Top 10 AI Tools Every Legal Professional in Richmond Should Know in 2025

Richmond lawyers should care because AI is already reshaping legal workflows and client expectations: Thomson Reuters' 2025 analysis shows AI can save lawyers nearly 240 hours per year and is widely used for legal research, document review, summarization, and drafting, while firm pilots have slashed tasks that once took hours down to minutes (one study reported a complaint‑response system dropping associate time from 16 hours to 3–4 minutes).

With clients pushing for faster, secure service and Virginia preparing for the Virginia AI Act, local firms need practical pilots, clear supervision, and documented guardrails; see the Thomson Reuters report, the Harvard Center study on firm strategy, or a Richmond action plan to map a defensible rollout and training path.

Thomson Reuters report on AI transforming the legal profession, Harvard Center analysis of AI impact on law-firm business models, Virginia AI Act timeline and Richmond AI milestones (placeholder).

Metric	Value
Believe AI will have high/transformational impact	80%
Use AI for legal research	74%
Potential hours saved per lawyer per year	Nearly 240 hours

“The role of a good lawyer is as a ‘trusted advisor,' not as a producer of documents . . . breadth of experience is where a lawyer's true value lies and that will remain valuable.”

Methodology: How the top-10 list was chosen reflects what Virginia lawyers will actually need if the Commonwealth's high‑risk AI rules take hold - tools were screened for their ability to support impact assessments, risk‑management programs and the developer/deployer disclosures described in HB2094 (see the bill text), and for features that make compliance auditable and client‑safe rather than merely flashy.

Priority went to vendors that produce clear documentation and change‑logs for model updates, exportable evidence for the impact assessments and retention policies that match Virginia's recordkeeping expectations, and built‑in transparency or synthetic‑content detection that addresses the statute's disclosure requirements; these practical markers follow the guidance in Ogletree's analysis of the VA proposals and the allied commentary comparing the VA and Colorado approaches.

Ease of integration, support for NIST AI RMF or ISO/IEC 42001 workflows, and vendor training/resources (so attorneys can meet evolving competence and ethics obligations highlighted in Virginia CLE programming) were decisive tiebreakers - because in Virginia's fast legislative environment, firms need tools that produce defensible documentation “out of the box,” not another project that ends up in a dusty folder.

Casetext's CoCounsel is a practical, firm-ready AI assistant that Richmond lawyers should test as part of any defensible pilot - its Deep Research and agentic workflows pair GPT-powered drafting with Westlaw and Practical Law authority so outputs are easier to verify for the documentation Virginia's AI rules will demand; CoCounsel also plugs into Microsoft 365 and DMS systems to keep provenance and KeyCite status visible during drafting and review.

Designed to speed everything from litigation memos and deposition prep to contract clause extraction, CoCounsel advertises double‑to‑triple speed gains and widespread adoption across firms, making it a realistic option for solos and mid‑size practices that need measurable time savings without sacrificing citeable sources.

For Richmond firms balancing ethics, competence, and client expectations, CoCounsel can be a useful first step - sometimes turning an hour of grunt work into minutes - so plan a short, documented trial tied to your firm's impact assessment and supervision rules.

For more information, see the Thomson Reuters overview of CoCounsel Legal and an independent Lawyerist review of CoCounsel for law firms.

Metric	Value
Document review / drafting speed	2.6x
Users finding more key information	85%
Organizations with AI strategy and revenue growth	2x

“A task that would previously have taken an hour was completed in five minutes or less.”

ChatGPT shines as a fast, flexible first‑draft engine for Richmond attorneys - spinning up whistle‑stop summaries, client‑friendly explanations, initial contract clauses, or a concise bullet‑point digest of a 20‑page lease in seconds - making it ideal for early drafting, client updates, and marketing copy when used with precise prompts and strict supervision; see practical use cases and prompt examples in the ChatGPT for Lawyers guide and a deeper how‑to on rapid drafting and summaries.

That speed comes with well‑documented caveats: outputs must be verified against authoritative sources, sensitive data should be protected (and training participation disabled when required), and choosing stronger models or legal‑specific platforms can materially reduce hallucinations - Spellbook's guide contrasts general ChatGPT workflows with lawyer‑tuned tools that add Word integration, benchmarks, and extra safeguards.

