Clio
The leading practice management platform for firms, with Clio Duo AI inside.
- The operational backbone thousands of firms run on
- AI where the matter data already lives
- SMB-firm friendly, long track record
All guides Industries
More law. Less paperwork about law.
Legal work is judgment wrapped in enormous amounts of reading and writing. AI now does much of the wrapping: research summarised, first drafts produced, documents reviewed, intake handled. The firms adopting it bill the same hours for deeper work. This guide covers what is real, the platforms, and when custom fits.
- Researchhours become minutes
- First draftsfrom your precedents
- Confidentialby design, or not at all
- Judgmentstays with the lawyer
What AI does in a law firm
Four workloads, all real today. Research: questions answered against sources, with citations to check. Drafting: first versions from your precedents and style. Review: contracts and files read against playbooks at diligence speed. Operations: intake, conflicts, time capture and client updates handled by systems instead of evenings. The judgment, strategy and signature remain the lawyer's.
01
A matter arrives
Intake structured by AI: the facts organised, the documents ingested, conflicts checked.
02
Research with receipts
Questions answered from sources with citations, a starting map instead of a blank library.
03
Drafts from your own paper
First versions built on the firm's precedents and clauses, in the firm's voice.
04
The lawyer lawyers
Review, strategy and the client conversation, on top of work that arrives pre-chewed.
When this solution makes sense
A good fit if
- Associates spend evenings on first drafts and document review
- Research eats hours the client will not fully pay for
- Intake and client updates lag because everyone is billing
- Precedents exist but live in folders nobody can search well
- Diligence and disclosure reviews strain the team at deadline
Probably not yet if
- The practice is pure advocacy and negotiation with little paper
- No one will verify AI output, which in law is disqualifying
- Confidentiality rules are treated as an obstacle rather than a design input
- The firm expects AI opinions to sign themselves
What changes
Turnaround the client notices
Days become hours on drafts and reviews, and responsiveness becomes the differentiator.
Leverage without more juniors
The same team carries more matters because the mechanical layer is handled.
The firm's knowledge, working
Precedents and past matters become searchable assets instead of folder archaeology.
Operations that keep pace
Intake, updates and time capture run on rails, and evenings return to law or to life.
What teams use it for
- Legal research with citations
- Contract drafting and review
- Due diligence document sweeps
- Client intake and conflicts
- Matter summaries and updates
- Precedent search and reuse
The established platforms
These platforms lead legal AI. They are real, established options, and for many firms one of them is the right answer.
Harvey
The high-profile legal AI for research, drafting and analysis, born for large practice.
- Purpose-built legal reasoning at the top end
- Adopted by major firms worldwide
- Strong on complex, multi-document work
Lexis+ AI
LexisNexis research with generative AI grounded in its authoritative content.
- Grounded in a primary-law database
- Citations designed to be checkable
- An institution firms already trust
Spellbook
Contract drafting and review in Word, sized for smaller firms.
- Lives inside Word where contracts happen
- Fast to adopt without an IT project
- Priced and shaped for small teams
Legora
The European legal AI workspace spreading rapidly across firms.
- Built with European firms and languages in mind
- Research, review and drafting together
- Momentum across EU jurisdictions
Off the shelf or custom?
When a platform is enough
For research, drafting and review in common practice areas, the platforms above are strong and get the confidentiality architecture right. A small firm can adopt practice-management AI plus a drafting tool and feel the difference in a month.
When custom wins
Custom wins on the firm's own knowledge and the Spanish market: precedent systems trained on your matters, intake tuned to your practice areas, workflows in Spanish and Catalan the global tools underserve, and private deployments where the material demands it. We build the firm's private layer; the platforms remain tools within it.
Where Sabemos fits
Custom build
We build private AI for firms: your precedents and matters as a searchable, drafting-ready knowledge base, intake and client communication in Spanish, Catalan and English, running under confidentiality architecture your partners can defend.
Setup and onboarding
Adopting a platform? We select against your practice mix and confidentiality bar, configure it to your precedents and workflows, and train the team with verification discipline built in.
Frequently asked questions
Can we trust AI research?
As a fast first map, yes; as an authority, never. Grounded tools with checkable citations, plus mandatory verification, is the working arrangement. The sanctions cases all skipped step two.
What about client confidentiality?
It is the first filter on every tool: business terms, no training on your data, and privacy commitments in writing. For sensitive practices, keep models in your own environment; that option now exists at reasonable cost.
Will clients accept AI-assisted work?
Clients buy outcomes, speed and judgment. Many now expect efficient tooling behind the bill; what they will not accept is unverified output, which is a discipline question, not a tool question.
Where should a small firm start?
Practice management with AI inside, plus contract drafting in Word. Low risk, immediate relief, and the confidentiality questions are already answered by the vendors' terms.