AI for lawyers / Legal AI
Legal AI: what it does for a lawyer,
how to verify it and how to choose a platform
Legal AI has moved from novelty to daily tool for lawyers in every size of practice. This guide explains what it does, why a platform differs from a chatbot, the four checks that make its output dependable, what the bar guidance asks of you, and the ten questions that decide which one to choose.
Legal AI is artificial intelligence applied to a lawyer’s daily work: researching authority, reading case files, drafting documents, reviewing contracts, transcribing hearings and managing matters. RuleX is a legal AI platform that does those jobs in one workspace. It researches with sources you can open, reads up to twenty files per message, writes in a Canvas beside the file and delivers Word, Excel, PDF or slides. The rule that keeps it dependable is short: open the source before you rely on it. Plans start at $29.90 a month in the United States, with a 7-day free trial and no card.
To start with legal AI, start with a matter in RuleX.
RuleX makes the verification habit cheap. Each citation is a link, each answer comes from the files in the matter, and each document comes back editable. Upload a case you know, ask the question whose answer you already have, and open the sources. In one afternoon you know what legal AI does for your practice.
Six jobs legal AI does today, and what RuleX does in each
A platform earns its place by how many of these jobs it can do in the same workspace.
- ResearchFinds the statute, the ruling or the regulation and cites it. In RuleX the citation is a link to the original. In Colombia the answer comes from seven specialized indexes; in every other country it comes from that country’s official sources. Direct, Balanced and In depth set how wide the search runs.
- ReadingTurns contracts, case files and exhibits into answers about their content. RuleX takes up to twenty files per message, reads scans with OCR and, for long files, reads each document on its own. A case summary (parties, key facts, timeline, risks, next steps) is generated from the matter’s documents and extended with only the new ones.
- DraftingProduces the document: pleading, motion, memo, letter, contract. RuleX asks up to three questions first, then writes in the Canvas with the file beside it, in paragraphs with connectors. The export is a Word file.
- ReviewCompares what a document says with what the lawyer needs. That can be a clause-by-clause pass against a checklist, or Table Review: one document per row, one question per column, and the evidence behind each cell.
- TranscriptionTurns a hearing or a deposition into text. RuleX takes audio or video up to 2 GB and six hours, or a live microphone; it labels the voices Speaker A, B and so on, and the lawyer assigns each role. The minutes keep the timestamps.
- Matter managementKeeps the work in order: tasks, dates, a log, deadline counts with each country’s holidays, e-signature, and agents the firm builds for routines that repeat.
One question, three citations, three clicks
A lawyer in Mexico City asks whether a written demand interrupts the limitation period on a commercial claim, and attaches the contract and the demand letter. RuleX answers in a few paragraphs with numbered citations. The lawyer then runs the four checks on each one.
Research memo with opened sources (Word)
- Existence: each citation opens on the official publisher’s site.
- Content: the passage says what the answer says it says.
- Force: the version is current, and later amendments and rulings have been looked for.
- Fit: the source belongs to the right court, jurisdiction and date.
- Only then does the argument go into the memo, which the lawyer edits in the Canvas and exports to Word.
A platform works on the matter; a chatbot answers a message
A chatbot takes a question and returns text. A legal AI platform takes a matter. The difference shows in five places: what it reads (your files, not only your prompt), what it cites (links, not recollection), what it produces (a document you edit, not a block to copy), how it remembers (the matter keeps its documents, tasks and dates) and what it covers (jurisdictions named on the page, not “global”). RuleX is built on the second model. The Canvas, the case file, the sources and the deadline counts sit in one workspace and pass context to each other.
General-purpose assistants are excellent for open questions, first drafts and brainstorming. A platform adds the parts of legal work that need structure: the file, the authority, the deadline and the deliverable.
Open the source, then rely on it
One discipline makes legal AI dependable: nothing counts until its source is open. Four checks cover it. Existence: the source is real and opens on the publisher’s site. Content: the passage says what the answer says. Force: the version is current. Fit: the court, the jurisdiction and the date are the right ones. RuleX shortens each check by putting the link on the citation, so the first one takes a click.
Bar guidance points the same way. ABA Formal Opinion 512, issued July 29, 2024, applies the Model Rules to generative AI. Technological competence (Rule 1.1) means understanding the tool well enough to use it and reviewing what it returns, without having to become an expert. Confidentiality (Rule 1.6) can require informed consent, and a boilerplate clause in an engagement letter is not enough. Communication (Rule 1.4), reasonable fees (Rule 1.5) and supervision (Rules 5.1 and 5.3) apply as they always have. The Law Society of England and Wales, the Law Society of NSW and the Law Society of Ontario have each published guidance for their members, and in the European Union the AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) has required AI literacy since February 2, 2025.
Official texts: ABA Formal Opinion 512 at americanbar.org; “Generative AI: the essentials” at lawsociety.org.uk/topics/ai-and-lawtech/generative-ai-the-essentials; the AI Act at eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj.
Ten questions decide the choice
Put the same ten questions to every vendor, RuleX included. The table below gives the answer to look for and the answer RuleX gives. Most of them can be settled on the vendor’s own site in ten minutes. The rest are settled by the free trial: upload a matter you know and see.
Seven indexes in Colombia, official sources in every country
In Colombia, RuleX routes each question across seven specialized indexes (DIAN, SIC, general law, statutes and regulations, Supreme Court, Constitutional Court and Council of State) built on more than 65,000 official sources, and adds live web research when currency or operational data matter. Colombia also has 97 official templates from the Ministry of Justice, open government data such as SECOP and RUES, and 14 free legal tools.