For Richmond firms preparing pilots under the Virginia AI Act timeline, treat ChatGPT as a productivity layer for first drafts only - embed human review, logging, and data‑handling rules into any pilot so quick wins don't become ethical or compliance headaches.

“I use legal-specific AI that has a proprietary, legal, large language model and can plug-and-play with OpenAI, Anthropic, and other LLMs. Since I'm essentially getting access to ChatGPT features in a higher-level subscription from a premium GenAI product, I'm not using ChatGPT directly.” - Mathew Kerbis, Founder, Subscription Attorney LLC

Claude from Anthropic has become the practical choice when a Richmond lawyer needs deep, defensible analysis across massive document sets: the new Sonnet 4 long‑context public beta now accepts up to 1 million tokens (roughly 750,000 words), letting a single request sweep dozens of contracts, depositions, statutes, or even an entire codebase for issue-spotting and synthesis - think “more than the Lord of the Rings trilogy” worth of text in one pass.

That scale unlocks document synthesis and context‑aware agent workflows that map neatly to litigation bundles and multi‑paper research, while Anthropic's experiments on long‑context prompting (scratchpads, examples, and quote‑pulling) show ways to boost recall and reduce missed citations.

Firms should note costs change for very large prompts and plan pilots accordingly; try a measured trial that pairs Claude's long‑context power with strict supervision, logging, and the prompt strategies Anthropic documents.

For full details on the Sonnet 4 rollout and long‑context prompting techniques, see Anthropic's Sonnet 4 announcement and the Claude long‑context prompting guide.

Capability / Tier	Detail
Context window	Up to 1,000,000 tokens (~750,000 words)
Use cases	Document synthesis, large‑scale code analysis, context‑aware agents
Pricing (≤200K tokens)	Input $3 / MTok · Output $15 / MTok
Pricing (>200K tokens)	Input $6 / MTok · Output $22.50 / MTok

“Claude Sonnet 4 remains our go-to model for code generation workflows, consistently outperforming other leading models in production. With the 1M context window, developers can now work on significantly larger projects while maintaining the high accuracy we need for real-world coding.” - Eric Simons, CEO and Co-founder, Bolt.new

Everlaw is a cloud‑native eDiscovery platform Richmond litigators and corporate counsel should consider when speed, defensibility, and secure collaboration matter: the platform touts industry‑leading ingestion and review (Everlaw can process roughly 900,000 documents per hour), native review of PDFs, CAD files, Slack, audio/video, instant transcripts and AI‑assisted predictive coding that helps teams prioritize the documents that move a case forward; see Everlaw's eDiscovery overview for details (Everlaw eDiscovery overview).

Its Storybuilder and real‑time collaborative workspaces let teams annotate, debate, and build trial narratives together - useful for small Richmond boutiques building persuasive case timelines or public agencies handling FOIA work - while built‑in redaction, granular permissions, SSO/MFA, and government‑grade security (FedRAMP, SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO certifications reported) protect client data during remote review.

For firms balancing cost, learning curve, and the Virginia AI/records landscape, a short pilot tied to your impact assessment can show whether Everlaw's AI assistant, visualizations, and rapid search speed up discovery without sacrificing audit trails; read Everlaw's guide on collaboration to explore how teams actually put those features to work (Everlaw collaboration guide).

Capability	Detail
Processing speed	~900,000 documents per hour
Supported data types	PDFs, CAD, Slack, A/V, email, many other ESI types
AI features	Predictive coding, EverlawAI Assistant, instant transcription, translation (135+ languages)
Collaboration tools	Storybuilder, real‑time annotations, secure project sharing
Security / compliance	FedRAMP, SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO certifications; MFA & SSO; location whitelisting

RelativityOne is the enterprise-grade eDiscovery workhorse Richmond litigators and corporate counsel should have on their shortlist: it consolidates preservation, collection, review, and production into a single cloud platform with built-in generative AI (Relativity aiR) for review, privilege, and case‑strategy work, connectors to Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack and even ChatGPT Enterprise, and scalable processing that large matters demand - Relativity proudly powers 198 of the Am Law 200 and supports pay‑as‑you‑go and hosted options for smaller boutiques.

Its analytics and transparent AI rationale help teams find the most impactful content fast (even conversations displayed “just like you would in their native platforms - emojis included”), while security and compliance features - customer‑managed keys, ISO/IEC 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, and a FedRAMP Moderate posture - make it a defensible choice as Virginia firms plan pilots under the incoming AI rules.

