Microsoft has launched more than 20 purpose-built legal AI skills for its Copilot platform, in a move commentators have described as a potential game changer.
The launch follows similar moves by Google, OpenAI and Anthropic, with commentators pointing to Microsoft's advantage given the widespread use of its software by law firms and in-house legal teams.
The new capabilities allow lawyers to review contracts, draft agreements and propose amendments directly within Word, including through its tracked changes functionality.
Through Copilot Cowork, lawyers can also carry out more complex tasks across files, emails and meetings, including tracking contractual obligations and comparing key terms across agreements.
Aneesh Mehta, senior corporate counsel at Microsoft, said: “I’m already living in Word when I negotiate an agreement, and now I can use Copilot to help with the first pass and see its proposed redlines right there in the document. Being able to look at the actual language in context is huge. Something that might take me an hour to review initially can often take several minutes, which means I can get to the substantive issues faster and spend more of my time on legal judgment, negotiation strategy, and advising my clients.”
UK legaltech consultant Stephen Allen, who is a director at Clyde & Co, is among several commentators who have responded to the move by pointing to Microsoft’s widespread use by lawyers, writing in a LinkedIn post that they “live in Word, Outlook and the wider Microsoft 365 environment”.
He added: “If firms can access powerful, secure and governed AI within the technology their lawyers already use every day, specialist providers are going to have to answer a much harder question: ‘What can we do that Microsoft can’t, and is that difference valuable enough to justify another platform, another integration and another cost?’
“I don’t think this necessarily means the end of specialist legal AI, but I do think the bar has just got significantly higher. There will continue to be huge opportunities around deep legal knowledge, proprietary content and data that Microsoft simply doesn’t provide.”
Microsoft has also announced partnerships with a range of legaltech providers whose specialist tools will be accessible through Copilot. Harvey, Legora and DeepJudge are among the legal AI providers developing plugins for Copilot.
Legal research partners include Bloomberg Law, Trellis, Descrybe Legal Engine, Legal Data Hunter, Courtroom5 and Lawstronaut. Partners in document, matter and transaction management include iManage Work, NetDocuments, Box, Litera, Thomson Reuters' HighQ, LegalZoom and Solve Intelligence. Everlaw and Relativity are also among the partners, providing capabilities in e-discovery and legal intelligence.
Microsoft's launch is the latest example of major technology companies expanding general-purpose AI capabilities into the specialist legaltech market.
Last month, OpenAI launched Astra for Law, a specialist legal AI platform combining its GPT-6 Astra model with a US legal research database. Sullivan & Cromwell and Cooley were among its early adopters. OpenAI also announced 26 partner-built plugins from providers including Thomson Reuters, Intapp, Harvey, Legora, DeepJudge and iManage, connecting ChatGPT with specialist software already used by law firms.
The launch followed Anthropic's unveiling in May of 12 legal practice area plugins for its Claude AI platform. Google has also expanded into the market, launching Gemini Enterprise for Legal in preview in September, combining specialist legal AI capabilities with integrations into existing legal software and data.
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