As AI continues to evolve and become increasingly ubiquitous (even coming standard, built into every nook and cranny of Microsoft 11), many attorneys are wondering if it’s worth it to use an AI agent to save time, or even replace a paralegal.
What are the benefits? What are the risks? What, exactly, is an agent, anyway? In this article, we’ll break down this emerging technology and help you compare, side-by-side, the metrics of software versus proficient human help.
To clarify, an AI agent is different from an AI assistant.
An AI assistant, such as the Large Language Model (LLM) Co-Pilot, simply lives on your device and performs tasks as you prompt it.
“Find me all emails from May 2025 where MRIs are mentioned.”
“Give me a summary of this witness statement.”
“Help me come up with a title for my new legal blog.”
An AI agent, on the other hand, has far more autonomy, access, and freedom. An agent can plan things out, be given access to multiple accounts (or even the entirety of your computer), and can remember and learn as it works.
It’s more like handing over sections of your workflow to a person and giving them your passwords, as opposed to simply requesting a task every now and then.
An agent can be given permission to respond to emails autonomously, handle your schedule, conduct research by scanning vast legal databases, and scan and flag documents as they’re uploaded into systems it has access to.
The best analogy possible may be Tony Stark’s “JARVIS”, from the Iron Man movies. It has far more control, brain power, and freedom to run quietly in the background as you handle client representation, preparing for trial, and evidence review.
As with any powerful, artificially intelligent technology, however, there are risks. For example, when you deploy an AI agent, you’re not necessarily going to have the bandwidth to monitor its thinking or reasoning process in real time. And what seems like a reasonable email response to software could damage client relationships or expose sensitive data.
This is known as misaligned action, when an AI takes a course of action that is not congruent with its user’s expectations, goals, or intentions. And the smarter and more integrated these agents are, the more damaging and extreme these misaligned goals can become.
For example, AI agents have been known to delete all of a user’s email, even though it had been given instructions not to do anything without the user’s approval. This means that even guardrails and specific instructions may not be enough to guide an agent’s actions.
If it wants to do something, it might just do things. Or refuse to do things, such as open the pod bay doors. This is an extraordinary risk to subject your solo law firm to. While AI agents can certainly work efficiently, you simply need more human control, reasoning, and ethical context to handle sensitive client data.
So how does an ILA work better, smarter, and safer than an AI agent? One of the greatest benefits of allowing a trained, accredited fellow lawyer to handle your legal research, emails, and document drafting is that you are handing over tasks to a fellow human.
Someone with goals, ideas, and experiences that are aligned with your own, and an internal ethical system formed by a human conscience, real-world experience, and deep concern for client cases and outcomes. Not prompts, training data, and code.
While AI can be a wonderful tool, it can not, at the end of the day, care for your firm or your reputation the way a fellow lawyer will. What you may gain in efficiency from an AI agent can be lost more than tenfold with a single software error.
With an ILA from DocketWorks, your data is secure, your instructions are understood, and you can collaborate in real-time to clarify any specific needs or standards that you have. All communications are handled through trusted productivity software (such as Clio), and documents are transferred through RustDesk.
Your ILA can handle…
Everything you might feel tempted to delegate to an AI agent can be handled securely, simply, and responsibly by an International Licensed Attorney. It’s a monitored, real-time system that can save you up to 40 hours per week, minus glitches or hallucinations.
The simplest way to prevent an OpenClaw (or any other AI agent) fiasco is to reach out to well-vetted, professional, human support. And this is exactly what DocketWorks provides.
At the intersection of emerging technology and fellow lawyers who have your goals as their own, you can have reliable, affordable help who respects your time, follows your instructions, and improves efficiency by up to 100%.
Want to see what an ILA could do for your firm? Simply reach out for your no-pressure Discovery Call today, and we’ll help you understand the benefits you could see within weeks.
Grace Singh is a writer and editor for DocketWorks. She enjoys bridging services and client needs in ways that are meaningful, memorable, and human-focused, even as technology continues to change. When she’s not at her home office, she enjoys nature walks, reading, and brewing coffee.