Every week brings another tool promising to transform legal work. For a small firm choosing legal AI tools, the danger is buying the demonstration rather than the product, and finding months later that it does not fit the way you work or the rules you work under.
Start from your requirements, not the feature list
Write down the few tasks where time is genuinely lost: research, first drafts, document review, client correspondence. Rank them. A tool that solves your second problem brilliantly and your first not at all is the wrong tool, however impressive the demonstration.
Test it on real work
A vendor's sample looks perfect because it was chosen to. Run a short trial on your own matters, with the people who would use it daily, and judge the output as you would a trainee's. Count the corrections. A tool that needs heavy checking on routine work will cost more time than it saves.
Ask the questions that matter under UK rules
Where is client data stored, and does it train the provider's models? Does the contract include a UK GDPR data processing agreement? What happens to your data if you leave, and can you take it with you? How does the provider handle errors and downtime? Vague answers are an answer in themselves.
Watch for lock-in
Favour tools that let you export your data and that do not bind the firm into long contracts before it has proof of value. The aim is a system that fits your budget and your obligations, chosen on evidence rather than enthusiasm.
A measured choice, tested on real files, beats the most confident sales pitch every time.
The SRA's Risk Outlook on AI in the legal market gives a sober view of the same market the vendors are selling into.
If a shortlist is forming and every demonstration looks convincing, our vendor selection package exists for exactly this moment: see how it works.