What really matters in 2026 when choosing a law-firm AI workspace.
EU hosting, confidentiality and whole-file AI are common expectations for law-firm AI. The nine criteria below show what else to look at — and how Smart Legal Pro answers each of them.
Full comparison: Why Smart Legal Pro →Workflows compared
The checklist
Nine criteria for your choice
Check every provider — including us — against these nine points.
Does the workspace bring its own matters?
Check whether a workspace only helps with existing case files or also brings its own mandates.
Smart Legal Pro also addresses consumers and hands over to a law firm as soon as a case gets too complex. Whether you take on such matters is your decision — the channel is being built up step by step.
Does the AI watch on its own, or does it wait for prompts?
Check whether the AI points out deadlines and risks on its own or whether you have to assemble and start every workflow yourself.
Five watchers check every matter for free — deterministically, with no AI quota, before you even start a flow.
Is there a way in for your clients?
Check whether there is a dedicated channel for clients or whether communication continues by email and phone.
A dedicated client portal: submit documents, answer follow-up questions, see approvals and comment on drafts — access logged per document.
How is it billed?
Check the term, notice period, minimum quantities and the price per seat in the offer — and whether prices are publicly available.
A monthly, cancel-anytime subscription with fixed quotas, from your very first seat, with publicly listed prices.
Are deadlines and fees computed, or estimated?
Check whether deadlines and fees are calculated or phrased by the language model — and whether the calculation can be traced.
Deadlines and statutory fees run through deterministic calculators in code, not through the AI.
How far can the AI act on its own?
Autonomy is defined differently by different vendors — check whether sending something to court or a client really always needs your approval.
You set the autonomy level per agent; every change can be undone, and a brake prevents bulk runs after a bulk upload.
Where do the sources come from — and are they checked?
Citations are backed with varying rigor — check whether a statutory citation points to actual wording or merely sounds plausible.
Statutes and decisions are held as our own citation network; statutory citations are checked against it, and „not found“ expressly does not mean „does not exist“.
What does the AI know about the case — and from where?
Ask whether the documents are searched anew with every request or whether lasting, evidenced case knowledge is built up.
The documents produce a fact network with a source quote for every fact and every relationship; you confirm, correct or discard each entry.
Who gets to see the matter texts in the clear?
Ask whether personal data detection runs through an additional service provider that sees your texts unmasked.
Detection runs inside the same stack: legal forms and checksums structurally, the participants in your matter looked up in the relationship graph instead of guessed. No additional provider — and which agents mask and which deliberately do not is stated openly.
Comparing law-firm AI workspaces
Common questions
Check us against exactly these criteria.
Register for free and see how the nine points look in the portal yourself.
