applications ranging from email filtering and recommendation systems to more advanced predictive analytics in industries like law and finance.

Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Natural Language Processing, or NLP, sits at the crossroads of tech and language. It revolves around teaching computers how to understand and speak human language.

NLP makes it possible for machines to translate languages, follow voice commands, summarize big chunks of text, and even write up text that sounds human. This technology is behind why your digital assistant can understand you and respond in a way that actually makes sense.

Large Language Model (LLM)

A large language model (LLM) is an advanced AI tool designed to mimic human language in a useful manner. It learns from a massive pile of data—like books, articles, and websites—to grasp grammar, context, and the ways we communicate. 

This data, when combined with human feedback, allows the model to understand and respond to text inputs, which makes it incredibly useful for things like chatbots, helping with translations, or generating content.

The Use of AI in the Legal Industry

As we’ve said before, the use of AI is still fairly new for legal professionals for several reasons. For one, the legal field is steeped in tradition and often prefers tried-and-tested methods over new, unproven technologies.

Plus, many law professionals argue that legal reasoning involves a lot of nuances that AI, as of now, might not fully grasp. The interpretation of law often requires a deep understanding of context, precedent, and subtext—all areas where human judgment currently has the upper hand over machines.

Hesitations surrounding using AI in legal practice are all valid. However, let’s go back to what AI aims to accomplish: make tedious tasks more manageable. AI certainly has its limitations, but there are plenty of areas where it can surpass human capacity:

Document Generation and Review

AI is transforming the way lawyers create and review legal documents through document automation. More specifically, it’s making the process both faster and more accurate.

Here’s how document automation works: AI-powered tools use pre-designed templates that lawyers can quickly fill with specific details relevant to their cases. This can include everything from personal information to specific clauses tailored to the needs of the client.

Once the document is drafted, AI goes through each line to check for compliance with current legal standards and regulations. It also scans for inconsistencies, errors, or omissions that could potentially lead to legal issues down the line.

Here are a few examples of documents that generative AI tools like Briefpoint.ai can draft:

• Discovery response documents
• Legal contracts
• Lease agreements
• Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)
• Purchase agreements
• Loan agreements
• Terms of service and privacy policies
• Employment offer letters
• Wills and trusts
• Power of attorney
• Litigation documents
• Corporate bylaws and shareholder agreements
• Demand letters
• Legal briefs and memorandums
• Bankruptcy forms
• Patent and trademark applications

Legal Research

You can’t use AI to conduct legal research for you, but legal research tools can make this usually tedious task quicker and more efficient.

With automated search features, legal professionals can simply type in their queries and instantly pull up relevant case law, statutes, and detailed articles. This technology saves a ton of time that used to be spent digging through legal databases and piles of books.

Document Management

Modern legal teams rarely use paper documents nowadays, but even with an electronic database, managing and organizing files can still be a challenge.

AI-driven document management systems help keep all those important legal documents well-organized and easy to find. You can quickly search for what you need using keywords, case names, or other specific details, which saves you from the hassle of sifting through endless digital folders and other legal documents.

Plus, AI steps up security. It sets up strict access controls and keeps detailed records of who accessed what and when, so sensitive information stays safe but accessible to those who need it.

Due Diligence

Due diligence is another incredibly time-consuming task in the legal profession, which is why it’s one of the targets of AI solutions.

Due diligence requires professionals to review all documents and facts before making decisions, especially in matters like mergers, acquisitions, or investments. It’s a critical step because overlooking even a tiny detail can lead to major legal and financial headaches later on.

AI is making this process more manageable by speeding it up. Using sophisticated algorithms, AI tools can quickly sift through mountains of data, spot compliance issues, assess risks, and flag anything that looks off for a closer look. What used to take legal teams weeks can now be done in just a few days, and more accurately too.

These AI systems also get smarter over time, learning from the data they analyze. This means they can offer sharper insights and better predictions with each project.

Contract Review and Drafting

Contract review and drafting are key parts of legal work, where the goal is to create clear, precise agreements that legally bind all involved parties. Today, AI tools help draft contracts by using smart templates and customized clauses that fit the specific needs of each deal.

AI plays a big role in contract review as well. It automatically checks lengthy documents for errors, inconsistencies, and any vague terms that could cause trouble. It can even compare the contract with legal standards and past agreements to make sure you don’t miss anything important.

Litigation Analysis

Lawyers can use legal AI software to quickly sift through tons of past court decisions, spot relevant legal precedents, and see how they stack up against the details of the current case. This litigation tech gives lawyers insights that would usually take a lot more time and effort to gather.

Such insights can provide a huge advantage when preparing for a case, as they help lawyers anticipate possible challenges and craft more effective legal strategies.

Client Communications

There’s no denying that customers and clients expect prompt responses, no matter the industry. In law, however, quick replies can be even more important, since clients (both existing and prospective) are typically dealing with issues they want quick resolutions to.