Explore the RelativityOne overview for technical detail or the Relativity for Law Firms page to see firm‑focused workflows and deployment options.

Capability	Detail
Generative AI	Relativity aiR for Review, Privilege, and Case Strategy
Integrations	Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, ChatGPT Enterprise
Security & Compliance	ISO/IEC 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, FedRAMP Moderate; customer‑managed keys
Scale & Adoption	Powers 198 of the Am Law 200; global cloud deployments

“We immediately realized three quarters of a million dollars in savings by moving to RelativityOne on hosting alone. The meeting with our general counsel lasted maybe three minutes to show the value of RelativityOne.” - Tony LaMacchia

Diligen is a contract‑analysis workhorse Richmond firms should keep on their shortlist when speed, consistency, and scale matter: its machine‑learning engine automatically surfaces key provisions, generates contract summaries in Word or Excel, and lets teams filter by party, date, or clause type so review becomes a targeted workflow rather than a slog.

Built for M&A due diligence, lease review, NDAs, privacy and regulatory response, Diligen ships with hundreds of pre‑trained clause models and an easy path to train custom concepts, plus API and Box/NetDocuments/Clio integrations that help embed results into existing practice systems - see the Diligen product page for a feature tour, the ILTA vendor profile for platform details, and note Epiq's use of Diligen in scaled contract projects.

Whether a boutique has 50 contracts or an enterprise faces half a million, Diligen's interface for assignment, collaboration, and export can turn a mountain of PDFs into a searchable, auditable contract inventory.

Capability	Detail
Clause detection	Automatically identify 150+ common clauses; hundreds of pre‑trained models available
Summaries / exports	Automatic contract summaries in Word or Excel
Scalability	Designed for 50 to 500,000+ contracts
Integrations & API	Box, NetDocuments, Clio, plus API for bespoke workflows

“We are excited to partner with Epiq with the goal of providing law firms and legal departments with more efficient, fast, accurate and affordable ways to gain insight into their contracts.” - Laura van Wyngaarden, Diligen co‑founder and COO

Spellbook is worth a close look for Richmond transactional teams that need fast, defensible contract work inside the tools they already use: it layers legal‑tuned generative AI (GPT‑5 among its engines) directly into Microsoft Word to draft, redline, and benchmark agreements without switching apps, promising “draft and review 10x faster” workflows and playbooks that enforce firm preferences; see the Spellbook product page for features and demos.

Its redline workflow flags risks, suggests negotiation‑ready language, compares your draft to over 2,000 market benchmarks, and supports multi‑document transactions - useful for local real estate, M&A, and vendor contracts where speed and consistency matter.

For firms watching the Virginia AI Act and client privacy concerns, Spellbook's Zero Data Retention agreements and SOC 2 Type II posture offer practical privacy and security controls while teams pilot AI‑assisted drafting; learn more in the Spellbook redline guide.

Start with a small, logged pilot (NDAs or standard MSAs) to measure time saved and quality before broad rollout.

Feature	Detail
Works where you do	Microsoft Word add‑in
Speed	Draft & review up to 10x faster (vendor benchmark)
Benchmarks	Compare to 2,000+ market standards
Security & privacy	Zero Data Retention agreements; SOC 2 Type II
Adoption	Trusted by 3,600+ legal teams

“I love Spellbook. I use it every day. It saves me at least one hour, sometimes two hours, a day.”

Spellbook product page for features and demos | Spellbook redline guide

Smith.ai blends AI-first intake with live North America–based agents so Richmond firms can capture after-hours leads, qualify new clients, and book appointments without handing an associate the phone - a small‑firm front desk that scales without payroll drama.

The platform's AI Receptionist (with human backup) offers 24/7 call answering, call recording/transcripts, bilingual lines, and CRM hooks (Clio, HubSpot, Salesforce and more), while the human‑staffed Virtual Receptionist plans handle complex scheduling, payment acceptance (LawPay, Square, PayPal) and sensitive conversations; see the Smith.ai AI Receptionist overview for plan details and the pricing page for receptionist tiers and add‑ons.

For Virginia practices juggling court schedules and tight billable hours, a short, logged pilot with Smith.ai can stop missed callers from turning into lost matters and give a measurable boost to intake speed and client experience.

