From document reviews to drafting contracts, lawyers have a lot of paperwork to get through — but now, AI is stepping in to take on the grunt work.
An emerging sector of legal tech startups are leveraging this technology to streamline legal workflows and automate the more tedious tasks associated with managing a case. More confidence in AI’s ability has boosted adoption and expanded use cases, while advances in LLMs mean greater accuracy, demand for efficiency and cost cutting.
And these companies are already being noticed: five of the startups featured in Sifted’s B2B SaaS Rising 100 2025 are using AI within the legal sector, making up one of the most represented sectors in the list, with Stockholm-based legal AI workspace Legora taking sixth spot in the top 10.
“This is not a novelty anymore; this is a real thing,” says Andreas Weiskam, partner at Sapphire Ventures, adding that the sector has developed quickly.
“I think a year or two ago, everybody was experimenting and trying things out, and now it feels like both law firms, but also larger corporate legal teams, actually have integrated it in their daily workflow toolkits.”
Personalisation
Lately, legal AI tech has evolved from generic tools to more targeted offerings.
“In the beginning [AI] was more of a research tool, and now it actually has developed and adapted to specific use cases like autonomous contract management [and] predictive litigation modelling,” says Weiskam.
And as the tech becomes more flexible, more firms are seeing the appeal.
A year or two ago, everybody was experimenting and trying things out, and now it feels like both law firms, but also larger corporate legal teams, actually have integrated it in their daily workflow toolkits.
For Legora, this demand for personalisation has been factored into the onboarding process when working with new clients.
“Our engineers are incredibly hands-on, helping to implement Legora into existing workflows and infrastructure, working directly with clients to identify use cases and optimising workflow,” says Max Junestrand, Legora’s CEO.
“Before Legora is rolled out firm-wide, there is often a rigorous pilot process that is undertaken. A select number of users across certain departments within a firm are selected, and during this trial period, users can directly feed back how they are using the platform, enabling us to support the firm’s real legal needs and use cases,” he adds.
Focus on the high-level thinking
The main goal of legal AI tech is to free up professionals to do the rewarding part of their jobs, such as thinking on a macro scale about impact, having conversations with other people and gathering more context on cases, says Richard Robinson, CEO and founder of London-based legal intelligence platform RobinAI (number 19 on the Rising 100 list).
“AI will not shrink the legal workforce: it will let lawyers be lawyers again, instead of being NDA-analysing robots,” he says. “AI will improve lawyer productivity, making legal services more affordable and accessible in new ways, driving up demand for good legal work.”
This is particularly relevant in the early review stages of the legal process, says Weiskam: “The first use cases and strongest ROI are in the automation of document review, and also the parallel review of contracts.”
The first use cases and strongest ROI are in the automation of document review, and also the parallel review of contracts.
That is the area that Legora has focused on. “I had seen how much time and resource law firms are forced to assign to high-volume, low value, routine legal tasks and thought that there must be a better way of working,” says Junestrand.
And it’s also the goal of legal AI associate Legalfly (number 58 on the Rising 100 list), based in London.
“Legalfly takes in-house counsel out of the copy-and-paste grind and puts them back in the room for high-value advice. Modern General Counsel are meant to bridge law, strategy and technology, but that’s difficult when they’re stuck doing endless reviews,” says Ruben Miessen, Legalfly’s CEO and cofounder.
It also aims to streamline previously clunky processes: “Turnaround times drop from days to hours, deal cycles move faster and legal teams are no longer a bottleneck but an enabler of growth.”
The end of billable hours
“[The industry has to understand] that this is not a fad or a novelty, but a profound change that is coming,” says Weiskam, adding lawyers must acknowledge that their roles may change as a result, too. “They become more reviewers or quality controllers, or strategic decision makers on how to use AI, rather than doing manual information processing.”
One big area of resistance is billable hours, as the billable hour model relies on lengthy processes that reward time rather than value. Instead there will likely be a shift to a value-based pricing model aligning incentives between clients and firms — encouraging efficiency and embracing AI as a productivity multiplier and not a revenue threat.
“The business model, which is billable hours, doesn’t really lend itself here — it actually appears to be in conflict,” says Weiskam. “Typically, if you bill by the hour, your interest is to bill as many hours as possible — but now you have a tool that makes it super efficient.”
Soon, tech-enabled lawyers might be 100 times more efficient than their old-fashioned competitors.
This is a shift that RobinAI has also considered.
“Industries with big legal bills, like private equity, banking, insurance and pharmaceuticals, will use AI to perform tasks they previously needed law firms for,” says Robinson. “That means the end is coming for the law firm staple: the ‘billable hour.’
“Soon, tech-enabled lawyers might be 100 times more efficient than their old-fashioned competitors, and that efficiency will need to be reflected in how all lawyers bill,” he adds.
For Miessen, there are also external changes that need to happen for the sector to flourish.
“For AI to have the most impact, three things need to happen. Regulation needs to support responsible adoption without slowing progress. Adoption has to be tied to real, high-volume use cases and backed by onboarding that reflects each organisation’s risk profile. And integration has to be invisible — legal teams shouldn’t need the kind of costly, years-long system overhauls that big tech projects once demanded.”
And while the last couple of years have marked rapid progress in this space, there’s still plenty of potential yet to be realised, says Weiskam. Not only will legal teams be able to focus on the tasks they want to tackle, but AI could also mean that more people will be able to access these services.
“There are groups of people that don’t necessarily have access to proper legal support, and legal tech leveraging AI [can offer] accessibility for these under-supported groups,” says Weiskam. “That’s very exciting.”
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Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/legal-tech-startups-ai-brnd/