Luckily, lawyers or even paralegals don’t have to spend a lot of time on client communications anymore. AI-driven tools like chatbots can automatically respond to routine client inquiries about case status or legal procedures. This automation makes sure clients receive immediate answers to their questions, which improves their overall experience.

AI also has the ability to understand, process, and incorporate client communications in things like legal documents. For example, Briefpoint Bridge lets attorneys collect and incorporate client responses directly into discovery requests without the constant back-and-forth.

The Benefits of Legal AI Tools

How can AI improve the legal workflows in your law firm? What are the indirect but equally important advantages of more efficient tasks? If you’re on the fence about integrating AI into your practice, here are several reasons that might convince you to take the leap:

Increased Efficiency

AI cranks up the speed on a lot of the time-consuming legal tasks like reviewing documents, digging through legal research, and analyzing contracts. This means lawyers and paralegals can get through more cases faster, which improves their productivity, reduces burnout, and leads to better law firm profitability.

Improved Accuracy

AI follows rules to the letter and can sift through huge piles of information with spot-on accuracy. This cuts down on human mistakes, which helps make sure that every document is correct and every piece of relevant case law is considered.

Cost Reduction

If you let an AI tool take over the routine tasks, you can cut down on the need for so much hands-on time from legal teams, which can translate to significant savings. Law firms can then make their prices more competitive, making legal help more accessible to more people.

Better Data Insights

AI isn’t just fast; it’s also smart. It can handle and analyze data in ways we simply can’t match, spotting trends and patterns in case law, predicting case outcomes based on past data, and giving lawyers solid insights to help them shape their case strategies.

Improved Legal Services

All these advantages lead to our main goal: making legal services more effective and accessible.

By automating routine tasks like document analysis and legal research, AI allows lawyers to focus on the more complex aspects of their cases. This leads to a higher quality of service, as legal professionals can dedicate more time to strategy and client interaction.

Additionally, AI-driven tools provide more accurate and faster results, which reduces the likelihood of errors and speeding up case resolution. This overall efficiency and precision ensure that clients receive top-notch legal support tailored to their specific circumstances.

Best Legal AI Tools to Complete Your Litigation Stack

There are dozens of AI-centered tools designed specifically for legal firms, but we’re going to focus on software tailored for litigation.

Litigation is undoubtedly one of the most tedious legal practices. So, how can AI technology make this area faster, easier, and more accurate?

Here are the 5 of the best tools for litigation:

1. Briefpoint.ai: Discovery Document Generation

Briefpoint.ai is an innovative legal document automation tool designed to create discovery documents in legal cases. It simplifies the often time-consuming process of preparing these essential documents, which helps legal teams get everything ready more efficiently and accurately for the discovery phase.

Briefpoint is also incredibly easy to use. First, users upload their discovery requests into the system, and the tool automatically fills in these templates using data from integrated legal databases. From here, users can add objections and responses, both from lawyers and clients.

Although the AI handles the heavy lifting, there’s still an opportunity for manual review and edits to fine-tune the documents. However, it won’t take as much time as manual processes.

The documents you can generate with Briefpoint include but are not limited to:

• Requests for production
• Requests for admission
• Interrogatories

Key Features

• Automated document creation: Quickly generates discovery documents based on specific case details, reducing manual input and speeding up the prep work.
• Template customization: Offers customizable templates to make sure that documents meet the specific needs and standards of different legal proceedings.
• Data integration: Seamlessly integrates with existing legal databases to pull relevant information to guarantee comprehensive and accurate document preparation.

Pros

• Increased efficiency: Reduces the time legal teams spend on document generation and allows them to focus on more strategic tasks.
• Accuracy and compliance: Minimizes human error and ensures that all documents comply with current legal standards and requirements.
• Scalability: Easily handles large volumes of documents, which makes it suitable for both small cases and large-scale litigation.

2. Casetext: Legal Research

Casetext is an AI-powered legal research tool designed to assist lawyers and legal professionals in finding relevant case law, statutes, and legal precedents. 

With advanced machine learning algorithms, Casetext optimizes the traditional research process and allows users to uncover important legal insights with better efficiency.

Key Features

• CARA A.I. technology: This lets users upload a legal brief and immediately get back relevant case laws and statutes that match the issues in the brief.
• SmartCite citation tool: It checks how strong your cited cases are and gives you the context of how they’ve been treated in other legal arguments.
• Search autocomplete: This feature predicts your search queries to save you time and make your search process smoother.

Pros

• Speed and accuracy: Casetext cuts down the time it takes to do thorough legal research and increases the accuracy of what you find.
• Ease of use: The platform is user-friendly, even for those who aren’t tech-savvy.
• Contextual insights: Provides a deeper understanding of how different laws and cases are interconnected, giving you a bigger picture.

