The Next Frontier of Legal AI: Embracing the Agentic Model

The LexisNexis global technology platform incorporates various AI innovations, including extractive AI that identifies relevant results within data and offers detailed insights; generative AI which produces new content from data based on user prompts or instructions; and agentic AI that can perform tasks autonomously on behalf of users. 

We live in an era of such rapid technological innovation; the only thing certain is change. This axiom is about to prove true in the legal industry once again this year as the exciting arena of artificial intelligence (AI) transitions into new territory. 

“Just as law firms were getting comfortable with generative AI, a more advanced technology known as agentic AI is poised to become commonplace among lawyers,” reports Law360 Pulse. 

Before we explore what this AI evolution means for legal professionals, it is important to step back and reflect on how we arrived at this moment. 

The Legal AI Journey

For years, legal professionals have been using AI technologies such as natural language processing, machine learning and extractive AI, where systems were developed to recognize patterns and retrieve relevant information from large datasets. This allowed legal technology companies to connect related documents and streamline the research process for customers, setting a new standard for efficiency and accuracy in the legal profession. 

For example, LexisNexis built and enhanced several products with features that incorporated this early expression of AI technology. In 2020, we leveraged extractive AI to launch Lexis Answers and Brief Analysis, followed soon after by our Customer Support Q&A Service and Clause Intelligence, then in 2022 we introduced more than 10 new features leveraging extractive AI across our product portfolio. These offerings were all powered by extractive AI, which is trained to recognize patterns, make predictions, retrieve relevant information from data and connect related documents. 

The commercial release of ChatGPT in November 2022 changed everything with the introduction of generative AI, an extraordinary new expression of AI technology that captivated all of us with its uncanny ability to engage in human-like conversations and tackle complex tasks with ease. Legal tech companies saw its potential for the practice of law and immediately shifted gears to focus on how we could leverage the power of Gen AI to deliver innovative solutions for legal professionals. 

At LexisNexis, we pivoted our strategy to tap into the power of generative AI immediately, and in 2023 we launched Lexis+ AI, the industry’s first and fastest Legal AI platform, developed to generate conversational answers and content based on conversational, user-led prompts. Lexis+ AI responses are grounded in the world’s largest repository of authoritative legal content, providing conversational search, summarization, legal drafting, and document upload and analysis capabilities in a secure, seamless and trusted setting. This domain-specific training reduces the risk of errors and helps legal professionals have more confidence in the accuracy of the answers they receive. 

We followed that up last year with the rollout of a second-generation Lexis+ AI platform, incorporating user feedback to improve personalization, speed and quality. This fast innovation in the Legal AI category has enabled LexisNexis to secure global market leadership. 

The New Frontier 

Now it is time to enter another exciting chapter in the Legal AI journey: Agentic AI. Agentic AI takes a step beyond generative AI. If it feels like the terminology and technology capabilities are making your head spin, you are not alone. 

“Technology has advanced more in the last year than in the last decade. Initially, there was predictive AI that analyzes data and uses machine learning algorithms to forecast future outcomes. Then, generative AI emerged, allowing the creation of new content, ideas; even images and music. Now, we have reached the agentic AI stage, where AI not only generates content but multiple AI models can work together for a user. This phase of development allows users to engage in conversation, be guided in personalized workflow activities and ensure work is checked to ensure quality standards are exceeded.”  

- Chief Product Officer, Jeff Pfeifer  

Both generative and agentic AI operate by using large language models, but the difference lies in how the user interacts with the technology. While generative AI relies on humans providing constant input through questions (“prompts”) to create content, agentic AI takes action to automatically perform specific tasks for you. It achieves this due to its ability to reason based on predictions it makes from its learning models, perceive from the context in which it is operating, take suggested action, and then learn from user feedback so it is continuously improving. 

“Agentic AI performs tasks with limited human interaction through software programs known as agents,” reported Law360 Pulse. “By taking action and making decisions, agentic AI differs from generative AI, which focuses more on creating content.” 

So, while Gen AI added tangible value to professionals — e.g., enhanced productivity, improved work quality and a clear return on investment — agentic AI will now make it easier for people to adopt AI tools. This further enhances the tangible value the technology delivers to users and their organizations. 

Business-to-business technology analysts and legal industry experts agree that agentic AI is already making inroads toward acceptance. Gartner listed agentic AI as its top strategic technology trend for 2025 and predicted that at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions could be made autonomously through agentic AI by 2028.

* The views expressed in externally authored materials linked or published on this site do not necessarily reflect the views of LexisNexis Legal & Professional.

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