Plan / Type	Calls Included	Price
AI Receptionist - Starter	30 calls	$97.50 / month
AI Receptionist - Scale	300 calls	$825.00 / month
Virtual Receptionist - Starter	30 calls	$292.50 / month
Virtual Receptionist - Pro	300 calls	$2,025.00 / month

“Smith.ai is our inbound sales team. Having a trained and personable voice has transformed our ability to answer the phone and convert callers to clients.”

Copilot for Microsoft 365 deserves a spot on any Richmond firm's pilot list because it embeds drafting, summarization, and collaborative agents directly where lawyers already work - Word can draft and rewrite pleadings, Outlook can collapse long email threads into concise summaries, Teams can capture meeting transcripts and action items, and OneDrive/SharePoint lets Copilot synthesize up to multiple files for a fast client-ready brief; see the Microsoft 365 Copilot overview for feature specifics.

That tight integration matters for Virginia practices juggling the incoming Virginia AI Act and client‑data expectations: Copilot inherits Microsoft 365 security and tenant isolation, uses Microsoft Purview to limit oversharing, and keeps organizational data inside the service boundary rather than feeding foundation‑model training, so documented access controls and tenant policies plug directly into any firm's impact assessment (details on enterprise features and licensing are available on the Copilot enterprise features and licensing page).

Start with supervised pilots for intake triage, meeting recaps, and first‑draft memos - the goal is measurable time saved without losing audit trails or attorney oversight, turning routine admin into defensible efficiency in real time.

Capability	Detail
Key apps	Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive/SharePoint
Pricing	$30.00 per user/month (annual) - requires qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription
Security & compliance	Inherits Microsoft 365 controls; Microsoft Purview, tenant data isolation, not used to train foundation models

“Microsoft 365 Copilot has helped provide more accurate and speedy contract reviews.” - Hazel Butler

For Richmond firms looking to automate the contract lifecycle, Gavel.io offers a lawyer‑first, no‑code path that actually meets common small‑firm constraints: a Word add‑in, Clio and DocuSign integrations, a Blueprint AI that builds questionnaires from templates, and enterprise APIs/SSO when scale matters - all billed from a start‑friendly Lite plan up through white‑glove enterprise options (see Gavel's pricing and plan details for exact tiers).

Gavel promises up to a 90% cut in drafting time by turning repetitive intake and template work into one‑button generation, keeps client data on segregated, encrypted databases with SOC/ISO attestations, and even offers a free 7‑day trial so a Richmond boutique can pilot an NDA or engagement letter without a huge rollout.

Complementary approaches use clause‑focused platforms such as ClauseBase (ClauseBuddy brings a clause library and a Word AI assistant at an accessible per‑user rate) when firms need tight clause control, multilingual drafting, and rules‑driven assembly; compare a Word‑embedded automator like Gavel with clause‑centric CLMs to decide whether speed, clause governance, or lifecycle workflow matters most for your Virginia practice as the Commonwealth's AI and records expectations evolve.

Product / Tier	Entry Price
Gavel - Lite	$83 / month
Gavel - Pro	$290 / month
ClauseBase - ClauseBuddy	€99 / user / month

Conclusion: Richmond firms should turn the anxiety around AI into a short, documented plan: run a small, logged pilot (start with low‑risk tasks like intake triage, NDAs or first‑draft memos), require a proportionate verification process, and embed client consent and supervision language in engagement letters so every use is auditable; the Virginia State Bar's LEO 1901 makes clear value‑based billing for AI‑assisted work is permissible provided fees remain reasonable and can be explained to clients (Virginia State Bar LEO 1901 guidance on AI billing).

Adopt the VBA Model AI Policy's practical checklist for competence, confidentiality, and verification to scale oversight without heavy IT overhead (VBA Model AI Policy for Small Firms and practice guidelines), and pair that policy with role‑based training so every user understands prompts, hallucinations, and redaction.

Track time saved, accuracy checks, and security controls as part of your impact assessment, then iterate: the goal is measurable, defensible efficiency - not a leap of faith.

For teams wanting structured upskilling, consider a focused program like the Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp to teach prompt craft, safe data handling, and practical workflows before wider rollout (Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp registration).

Program details: AI Essentials for Work - Length: 15 Weeks - Early-bird Cost: $3,582.

“For too long, our profession has suffered under the tyranny of the billable hour.”