Agentic AI is here. Discover how it's transforming legal work, enabling lawyers to automate complex tasks while focusing on high-value client strategy.
Perhaps during a very brief lull, you’ve imagined having a legal assistant so fast and so capable that you can spend nearly all your professional time on high-level client strategy and building your book of business. You’re utterly confident that this assistant can plow through massive quantities of legal data and documents at high speed and deliver an insightful summary or airtight contract just when you need it.
This is the promise of agentic AI today. As a legal professional, you’ve heard of generative AI (GenAI). You may already be using GenAI in your work to automate tasks such as research and drafting. Agentic AI can do even more.
Since the beginning of the year, agentic AI has rapidly progressed from an experimental technology primarily confined to well-resourced law firms with dedicated data science teams into a more readily available tool for a broader range of legal professionals. The anticipated arrival of AI agents on legal teams is now materializing, with practical applications becoming increasingly accessible.
That’s why it’s crucial to start understanding agentic AI’s impending impact now. Its game-changing capabilities can give your practice a competitive edge in a profession that’s rapidly adopting new technology. Not keeping pace could mean being left behind.
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How agentic AI can deliver for legal professionals
Next steps for legal professionals
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Thomson Reuters ushers in the next era of AI with launch of agentic intelligence
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What is agentic AI?
Very simply, agentic AI represents the next evolution of artificial intelligence. It moves beyond passive assistants to action-driven agents that can autonomously plan, reason, and execute multi-step processes following predefined objectives under human oversight and control.
Unlike generative AI, agentic AI can dynamically adapt to changing circumstances, proactively seek information, and refine its outputs without constant human intervention. Agentic AI leverages the flexibility and language understanding of large language models (LLMs) combined with the precision of traditional programming. This gives it the ability to take on increasingly challenging problems in the real world. In addition, AI agents can conduct even more nuanced communication with users than AI chatbots like ChatGPT.
Agentic AI breaks down specific tasks, sequences action and functions, gathers the right information, takes appropriate actions, and executes workflows end-to-end. It can self-correct, refine outputs, and adjust based on new inputs. It also works seamlessly with existing enterprise systems. In other words, it works within business workflows, not outside of them. And just as importantly, it knows when to “stop” and allow human beings to take the wheel on a project.
How agentic AI can deliver for legal professionals
Whether you work for a law firm or an in-house corporate legal department, you’re likely under constant pressure to handle more work, process more information, and meet tighter deadlines. As a result, you often spend too many unbillable hours on tedious tasks such as research and document drafting. Though these tasks need to get done, they take time away from more profitable work that fully engages your expertise.
Here are a few real-life examples of how a legal professional could use agentic AI to meet these challenges:
- Legal research and memo drafting: A legal professional could task an agentic AI with researching a specific legal question, such as “What are the precedents in California regarding ‘duty of care’ for software developers?” The AI agent could then formulate a research plan for the professional to review. Then it could search relevant case law databases, statutes, and legal journals, synthesize the findings, and even draft an initial research memorandum—including sources and research notes. It could then proactively suggest related areas of inquiry or highlight recent, impactful rulings for the lawyer to consider.
- Streamlined contract analysis and due diligence: In a corporate merger or acquisition, an agentic AI can be assigned the goal of reviewing thousands of contracts from the target company. It would identify key clauses (e.g., change of control, indemnification, termination rights), flag deviations from standard terms, assess potential risks, and summarize critical information into a digestible report. The agent could also cross-reference information across multiple documents to spot inconsistencies or hidden liabilities, significantly accelerating the due diligence process.
- Case intake: Summarize case documents, build a timeline of events, and generate a high-level case analysis or strategy memo to support early case assessment and planning.
AI-powered agents don’t just retrieve and analyze documents and other legal data. They interpret, validate, and act upon it in real time within professional workflows, delivering the accuracy and accountability professionals require. They understand the objective, map out a path, and act across all the digital tools you use. It can take on high-volume tasks but defers critical decisions to your expertise.
Agentic AI is an assistant, not an attorney
Whether it’s reviewing complex contracts, conducting legal research, or drafting documents, agentic AI is not about replacing legal professionals. It’s about empowering them.
The key to the successful use of these emerging AI systems lies in human-AI collaboration. This ensures that the tool operates within defined guardrails to maintain compliance and accuracy. It works with you throughout your workflow to drive greater efficiency and more informed decision-making.
Next steps for legal professionals
Given the accelerated pace at which agentic AI is transitioning from a conceptual stage, primarily explored by technologically advanced firms late last year, into more readily available applications, professionals should now actively engage in continuous learning and exploration. This means going beyond merely deciphering future possibilities and instead seeking out demonstrations, industry-specific solutions, and educational resources on emerging agentic AI tools relevant to their practice areas. Staying informed through industry newsletters, publications, webinars, and peer discussions is crucial to understand the current capabilities, limitations, and ethical considerations of these new technologies as they become more mainstream.
Building on the foundational need for training, which was already recognized as essential, professionals must now translate that into practical skill development and workflow adaptation. This involves not only participating in training on specific AI tools but also critically analyzing their existing legal processes to identify tasks where agentic AI could introduce efficiencies or enhance service delivery. Adopting a mindset of adaptability and being willing to experiment with new tools will be key, as even if industry-wide adoption feels gradual, individual preparedness will distinguish those who can effectively leverage these advancements.
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