Cons

• Subscription cost: It’s a useful tool, but it comes at a price, which might be something to think about for smaller firms or solo practitioners.
• Dependence on document quality: The quality of the results from CARA A.I. really depends on the quality of the document you upload; a poorly drafted document might lead to less than optimal results.
• Learning curve: It’s pretty user-friendly, but new users might still need a bit of time to get the hang of all its features.

3. Lex Machina: Legal Analytics

Lex Machina is hands down one of the best platforms for legal analytics. It dives deep into litigation data to pull out insights and trends from past court cases. 

Essentially, it’s built to help lawyers and legal teams make smarter decisions by analyzing the behavior of judges, opposing counsel, and overall case outcomes.

Key Features

• Litigation data and trends: Lex Machina sifts through heaps of litigation data to offer detailed analytics on case aspects like judge rulings, case timelines, and likely outcomes.
• Judge and attorney analysis: This feature provides insights into the decision-making patterns of judges and strategies of opposing attorneys.
• Outcome predictions: By studying historical data, Lex Machina can forecast the potential outcomes of cases, which assists lawyers in preparing their cases and advising their clients.

Pros

• Strategic advantage: The insights from Lex Machina can provide a serious edge in court, which helps legal teams foresee challenges and tweak strategies accordingly.
• Upgraded preparation: Knowing how judges and opposing lawyers have acted in the past helps lawyers tailor their approach and come to court better prepared.
• Data-driven decisions: Armed with solid data, lawyers can make more informed decisions, cut down on uncertainties, and improve how they manage their cases.

Cons

• Complexity of data: The amount of data Lex Machina offers can be overwhelming and might take some time to fully understand and use effectively.
• Cost: The price tag for Lex Machina can be steep, especially for smaller law firms or solo practitioners who might find it hard to justify the expense.

4. Smith.ai: Client Intake

Smith.ai is an AI legal assistant tool that simplifies the client intake process for law firms. It automates the initial interactions with potential clients, which captures and organizes their details efficiently. 

This helps law firms respond faster and maximize client satisfaction right from the start.

Key Features

• Automated client interactions: Smith.ai uses AI to manage early communications with clients, gathering important information through chatbots or virtual receptionists.
• Integration capabilities: The platform integrates smoothly with a firm’s existing customer relationship management (CRM) systems for efficient data collection and storage.
• Customizable workflows: Law firms can customize the client intake process to suit their specific needs, setting up tailored responses and follow-up actions based on the incoming information.

Pros

• Improved efficiency: Automating the client intake saves time for both the clients and the law firm’s staff
• Better client experience: Fast and professional initial responses help make a great first impression and set the tone for a good client relationship.
• Accurate data capture: AI makes sure the information from clients is captured accurately and consistently to minimize errors and incomplete legal data.

Cons

• Dependence on technology: Heavy reliance on automated systems can be tricky if there are technical glitches or if the system misses some nuanced client needs.
• Initial setup and training: Getting Smith.ai up and running can involve some initial investment in terms of setup and training to make sure it blends well with existing processes.
• Potential for impersonal service: While AI increases efficiency, some clients might miss the personal touch during their first interaction with a law firm, which could feel a bit impersonal when handled by AI.

5. EvenUp: Demand Drafting

Finally, we have EvenUp, a specialized AI tool designed to redefine the drafting of demand letters. 

It automates and fine-tunes the creation of these letters, which helps make sure they hit all the right notes—accurate, compliant, and perfectly suited to the specifics of each case.

Key Features

• Automated drafting: EvenUp leverages AI to whip up demand letters swiftly so they include all necessary legal jargon and details without missing a beat.
• Customization options: The tool offers customization features that let you tailor each letter to fit the unique demands of different cases.
• Integration with case data: It seamlessly syncs with your existing case management systems, pulling in relevant details to beef up the letters with all the needed info.

Pros

• Consistency and accuracy: The AI sees to it that every letter is consistent with legal standards and free from errors, which helps maintain professionalism and effectiveness.
• Personalized touch: Despite being automated, EvenUp’s customization options allow for a personal touch in every letter, which makes them more effective in conveying the specific demands of the client.

Cons

• Learning curve: Getting the hang of all the features and integration capabilities might take some time for new users.
• Reliance on accurate data: The effectiveness of the drafted letters heavily depends on the accuracy of the data input into the system.

Make Discovery Faster & Easier With Briefpoint.ai

Discovery responses cost firms $23,240, per year, per attorney. $23,240 estimate assumes an associate attorney salary of $150,000 (including benefits – or $83 an hour), 20 cases per year/per associate, 4 discovery sets per case, 30 questions per set, 3.5 hours spent responding to each set, and 1800 hours of billable hours per year.

Under these assumptions, you save $20,477 using Briefpoint, per year, per attorney.

Test Briefpoint yourself by scheduling a demo here.