In 2025, the first draft of a contract or the preparation of a research note begins with a prompt and not a paralegal. AI copilots are legal assistants that leverage Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini to perform several key tasks like drafting, legal research, contract analysis and due diligence.
The central argument of this article is that AI copilots will not replace lawyers but allow lawyers to focus their time and efforts on important and complex tasks that require human judgement such as negotiation, structuring a contract/transaction and relationship building.
The article will explore how copilots are changing legal work, the implications it has on legal professionals and clients and what this shift means for the broader ecosystem at large.
How are AI Copilots changing legal work?
Before we delve into the implications of copilots for lawyers, we have to understand the way in which copilots are changing legal work. Copilots help automate routine tasks such as legal research, case law analysis, due diligence, contract review and even identifying risk patterns in contracts.
One such example of a copilot would be jhana.ai’s Suit which is a paralegal/assistant that assists lawyers in sifting through hundreds of documents, redlining of documents, comparison of contracts and preparation of legal briefs. These copilots often use processes like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and are trained on thousands of cases, statutes and orders.
The main effect of such copilots in the legal profession is that they increase the efficiency of the lawyers. They help perform these tasks in minutes what used to take lawyers days or if not weeks. The lawyer’s job shifts from doing these tasks to coordination and verification. Lawyers oversee such workflows rather than sit and perform every legal task.
As copilots reshape the substance of legal work, they’re changing the role of lawyers and what clients value them for.
Redefining the lawyer’s value proposition and role
There are mainly three ways in which the lawyer’s role and value proposition is changed:
- 1.Shift to a Strategic Counsellor
The lawyer’s role shifts from doing routine tasks such as drafting petitions, case research and sifting through thousands of documents to catch errors in due diligence towards high-value work. Lawyers would be involved in doing work that require human judgement.
For example, in transactional advisory high-value work would involve negotiating terms, structuring the terms of the transaction and mitigating red flags in due diligence. These tasks require an element of human intuition and persuasiveness. Lawyers would become strategic advisors rather than burdening themselves with paperwork. This places importance on the human intuition of the lawyer rather than just making them fill out standard templates.
- 2. Billable model vs Fixed-Fee structure
Clients want the benefit the of AI to carry on to them and there have been speculations about shifting to a fixed-fee structure. For example, an M&A transaction would just cost Rs 6 Lakhs (Fixed-Fee Structure) as opposed to lawyers charging by the hours.
This would never be the case in India. India is a labor-intensive nation and there is an abundance of labor. In other words, India has an abundance of lawyers that would work in a variety of price ranges. Currently, these AI copilots that automate work still cost more than what hiring a lawyer for the same tasks would cost. Lawyers would not be replaced by AI copilots.
A hybrid model would be adopted where lawyers charge a fixed fee for tasks like due diligence, research and drafting that can be completed with the assistance of copilots and charge by the hour for tasks that require their time such as negotiation, relationship building and structuring the transaction.
- 3. Training of Junior Associates
Young lawyers fresh out of law school who often work as junior associates in law firms and in-house teams are trained by doing routine work such as redlining contracts, sifting through documents, due diligence and case research.
Senior Advocates and Partners learnt what clauses to include in the contract and what not to by drafting contracts and getting them corrected by their seniors. However, with AI copilots these tasks are going to be completed by them within minutes and associates will just have to proofread these documents.
The training of junior associates should take a turn for the better. Junior associates should learn case research, due diligence and drafting with minimal focus while shifting their focus to observing how lawyers negotiate, persuade a judge or even write a brief to the liking of a judge. Senior lawyers would give hands-on training by directly involving in them cases and maybe even give them the opportunity to plead a case in the early stages of their career.
Conclusion
AI copilots are not replacing lawyers but reshaping what it means to be one. The lawyer’s value proposition is shifting from producing documents to interpreting, verifying and strategizing along copilots. This coupled with the emergence of a hybrid model that combines a fixed-fee structure and a billable model makes legal services more cost-effective.
The training of junior associates of the firm is going to take a turn for the better as they gain exposure to more hands-on work and tasks that require human intuition and judgement. The lawyer’s of 2030 will no longer be drafting every clause but will decide which ones are important.
Authored by: Harshith Viswanath
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