Agentic AI in Business: Transforming Legal Decision-Making and Strategy

By Madison Johnson, Esq. | Manager, Large Markets 

In recent discussions, legal industry experts have highlighted the potential of agentic AI systems as a transformative force for law firms aiming to leverage cutting-edge technology for competitive gain. This perspective is gaining widespread recognition.

“The traditional image of a lawyer pouring over dusty tomes and case files is fading as AI-powered tools are becoming integral to legal practice,” reported National Law Review in February 2025. “But what we’ve seen so far with generative AI is just the beginning. The fundamental transformation will come with agentic AI.”

Agentic AI systems represent a significant evolution from the rules-based automation that has dominated legal tech for decades. These systems utilize sophisticated machine learning algorithms and natural language processing capabilities to understand context, recognize patterns and make recommendations based on vast datasets of legal precedents, regulations and case outcomes.

What’s more, the best of these Legal AI agents can now ground its recommendations in a lawyer’s individual standards and previous work product via secure integration with the law firm’s Document Management System (DMS).

How Agentic AI Transforms Legal Decision-Making

Decision-making in the legal profession has traditionally relied heavily on human expertise, institutional knowledge and historical precedent. These elements remain essential to the practice of law — and agentic AI systems complement them in several transformative ways:

• Enhanced risk assessment and prediction

Agentic AI can analyze thousands of similar cases, identifying subtle patterns that might escape even experienced attorneys. This allows for more precise risk quantification and more confident strategic decisions.

• Reducing cognitive bias and enhancing objectivity

Legal professionals are susceptible to cognitive biases just like anyone else. Agentic AI systems serve as objective counterpoints, challenging assumptions and highlighting overlooked factors in decision-making processes. This collaboration between human intuition and AI objectivity creates a more balanced, defensible legal position.

• Dynamic strategy adaptation

Traditional legal strategy often follows predetermined paths based on initial assessments. Agentic AI enables a more dynamic approach, continuously reevaluating strategies as information is surfaced by a Legal AI agent that recognizes how newly introduced documents alter the favorability of certain arguments or strategies.

• Scenario planning at scale

Agentic AI systems excel at running complex scenario analyses that would be prohibitively time-consuming for human legal teams. When considering various legal strategies, AI agents can model various decision trees with multiple potential outcomes — e.g., impact of opposing counsel’s likely responses, impact of regulatory developments, etc. — helping lawyers to make optimal decisions.

• Precise resource allocation

Legal matters often involve difficult decisions about where to focus limited time and resources. Agentic AI can analyze thousands of previous similar matters and surface granular insights that help legal teams conduct more strategic allocation of budget and attorney time, focusing resources where they create the greatest advantage.

• Knowledge integration across practice areas

Complex legal matters frequently span multiple practice areas, requiring collaboration between specialists in narrow areas of the law. Agentic AI can bridge these knowledge silos, identifying relevant precedents, regulations and strategies across practice areas that might otherwise remain isolated.

What distinguishes agentic AI from previous AI-powered legal tech innovations is its ability to act independently within defined parameters. Rather than simply flagging issues for human review, agentic systems can proactively identify strategic opportunities, anticipate challenges and suggest courses of action that are calibrated to a legal team’s specific goals and risk tolerance.

Strategic Advantage for Law Firms

Understanding how these powerful new tools can transform legal decision-making is no longer optional for law firm leadership teams — it’s imperative in the competitive legal industry of tomorrow. Firms that effectively integrate agentic AI into their operations gain two major strategic advantages right now:

• Client Service: Firms using agentic AI are better equipped to anticipate client needs, rather than simply react to them. For example, an AI agent monitoring regulatory changes can automatically identify which clients might be affected and generate preliminary compliance recommendations before clients even recognize the issue.
• Competitive Differentiation: As corporate clients become increasingly savvy about the practice benefits of AI, firms demonstrating advanced AI capabilities such as Legal AI agents will be in the position to gain marketplace advantages. The ability to deliver more precise risk assessments, faster response times and data-driven legal strategies strike a chord with clients who are seeking measurable value from outside counsel.

Experience Agentic AI with LexisNexis Protégé

LexisNexis recently introduced the LexisNexis Protégé Legal AI Assistant, an agentic AI tool that we developed on three core values: Security; Privacy; and ensuring a Human in the Loop.

LexisNexis Protégé is a private, trusted Legal AI Assistant that places the user in control and delivers uniquely personalized work product in a private, secure setting. Personalization choices are controlled by the user or their organization to optimize the user’s Gen AI experience. Try Protégé in Lexis+ AI today.

Learn more about how Lexis+ AI can help legal professionals achieve better outcomes and follow along for the latest in Legal AI educational content.