The best AI tools for legal research in 2025

Legal professionals are facing more pressure to deliver precise and efficient results in less time than ever before. Traditional legal research methods often lack the speed and adaptability required to keep up. In this environment, AI-powered tools that streamline research, ensure accuracy, and optimise decision-making can help legal teams maintain a competitive edge.

In this article, we’ll look at how AI is changing legal research and run through the best AI tools available to you in 2025, with a focus on key features and security.  

How is AI changing legal research in 2025?

AI is automating time-intensive tasks and making it easier to find vital insights buried in documents or precedents, often in moments. This enables legal professionals to focus on higher-value tasks, such as strategy development and client counsel.

Some of the research tasks legal AI can help with include:

Document review and discovery

AI can process thousands of documents simultaneously, uncovering hidden connections, inconsistencies, and compliance issues. You can ask questions, highlight key information, and automate reviews using saved templates, significantly reducing time spent on discovery.

Analysis of case law and statutes

AI can analyse vast databases of case law and statutes in seconds. By using natural language processing (NLP), it can provide contextually accurate and relevant results, surpassing traditional keyword searches. This accelerates research, saving hours of manual work.

Real-time updates on legal precedents

AI ensures legal teams stay informed with live updates on rulings, amendments, and regulatory changes. Automated alerts tailored to specific jurisdictions or cases keep you ahead of developments.

Predictive analytics for outcome assessment

AI uses historical data to predict case outcomes, assess risks, and offer actionable insights. You can quickly prepare arguments, evaluate a case’s likelihood of success and tailor strategies based on data-driven predictions.

Precise insights

AI can deliver tailored analyses aligned with specific legal contexts, such as contract clauses, statutes, or multi-jurisdictional requirements. These enable more precise and efficient legal research, ensuring you have the information you need when you need it.

The best AI tools for legal research in 2025

1. LEGALFLY

LEGALFLY is a leading AI solution transforming how legal professionals conduct research, streamlining workflows, and accelerating compliance. Trusted by leading firms worldwide, LEGALFLY delivers powerful research features on a platform architected for privacy, making it an essential tool for modern legal teams.

LEGALFLY is ideal for law firms and corporate legal departments that handle complex, cross-border legal matters and require stringent security.

Key features

Accelerated document review: By automating time-intensive tasks, such as due diligence and contract analysis, LEGALFLY reduces the time spent on document review, allowing teams to focus on strategic tasks.

Enhanced decision-making: Ask a question, and LEGALFLY delivers reliable, actionable insights tailored to specific legal contexts, improving the quality and accuracy of decisions.

Anonymisation of sensitive data: LEGALFLY automatically removes personal identifiers from documents during processing, safeguarding client confidentiality and adhering to enterprise-grade privacy standards.

Multi-jurisdictional validation: It can be used for compliance checks across multiple jurisdictions and languages, simplifying legal research for cross-border operations.

User-friendly: Designed to suit legal teams of all sizes, LEGALFLY integrates easily into existing workflows, including direct integration with Microsoft Word.

Tailored insights: With customised analyses of contracts, statutes, and case law, LEGALFLY provides context-specific insights to enhance research outcomes.

Optimised LLM selection: LEGALFLY integrates with the top large language models (LLMs), selecting the right model for specific tasks.

Security and compliance

LEGALFLY has state-of-the-art encryption protocols and complies with industry standards, including SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications. Sensitive information is automatically anonymised, with personal identifiers removed before processing. Client data is never used for AI model training.

2. Lex Machina

Lex Machina specialises in litigation analytics, making it a useful tool for firms focusing on dispute resolution. Its data-driven approach to understanding case trends and courtroom dynamics helps users gain a competitive edge.

Lex Machina is best suited for litigation-focused law firms looking to use data analytics for strategic planning and outcome prediction. It emphasises litigation analytics rather than transactional legal work.

Key features

Litigation analytics: Lex Machina provides in-depth analytics on case outcomes and trends, enabling legal professionals to craft effective litigation strategies.

Insights into legal entities: The platform offers comprehensive data on opposing counsel and judges, assisting in understanding courtroom dynamics.

Intuitive dashboards: The platform has user-friendly dashboards that enable quick interpretation of complex data.

Security and compliance

Lex Machina complies with global privacy laws and ensures secure data storage.

3. CaseText

CaseText is an affordable tool for legal teams looking to streamline their research. Its natural language processing delivers precise and relevant results, making it ideal for small to mid-sized firms. It does not offer the predictive analytics features available in some competing tools.

Key features

Case law search: CaseText uses natural language processing to enhance the accuracy and relevance of legal research.

Workflow integration: The platform integrates with existing litigation workflows.

Security and compliance

CaseText is certified to meet GDPR and CCPA requirements.

4. Paxton AI

This legal research platform provides access to a database of US federal and state laws and regulations.  

Key features

Query builder: The platform’s Boolean Composer enables users to create complex search queries with ease.

Document upload: Users can upload documents for AI analysis, receiving insights and summaries that simplify case preparation and review.

Security and compliance

Paxton AI operates within a closed model. The platform is SOC 2 compliant and adheres to ISO security standards.

5. Blue J Legal

Blue J Legal is a strong option for tax law and employment scenarios. Its niche focus makes it a good choice for firms with specialised practices.

Key features

Predictive tax law insights: Blue J Legal offers predictive analytics specifically tailored to tax law, helping with the forecasting legal outcomes.

