AI tools for lawyers are multiplying, and the brochures all look alike. Here is a five-criteria evaluation grid you can use during a demo — with the precise questions to ask.
A tool that requires changing your practice-management software or email client starts with a disqualifying handicap: the migration costs more than the tool. The right question: "what changes in our habits on installation day?" The right answer: almost nothing.
Ask what the tool does when it isn't sure. If it files anyway, walk away: a misfiled document is a lost document. The right answer is silence — presenting the options and letting the firm decide.
Every action must be logged and reversible. Sending without validation must be impossible by default. Ask to see the audit log during the demo, not on the brochure.
Data-processing agreement, records of processing, impact assessment, hosting in the European Union, a written commitment not to train models on your data. The full list of documents to demand →
Per-user billing penalises firms that want to equip the whole team, assistants included — yet that is where the tool helps most. Prefer a price based on actual usage, readable and without surprises. See how Mailatio approaches the question →