The legal sector has long been viewed as one of the more cautious industries when it comes to technological change. But 2025 is shaping up to be a turning point.

According to a recent analysis by Reuters, adoption of generative AI tools in legal practice has increased fivefold over the past 12 months. From document review and contract analysis to case prediction models and automated research assistants, AI is now embedded in daily workflows across law firms and legal departments.

🔗 Read the full article on Reuters

But with this new power comes responsibility - and a fair amount of healthy scepticism.

Why AI appeals to Legal teams

Time is money in law. AI tools are being adopted to reduce repetitive tasks, increase speed in due diligence, and manage large datasets. For example:

• Contract analysis that once took days now takes hours.
• Discovery review is being augmented by natural language search and summarisation tools.
• Chat-based legal assistants help junior staff draft memos, letters, and reports more quickly.

With proper governance, these tools can reduce workload and increase access to legal services - particularly in underserved areas.

But risks are real

Despite the enthusiasm, many legal experts remain cautious. Data privacy sits at the top of the concern list. Law is inherently confidential, and using cloud-based tools without strict controls could mean breaching client privilege or regional data laws.

Inaccurate outputs, opaque logic, and lack of traceability are also serious concerns - especially when dealing with sensitive client information or court-admissible content.

AI hallucinations remain a known issue, and without clear citations or retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) backing outputs, law firms may be exposed to reputational and regulatory risks.

A balanced approach: Governance + Guardrails

As legal teams explore AI, many are now implementing internal governance frameworks that include:

• Human-in-the-loop verification
• Model accuracy benchmarks
• Tool-specific usage policies
• Training for lawyers on AI limitations and safe usage

And perhaps most importantly: choosing AI tools with transparent architectures and clear data control options.

Where Ulla comes in

Ulla isn’t a legal researcher, and she doesn’t write contracts. But she does one thing exceptionally well: she documents what was said, accurately, securely, and without missing the nuance.

Unlike many tools, Ulla does not use OpenAI’s public APIs and can be fully deployed on local servers, ensuring complete control over sensitive client information and total GDPR compliance.

For legal professionals conducting meetings, internal briefings, or client consultations, Ulla provides AI-powered transcription and summarisation - with security as the first priority. Her structured summaries support legal workflows without generating legal advice.

And if something needs to be rephrased, reformatted, or checked - Ulla’s integrated chat interface allows users to instantly refine their summaries or ask follow-up questions in natural language.

In a legal world navigating both opportunity and risk, the right AI doesn’t replace judgement - it reinforces it.

And sometimes, it quietly sits in the background - keeping everything secure, searchable, and under control.

→ ULLA