Scenario analysis: The platform enables analysis of various legal scenarios to inform decision-making.

Security and compliance

Blue J Legal adheres to financial data privacy regulations, ensuring secure handling of sensitive information.

6. Harvey AI

By automating contract analysis and supporting team collaboration, Harvey AI boosts efficiency and accuracy for high-volume legal operations. Harvey relies on a single LLM for research.

Key features

Contract analysis: Harvey AI specialises in analysing contracts, due diligence, litigation, and compliance. It cuts down the time needed to review and analyse contracts, enabling legal teams to focus on negotiation and strategy.

Workflow integration: The platform integrates with corporate law firm workflows, enhancing operational efficiency.

Data access controls: The platform includes role-based access controls, limiting data visibility to authorised personnel.

Security and compliance

Harvey AI aligns with international data privacy standards such as GDPR and HIPAA, but does not anonymise sensitive data.

7. Westlaw

Westlaw, from Thomson Reuters, is an online legal research service with a database of legal resources to professionals worldwide. AI provides precise answers to legal research queries, accompanied by links to sources.

Key features

Legal resources: The platform has access to over 40,000 databases, including case law, statutes, regulations, legal journals, and more, facilitating thorough legal research.

Guidance: Westlaw provides curated insights, forms, and practice notes to assist with complex legal tasks, from litigation to transactional work.

Security and compliance

Westlaw adheres to stringent data privacy and security standards, including GDPR and ISO certifications. However, it does not offer built-in anonymisation of sensitive data.

8. Bloomberg Law

This legal research platform integrates primary and secondary legal content and analytics. It offers an array of legal materials, including case law, statutes, regulations, and legal analysis, within a single interface.

Key features

AI search: Bloomberg Law uses AI to deliver precise search results, helping users locate relevant case law, statutes, and legal analysis.

Analytics: AI tools analyse case outcomes, precedents, and industry-specific trends, offering predictive insights that help legal professionals anticipate risks and opportunities.

Guidance: It offered step-by-step workflows, checklists, and customised alerts.

Security and compliance

Bloomberg Law protects user data but does not explicitly offer anonymisation.

AI tools vs. traditional legal research 

Traditional legal research relies on manual reading, interpretation, and cross-referencing of legal texts. While thorough, it’s slow and there’s always a chance of error. 

AI tools, in contrast, automate these processes, delivering faster, more precise, and actionable insights. This allows you to focus on high-value tasks like strategy development and advising clients.

Advantages of AI research tools

• Process vast datasets in minutes, reducing research time.
• Advanced natural language processing ensures contextually accurate and relevant results.
• Efficiently manage complex, multi-jurisdictional cases, making them ideal for global legal practices.

Limitations of AI research tools

• There can be a learning curve. The better you are at writing the prompt, the more helpful the response.
• Some tools require training and adaptation at the start.
• Privacy concerns remain a challenge, particularly for tools that process sensitive client data. Ensure your chosen tool adheres to robust privacy standards.
• Dependence on AI outputs could lead to over-reliance, risking oversight of nuanced legal interpretations that require human judgement.

How to choose the right AI tool for your legal research

Selecting the right AI tool begins with understanding your specific needs and priorities. Here are some factors to consider:

Legal needs

Different tools cater to different areas. If you specialise in litigation, opt for platforms with strong case law analytics. For corporate law, choose tools focused on contract review and compliance. 

AI trained for legal

Choose a tool specifically designed for legal use to avoid errors like "hallucinations," where the AI generates false or irrelevant information. A platform trained within strict legal parameters ensures reliable, fact-based results tailored to legal practice.

Anonymisation

Confidentiality is non-negotiable in legal work. Opt for AI tools that anonymise client data by stripping identifiable information before processing.

Data control

Ensure the tool allows secure storage options like on-premise or private cloud environments. Full control over data storage reduces risks and boosts compliance.

Verified data

A reliable AI platform uses verified, up-to-date jurisdiction-specific data. Tools should make it easy to trace sources and validate recommendations against legal frameworks.

LLM agnostic

The best AI tools are flexible, using the most suitable large language models (LLMs) for specific tasks. This adaptability ensures the platform remains fast, precise, and scalable as technology evolves.

Why security and compliance are non-negotiable for legal research tools

Legal work is built on trust, and handling sensitive client data demands absolute vigilance. A single data breach can expose firms to regulatory penalties and reputational damage.

The most advanced AI tools anonymise client information before analysis, ensuring privacy at every stage. Adherence to standards like GDPR, ISO 27001, and SOC 2 will reassure clients that data is managed with integrity.

Challenges and ethical considerations in AI legal research

AI is transforming legal research, but it’s not without its challenges. Key concerns include: 

• Algorithms can perpetuate biases if not managed properly. LEGALFLY reduces this risk with transparent, regularly audited systems to ensure fairness.
• AI recommendations must be explainable. LEGALFLY provides clear documentation to help users understand and trust its outputs.
• Reliable results are essential in legal work. LEGALFLY enhances accuracy through rigorous validation processes.
• Legal AI must align with ethical standards. LEGALFLY ensures all applications adhere to established ethical guidelines, maintaining integrity across all functions.

Reduce hours of research into minutes of work

AI tools are transforming legal research by improving speed, accuracy, and depth of insight. The right solution can enhance workflows and deliver better outcomes for clients. As AI adoption grows, teams that use it will maintain a competitive edge. Book a demo today to experience the future of legal research with LEGALFLY.

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