COOKED
The bulk of the modal paralegal's day — document review and coding, drafting discovery responses and routine motions, cite-checking, deposition summaries, records requests, and case-file organization — is exactly the text work large language models now do at usable quality and at a fraction of the billable cost. What resists is the physical and procedural layer: filing in courts with idiosyncratic clerks, chasing witnesses and records custodians, managing exhibits at trial, and knowing which judge's chambers wants what. Critically, paralegals carry no license and sign nothing — the supervising attorney owns the liability, so there is no regulatory floor under this job the way there is for nurses or CPAs.
Mixed — a routine tier and a judgment tier. An 8 rather than a 4 reflects that first-pass document review, privilege coding, deposition digests, and boilerplate discovery drafting are already being handed to review platforms and LLMs, while calendaring against local rules, e-filing through CM/ECF and state portals with clerks who reject for margin violations, trial-exhibit prep, and running down a records custodian who won't answer email still require a person tracking a live docket.
Some physical or field component. A 5 puts this just above pure desk work: the job is overwhelmingly screen-based, but there are runs to the courthouse for hand-filings and certified copies, banker's boxes and exhibit binders to assemble, trial-bag duty during a two-week jury trial, and client signature-gathering — physical tasks that occupy days, not hours, and never leave controlled indoor settings.
No licence, no signature requirement. A 4 because there is no paralegal licence in any US jurisdiction, NALA's CP and NFPA's RP are voluntary and rarely required to be hired, and the unauthorized-practice-of-law statutes cut against you — you cannot give legal advice, sign pleadings, or appear, so malpractice exposure and Rule 5.3 supervisory duty sit entirely with the attorney whose name is on the filing.
Some relationship component. A 7 recognizes that long-tenured paralegals do become the person the client calls about their case status and the one the partner trusts with the messy file, but the engagement letter, the fee, and the relationship of record belong to the attorney, and clients switch firms without asking who the paralegal was.
Meaningful discretion. A 9 covers real discretion — deciding what's responsive versus privileged in a first pass, flagging a limitations date, judging which of 40,000 documents the associate actually needs — exercised inside a structure where every consequential call is reviewed and signed by someone else before it leaves the building.
Mike Morse Law Firm · Morgan & Morgan · McCann FitzGerald · Dentons
Futurism reports a law firm cut hundreds of employees while shifting work toward AI tools.
Legal IT Insider reports that law firm Dentons has entered a partnership with OpenAI, with comment from its data science lead.
Microsoft published a customer case study stating the Mike Morse Law Firm adopted Microsoft 365 and Copilot for security and workflow efficiency.
A federal judge sanctioned attorneys at law firm Morgan & Morgan after they filed a court document containing fabricated case citations generated by AI, as reported by LawSites.
Microsoft's own press channel reports that one of Poland's largest law firms has adopted AI tools for routine legal work.
Irish law firm McCann FitzGerald reported adopting AI technology, described as a first among law firms in its market.
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