3 ways AI can help draft legal documents faster

Last year we conducted the most extensive international legal profession study of generative AI and its potential impact on the practice of law, surveying 7,950 lawyers, law students and consumers across the U.S., U.K., Canada and France. Our study found that in-house counsel envision a future in which the practice of law is improved by the use of AI, with 67% of U.S. corporate counsel respondents expecting their lawyers to use generative AI tools.

And when we asked lawyers to identify the specific areas in which they perceive the most potential to use generative AI in their work, 56% cited drafting legal documents as a key use case, the second most popular response (behind legal research). For in-house attorneys, drafting precision and efficiency are critical to success.

Our Lexis+ AI™ product development team has been working on a variety of new tools to help make our customers’ requests a reality. We’re now rolling out a product that we believe will be a true game-changer in legal document drafting for in-house counsel who work in Microsoft® Word.

Lexis® Create is an intelligent document drafting solution that is available as an add-on for Microsoft Word. The tool leverages the power of AI to help legal professionals complete polished legal documents, populated with authoritative and verifiable content from LexisNexis®, without ever leaving the familiar Microsoft Word environment.

Some of the most common examples of documents generated by in-house lawyers on a regular basis for which Lexis Create can be a powerful new weapon include:

• Master Services Agreements
• Lease Contracts
• Confidentiality Agreements
• Employment Contracts
• Corporate Transactions

But the value of this new tool is that it can be used to support the drafting of any legal document, from transactional matters to the full range of litigation documents.

Lexis Create is integrated directly with Lexis+ AI, increasing the speed and ease of legal drafting. The tool places trusted LexisNexis content—such as Practical Guidance, Market Standards, Shepard’s® Citations and AI-powered Clause Intelligence—and other powerful LexisNexis resources directly into the legal drafting workflow. This helps users get started quickly and work confidently throughout every stage of the process.

According to a survey of commercial preview customers, 86% agree that Lexis+ AI is easy to use and 78% estimate they will save up to four hours per week on legal drafting.

Here are three ways that AI can help in-house counsel draft legal documents more efficiently within Microsoft Word:

1. Build better documents

In-house counsel can jump-start drafts with Lexis Create by highlighting, saving, tagging and sharing important content and clauses with the “Snippets” feature. Then access reliable and authoritative content, leading practitioner input and guidance, and thousands of proven document templates through the seamless integration with Lexis+® and Lexis Practical Guidance. This can be done while working entirely within the Microsoft Word environment.

2. Check legal content

In-house lawyers can ensure accuracy and consistency like never before by relying on Lexis Create to scan documents and catch any errors. This quality control includes flagging incomplete citations, spotting inconsistencies in names or details, and easily fixing formatting and numbering issues. The tool’s robust review features empower legal professionals to verify the accuracy of their document’s legal content with confidence.

3. Complete polished work product

Lexis Create helps in-house counsel get to the finish line with a strong and polished document. The tool can quickly analyze and uncover potential issues within the document, review important information such as negotiable amounts and identifiable information, securely redact sensitive content, proofread and refine any formatting issues, and then integrate with DocuSign eSignature for execution of agreements by all parties. All of this legal research and drafting can be done without ever having to leave the document.

Independent legal technology observers have greeted LexisNexis product development work in this area with enthusiasm. The rollout of Lexis Create was spotlighted by respected industry blogs, such as LawSites and Dewey B Strategic, and Legaltech News recently profiled the longstanding relationship between LexisNexis and Microsoft to collaborate on the development of next-generation AI applications for lawyers.

For more information about generative AI capabilities at LexisNexis or to schedule a Lexis+ AI demo, visit www.lexisnexis.com/ai

To learn more about our new Lexis Create intelligent drafting solution add-on for Microsoft Word, visit www.lexisnexis.com/lexis-create