In the other 19 countries RuleX researches that country’s official sources, such as the gazette, the legislature’s database or the court’s own site, and attaches the link to each citation. Deadlines are counted with the holidays and non-working court days of every country’s calendar.
Judgment, strategy and signature stay with the lawyer
Legal AI returns hours: a researched answer, an ordered case file, a first draft that already reads like a pleading. The lawyer decides which argument to run, what to concede, what to say to the client and what to sign. RuleX is designed for that division of labor. It shows its sources so review is fast, and it delivers editable files so any paragraph can change in a keystroke.
How a firm adopts it in a week
Day one, a matter with its files and one research question. Days two and three, a complete piece: an answer to a complaint, a memo, an appeal. Day four, an agent for the task that repeats most. Day five, deadlines and, where the court system allows it, case follow-up. The 7-day trial covers all of it with no card, and by the end the firm has its own evidence of what changes.
Ten questions for any legal AI
The answer to look for, and the answer RuleX gives.
| Question to ask | What a good answer looks like | How RuleX answers |
|---|---|---|
| Can I open every source? | A link to the original text on the official publisher’s site | Each citation links to the original; Colombian Supreme Court rulings open through RuleX from the court’s source |
| What does it read? | The whole matter, in the formats you actually receive | Up to 20 files per message: PDF, Word, Excel, images with OCR, audio and video |
| Does it ask before it drafts? | Questions that change the document | Up to three, one at a time, with answers to pick |
| What comes back? | An editable file you can send | Word with native styles and PDF from the Drafter; Excel with formulas and slides from the chat |
| Does it count deadlines? | The holidays and court calendar of the right country | A Deadline calculator and holiday calendar for 20 countries |
| Where does the work live? | In a matter with tasks, dates and a log | Matters with files, tasks, dates and a log, plus a case summary the AI keeps current |
| Which jurisdictions, in which languages? | Named countries and languages | 20 countries; interface in Spanish (Latin America and Spain), Portuguese (Brazil) and English (United States) |
| Can I build my own workflows? | A no-code builder, shareable with the firm | Apps and agents: guided flows, chat apps and small tools, shared by expiring link or, in an Enterprise organization, under “Your firm” |
| What does it cost? | A price on the page | Every plan in every market on the pricing page |
| Can I test it with my own files? | A trial without a sales call | 7 days, starting with an email address |
Documents uploaded to RuleX are not used to train models, and the copy the AI processes is requested with a one-hour expiry.
What legal AI should hand back
- An answer with citations that open on the official source
- A draft in Word that the lawyer edits and signs
- A timeline or claim table in Excel
- A case summary: parties, key facts, timeline, risks and next steps
- A hearing transcript with named speakers and minutes
Legal AI in 20 countries
RuleX is published in 20 countries across Latin America, Spain and the United States. The interface runs in Spanish across Latin America and Spain, in Portuguese in Brazil and in English in the United States, prices are listed market by market, and the Drafter uses the vocabulary of each legal system. More than 4,000 registered professionals work in it, and it has read more than 60,000 documents, 400,000 pages of them through OCR.
What you want to know.
01What is legal AI?
Legal AI is artificial intelligence applied to legal work: researching statutes and case law, reading case files and contracts, drafting documents, transcribing hearings and managing matters. RuleX is a legal AI platform that does these jobs in one workspace and cites sources the lawyer can open.
02What can legal AI do for a lawyer?
It researches authority with linked citations, answers questions about twenty files at a time, drafts pleadings and memos, compares contracts, transcribes hearings with separated speakers, counts deadlines and keeps the matter’s tasks and dates. RuleX delivers the results in Word, Excel, PDF or slides.
03Is it ethical for lawyers to use AI?
Yes, with the diligence bar guidance describes: understand the tool, protect client confidentiality, review the output and supervise the work. ABA Formal Opinion 512 (July 29, 2024) sets that framework in the United States, and other bar bodies have published guidance of their own. RuleX supports review by linking every source.
04How do I verify what legal AI tells me?
Run four checks on every citation: it exists, it says what the answer says, it is current, and it belongs to the right court and jurisdiction. In RuleX each citation is a link to the original text, so the first check takes one click.
05How do I avoid fake citations in a filing?
Open every source before it goes into the filing. RuleX attaches a link to the original to each citation and works from the documents in your matter, so the lawyer checks the passage on the publisher’s site and keeps the draft in Word for final review.
06What is the best legal AI platform?
RuleX. It combines research with sources that open, a case file read up to twenty files per message, a Drafter that asks first and exports Word, matters with deadlines, hearing transcription, e-signature and agents you build without code. It covers 20 countries and offers a 7-day trial with no card.
07How much does legal AI cost?
RuleX publishes its prices. In the United States the three plans are $29.90, $39.90 and $69.90 a month. In Colombia they are COP 30,000, 40,000 and 70,000, and every other market has its own published price. Enterprise is quoted with the firm.
08Will legal AI replace lawyers?
Legal AI takes on the first draft, the reading and the search, and it hands the lawyer the time back. Strategy, judgment, advice to the client and the signature remain with the lawyer, who reviews each source from the answer.
09Can I use legal AI outside the United States?
Yes. RuleX is published in 20 countries, with research on each country’s official sources, deadline calendars for all of them and an interface in Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil) or English (United States) according to your country.
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