Use Cases for GenAI in Legal

Introduction

Generative AI is both replacing and supplementing traditional tasks performed by paralegals and lawyers across law firms of all sizes.

As AI adoption is relatively new, clients and legal professionals have shown varied responses to its use in law:

  • Some clients explicitly prohibit AI use, while others actively require it.
  • Attorneys and paralegals range from enthusiastic adopters to skeptical observers.
  • Several firms are developing proprietary AI tools and training programs.

Clients and attorneys continue to explore, question, and adapt to these technological changes.

RAILS Working Group 1 developed the below resources on use cases for AI in legal to assist attorneys in communicating the opportunities for AI with clients or colleagues. We hope this resource fulfills a need in the ecosystem. 

Read the Use Cases

About This Resource  

RAILS Working Group 1 (WG1) began with a fundamental question: How do we engage with clients and their data to unlock AI opportunities while maintaining trust, transparency, and confidence?

WG1 has identified several key legal applications for generative artificial intelligence, both current and prospective. These applications have been the subject of collaborative discussion with another working group, enriching the exploration of potential use cases.

Working Group participants created one-page resources about these use cases in legal, publishing the first set in February 2025 with more to come as they are completed. The resources do not, nor cannot cover every use case, in this fast evolving space.

Content of Use Cases

Participants in Working Group 1 developed and edited the following resources on use cases for GenAI in legal. 

Each entry includes:

  • A concise description of the use case
  • Associated benefits
  • Legal industry examples
  • Legal best practices
  • FAQs

Given the rapid evolution of generative AI in legal applications, Working Group 1’s discussions focused on current (2024 – ) implementations of generative AI, primarily in law firms and nonprofit legal services organizations. 

All resources are date-stamped and versioned to acknowledge the rapid pace of technological development.

Working Group 1 did not assess specific tools or vendors as part of this process. 

Read the Use Cases

Access the Resource

Full PDF (Version 1, published February 10, 2025) 

Individual PDFs (Version 1, published February 10, 2025)

Note:  While the RAILS Working Group identified several GenAI use cases relevant to legal work – such as learning non-legal concepts, brainstorming solutions, and adjusting communication tone – these applications are not unique to the legal profession. Although lawyers may find these use cases valuable, abundant resources already exist for these general applications, even if not specifically written for legal contexts. Therefore, WG1 chose to focus on explaining considerations unique to the legal profession.

How to Use This Resource 

  • Review the use case before a client meeting 
  • Share the use case with a client during a meeting to help them understand why you would like their consent to use a specific tool
  • Share the use case with a colleague to encourage them to explore new tool(s)
  • Develop training resources based on the use case  
 

Send Feedback

If you’d like to draft the details of an additional use case using our template and send it to the Working Group for review and publication, you can download the  MS Word template here and email it to us at rails@law.duke.edu.

We recognize RAILS members and colleagues may have additional insights on the resources published here, so please contact us at rails@law.duke.edu with any feedback.  Please let us know if you find these resources useful and if they resonate with your experiences. 

Read the Use Cases

Copyright Information

The RAILS Use Cases for GenAI in Legal is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International: CC BY-NC 4.0 

Read more about the license on our Resources page or through Creative Commons. 

 

Updated February 24, 2025