Not long ago, using AI in a law firm felt like something that belonged in a tech startup pitch deck—not a Tuesday morning billing review. Fast-forward to today, and tools like Microsoft Copilot are quietly making themselves indispensable, helping legal professionals cut through clutter, draft documents faster and actually get out of their inboxes before dinner.
Copilot isn’t just another new app to learn. It’s woven into the Microsoft 365 tools firms already rely on—Word, Outlook, Excel, Teams and more—and it’s designed to enhance, not disrupt. Whether you’re trying to speed up contract review or keep track of action items from a client call, Copilot can help automate the busywork and free up time for more strategic tasks.
From Inbox Overload to Smarter Workflows
One of the biggest opportunities Copilot offers is time recovery. Legal professionals spend hours each week sorting through emails, prepping documents and trying to stay organized across multiple tools and calendars. Copilot steps in with features that can:
- Summarize lengthy email threads and suggest draft replies
- Scan and compare contracts or pull out key clauses
- Create polished meeting recaps with action items and timestamps
- Build complex Excel formulas or visualize data—no macro wizardry required
One firm, for example, used Copilot to streamline its billing review process. Instead of manually checking time entries line by line, Copilot helped validate the data, flagged anomalies and even added context that simplified final approvals. The result? Less time spent on admin, and more time for client work.
Secure, Compliant and Built for Law Firms
Naturally, security is a major concern when AI enters the picture—especially in a legal environment. The good news is that Copilot operates within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. That means it’s governed by the same data protection, permissions and compliance protocols your firm already has in place.
Copilot doesn’t learn from your data or share your prompts. It simply accesses the documents, messages and files you already have access to, then returns results based on that content. Want a summary of a contract stored in SharePoint? Or a meeting recap from a Teams call you were invited to? Copilot can deliver that—without exposing sensitive client data or introducing third-party risk.
Even meeting recordings are protected. When calls are recorded in Teams, they’re stored securely in Microsoft Stream and only accessible based on your firm’s permissions. Copilot can generate a personalized recap, but only for users who were part of the meeting or have rights to access the file.
Getting Better Output Starts with Better Prompts
Copilot isn’t a mind reader. While it’s powerful, it works best when it has context. That’s where good prompt writing comes in.
One helpful framework for crafting prompts is called CRAFT:
- Clear – Be specific about what you’re asking for
- Role – Tell the AI who to act as (e.g., legal assistant, billing manager)
- Action – Define what you want it to do (summarize, compare, draft, list)
- Format – Specify the format for the output (bullet points, table, email draft)
- Test – Tweak the prompt to refine the result
Instead of saying “Review this contract,” a better prompt might be:
Act as a legal assistant. Review this NDA and summarize the key obligations in bullet points. Highlight any clauses that differ from our standard agreement.
The more clarity you provide upfront, the better the response will be—and over time, you can build a prompt library for your most common workflows.
Start Small, Then Scale
Firms that have successfully adopted Copilot didn’t roll it out to everyone at once. Instead, they started with a handful of users—people who were curious, open to testing and had real use cases ready to go.
These early adopters became internal champions, sharing tips, creating prompt templates and helping other users understand where Copilot fits into the day-to-day. Once the value was clear, broader adoption followed naturally.
And if your firm isn’t quite sure where to start? Look at pain points like contract review, meeting documentation or inbox management. These are high-effort, low-risk areas where Copilot can make an immediate impact.
Want to See It in Action?
A recent webinar featuring experts from Afinety and Pax8 explored these use cases in more depth, showing exactly how law firms are applying Copilot to real-world scenarios—from contract review to calendaring integrations. It’s full of practical tips, live examples and ideas for getting started.
Watch the on-demand webinar to see how firms are putting Microsoft Copilot to work—without adding more complexity to their day.