AI in a law firm: which tasks can an agent take on, and what about privilege?

Examples of agents we build for law firms

Each agent is custom-built on your own tools; a few examples:

• The case law agent: reads the decisions published in your practice areas every morning and flags those that affect your open matters.
• The intake agent: reads a new client's email, searches your files for possible conflicts of interest and drafts the engagement letter.
• The inbox agent: files incoming emails and documents into the right matter in your practice management software and alerts the lawyer in charge.
• The deadlines agent: picks up appeal, filing and hearing dates from judgments and procedural timetables, and alerts you before each one.
• The chronology agent: reads the exhibits of a litigation file, builds the chronology of facts and drafts the exhibit list.
• The precedents agent: finds the briefs, memos and clauses the firm has already written on a similar issue, with their source.
• The data room agent: reads the contracts in an acquisition audit, pulls out change of control, term and warranties, and lists missing documents.
• The billing agent: matches recorded time against the letters sent to prepare each client's statement of fees.
• The partners' dashboard agent: prepares the status of open matters, upcoming deadlines and fees still to bill for the partners' meeting.
• The pocket agent: answers a lawyer in court or on the move, from their phone, about the exhibits and history of a matter.

Can it build the chronology and the exhibit list?

A litigation file comes with the writ of summons, the other side's submissions, the client's emails and dozens of exhibits. The agent reads them and builds a chronology of the facts, each date pointing to the exhibit it comes from. It drafts the exhibit list and flags where a fact still lacks supporting evidence.

With each new exhibit, it updates the chronology and matches the other side's assertions against the evidence on file, so the lawyer sees at a glance what is established and what is not.

Can it prepare a first draft of a brief or a legal memo?

The firm has often handled a similar question already, for another client or before another court. The agent finds those briefs, notes and memos in your folders and prepares a first draft in the firm's Word template: parties, statement of facts, procedural history, issues to address, with the source document for every passage it reuses.

Before filing, another agent can check the draft: exhibit references, consistency of dates and amounts, numbering of the exhibit list.

Can it review a data room for due diligence?

In an acquisition audit, the team has to go through articles of association, board minutes, contracts, leases and pending litigation, often in a few days. Connected to the data room or to your folders, the agent pulls out what matters in each document: term, termination, change of control, warranties, commitments. It checks what has come in against your request list and lists what is still missing.

The summary table comes out in your format, ready for the due diligence report, and updates with every new upload.

Can it find work the firm has already done?

A firm's know-how sits in each partner's and each associate's folders. Saména reads your files and finds past work by client, practice area or team, citing the source.

You then ask the way you would ask a colleague who had read everything:

• Have we ever argued a sudden termination of an established business relationship?
• What indemnity clause did we negotiate on that share sale?
• Who at the firm handled the last matter for this client?

Can it draft client letters and status updates?

Requests for documents, meeting notes, an update after a hearing: the agent drafts these in your templates, from the file and the latest exchanges.

A lawyer reviews them before they go out. For simple messages, such as acknowledging a document or chasing a missing one, sending can be automatic if the firm chooses.

Where do our files go, and what about professional secrecy?

Professional secrecy applies to every tool the firm uses, AI included. With Saména, the agent prepares and a lawyer checks every document before it is used.

Your files stay in SharePoint, OneDrive or Dropbox. Saména reads them in read-only mode and keeps no copy. What it retains is encrypted with a key unique to your firm. Processing servers are in France, the database is in the European Union. You choose the model: Claude, models from OpenAI, or Mistral if you prefer a French model. It runs in Europe and keeps none of your data. If your requirements call for it, Saména can run on your own infrastructure, and everything can be deleted on request.

Where do we start?

With a half-hour call. We look at how your firm works, from litigation files to transactional matters, with which tools, and pick the first agent to build together.

Our engineers build it on your tools: it is usually running two weeks after the call, in the Saména app and also from Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot. They then stay on to keep it evolving and build the next ones. There is a one-time setup fee, then a monthly subscription; we share the amounts on the call.

Frequently asked

Can the agent connect to our practice management software?

Yes, that is the point of a custom build: we connect to the tools you already use, practice management software, email, calendar, SharePoint, OneDrive or Dropbox. Nothing needs reorganizing first; we look at how to connect on the call.

Can the agent give legal advice to a client?

No. The agent prepares chronologies, summaries and first drafts from the firm's documents. Analysis, advice and anything sent to the client stay with the lawyer.

Are our files used to train a model?

No. The model you choose (Claude, models from OpenAI or Mistral) runs in Europe and retains none of your data. Saména keeps no copy of your files, and what it retains is encrypted with a key unique to your firm.

Does Saména already work with law firms?

Saména currently works with a consulting firm, an environmental engineering consultancy and a network of car repair garages, and each agent is built around the way the company using it works. The first call is there to see what an agent would take over for you.