Legal Assistant with Secure Private LLMs

Client Profile

A large corporate law firm specializing in financial, regulatory, and corporate litigation.

Business Challenge

The firm wanted to implement AI to enhance its legal research and document drafting workflows. However, strict confidentiality and data privacy regulations posed a major barrier:

• Public cloud-based AI tools were not an option due to client data sensitivity.
• Attorneys were spending countless hours manually reviewing contracts, case law, and legal memos.
• With increasing case load, the firm sought a way to speed up legal research while maintaining compliance and security.

Only ~30% of law firms have adopted AI, primarily for efficiency. This firm wanted to lead the curve—without compromising client confidentiality.

Solution Approach

We developed a secure, on-premises Legal AI Assistant powered by a fine-tuned private LLM:

• Model & Deployment:
  • Used the open-source Mistral 7B model, fine-tuned on internal documents (case law, contracts, memos).
  • Deployed locally using Ollama and Docker containers—ensuring zero data leaves the firm’s servers.
  • Fully air-gapped and containerized for maximum security.
• AI Assistant Capabilities:
  • Lawyers interacted via a secure chat interface to ask questions like:
    • “Summarise the obligations in this contract.”
    • “Find relevant precedents for topic X.”
  • Answers are generated in seconds via the LLM.
• Multi-Agent Workflow:
  • Integrated with Google Agent Development Kit (ADK) to orchestrate intelligent tasks:
    • Agent 1: Fetches and filters documents from a secure database.
    • Agent 2: Uses the LLM to analyse and summarize content.
  • Connected to the firm’s document management system (DMS) for seamless access.
• Security & Compliance:
  • All interactions are encrypted, audited, and restricted to authorized personnel.
  • Logs maintained for internal compliance tracking.

Results & Benefits

Improved Efficiency

• Contract reviews and case research reduced from hours to minutes.
• First-draft generation of motions and contract markups was ~40% faster.
• Over 6 months, the firm saved 200+ billable attorney hours, enabling more case throughput.

Total Data Control

• Data remained completely private, with no reliance on third-party APIs or cloud infrastructure.
• Enhanced trust and compliance, especially with financial and government clients.

Higher Accuracy

• The AI caught critical clauses and risk factors missed by junior staff.
• Enabled more comprehensive legal analysis, reducing exposure to litigation risks.

User Impact

• Rapid Adoption: Attorneys and paralegals quickly incorporated the AI into daily workflows.
• Better Preparation: Associates arrived at client meetings more informed and prepared.
• Increased Confidence:

“It’s like having a diligent virtual associate who works 24/7.” – Senior Partner

• Focus on Strategy: With AI handling research and summarization, lawyers focused more on client advisory, argument building, and strategic reviews.

Future Outlook

Encouraged by the success of this deployment, the firm is now:

• Exploring automated brief generation, case timeline building, and deposition prep using the same framework.
• Planning secure extensions of the assistant to mobile and voice-based interfaces for court-side access.