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How Law Firms Can Use AI and Remote Legal Teams Together to Increase Capacity
In 2025, legal teams are under rising pressure to deliver more in less time, facing mounting workloads, cost constraints, and rising client expectations. The most forward-thinking firms are meeting this moment by combining AI-driven legal automation with the strategic use of remote legal talent. Together, these two forces are enabling firms to increase capacity, improve margins, and scale legal delivery without increasing headcount.
Why This Hybrid Model Is Gaining Momentum
A recent Thomson Reuters survey found that 82% of legal professionals believe AI will become essential to their workflows within two years. But AI alone isn’t a silver bullet. While it accelerates research, contract flagging, and document review, it lacks legal judgment, jurisdictional nuance, and the ability to provide client-facing insight.
That’s where remote legal professionals come in. Offshore lawyers and paralegals, sourced through platforms like Teams Squared bring common law training, high fluency in English, and flexibility across time zones. Most importantly, they allow firms to reduce staffing costs by up to 60% while maintaining quality and responsiveness.
How AI and Offshore Legal Talent Work in Tandem
Used together, AI and remote teams form a balanced and scalable delivery model. Legal AI platforms like Harvey, CoCounsel by Thomson Reuters, and RelativityOne can automate repetitive tasks. Offshore teams step in to review outputs, tailor content to specific jurisdictions, and handle deeper legal analysis.
A Financial Times case study revealed how Unilever’s legal department combined offshore legal resourcing with automation tools to scale faster and reduce internal legal workload by 30–40%. That’s a powerful proof point for in-house teams and law firms alike.
What It Looks Like in Practice
Here’s how firms are using this combination effectively:
- Contract lifecycle: AI tools generate first drafts of NDAs or MSAs. Remote paralegals review, localize, and escalate for review.
- Due diligence: AI-assisted review highlights risk clauses. Remote legal professionals summarize and validate findings.
- Litigation support: AI-assisted eDiscovery organizes files. Offshore assistants build briefs and prep witness packages.
- Compliance updates: AI identifies new laws and changes. Remote teams update documentation across internal systems.
Firms like Law Squared are already embracing this hybrid approach, pairing their productized legal service model with automation and remote hiring via their internal tool, Cubed.
Who’s Already Doing It
This approach is no longer limited to BigLaw. Firms across the spectrum are embedding these tools into their workflows.
- MinterEllison and Allens use AI platforms like Harvey and Relativity to streamline discovery and review tasks.
- Fenwick & West in the US uses contract automation combined with a remote legal team based in Asia to boost capacity and speed.
- Teams Squared helped an Australian boutique law firm expand its M&A practice by hiring a senior lawyer remotely, enabling them to take on more high-value matters without increasing onshore costs.
Why It Works for Any Firm Size
Whether you’re a general counsel leading an in-house team or a partner at a boutique law firm, the benefits are clear:
- Reduce administrative and document-heavy workload
- Extend your team’s hours with follow-the-sun service
- Improve your cost-to-output ratio
- Maintain quality with senior offshore lawyers
- Use AI for first-pass review, offshore support for execution, and your local team for final strategy
Implementing This Model Responsibly
To successfully integrate AI and remote legal staff, firms should:
- Ensure secure access and data control using platforms like NetDocuments
- Use Clio, Smokeball, or Actionstep to manage workflows, track productivity, and facilitate collaboration
- Clearly define what tasks are best handled by AI, what should be reviewed by remote staff, and what requires local oversight
- Establish structured onboarding, weekly check-ins, and knowledge-sharing processes across teams
The fusion of AI and offshore legal talent is no longer a novelty, it’s a practical response to the complexities of modern legal work. By blending automation with human insight, law firms and corporate legal departments can increase output without losing quality or control.
In a market where efficiency is currency, this hybrid model is helping firms stay competitive, scale smartly, and deliver more value to clients, all without overextending internal resources.
We’re building a legal ecosystem where borders don’t limit potential.
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