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Lawyers on edge as AI-powered tools reshape the legal profession

Published: 25 Mar. 2026, 07:00 Updated: 25 Mar. 2026, 12:01

An image of a figurine in front of the logo of the U.S. AI safety and research company Anthropic [AFP/YONHAP]

Korea’s legal tech industry, already slowed by regulatory constraints, is facing a new threat as rapid advances in AI begin to reshape the legal field.

As AI systems increasingly perform legal tasks — from drafting documents to analyzing precedents — concerns are growing that domestic firms could fall behind global competitors.

That shift has already rattled the industry.

Claude Cowork is a leading example. About $285 billion in market value was erased from legal software firms, including Thomson Reuters and LegalZoom, after Anthropic introduced AI plug-ins for legal and financial tasks in February, Bloomberg reported. The rollout of Anthropic's AI agent “Claude CoWork” has underscored how quickly such tools could replace existing services.

The immediate impact on Korea is expected to be limited, as general-purpose AI has difficulty accessing domestic court rulings, and Korea's legal system differs from that of English-speaking countries.

“[Claude Cowork] is a good example of how far general-purpose large language models [LLM] can develop, but due to limitations in legal data and domain expertise, the immediate impact on the domestic market will be limited,” said Ahn Ki-soon, head of the Legal AI Research Center at Law&Company, a Korean legal tech firm.

A large language model, or LLM, is an AI system trained on vast amounts of text to understand and generate humanlike language. Due to the rapid speed of such models in recent years, concerns are growing that it may only be a matter of time before AI agents replace human experts within law firms. However, concerns are gradually growing. The industry believes that, given the pace of technological development, replacement by AI agents is only a matter of time. Companies are now seeking ways to coexist with AI agents.

A pedestrian passes by the Low&Company sign displayed on its building on Feb. 23, 2023. [YONHAP]

It is in this context that Law&Company, which operates the digital legal consultation platform LawTalk, has opted for coexistence rather than competition after prolonged conflict with lawyer groups. The Korean Bar Association placed 123 lawyers on the platform under disciplinary action in 2022 for violating the Attorney-at-Law Act, alleging that the platform was operating as an illegal intermediary by brokering business between lawyers and clients.

The dispute eased after the Ministry of Justice overturned the decision in 2023, but the loss was significant. The company has since restructured its business and launched “SuperLawyer,” an AI assistant for lawyers based on the Claude model.

“We can also consider integrating SuperLawyer with Claude CoWork,” Ahn of Law&Talk said.

Some companies are moving beyond using AI for basic tasks such as precedent analysis and summarization, instead shifting toward more fundamental changes to their business models.

“Tedious tasks such as searching, summarizing and drafting can now be handled more effectively by LLM,” Lim Jung-keun, the CEO of BHSN, a Korean AI company specializing in business legal solutions. “Only the companies that offer efficient workflow systems based on the integration of external and internal data through multiple AI agents will survive."

Ahn Ki-soon, head of the Legal AI Research Center at Law&Company, presents at AWS Unicorn Day 2026 in COEX, Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on March 17. [AMAZON WEB SERVICES]

LBOX, a legal-AI startup providing case analysis services, also announced plans in June to restructure its platform into a legal workflow-centered system.

“With this update, we will evolve into an agent capable of handling all legal tasks, including litigation and advisory work, in an integrated manner,” Lee Jin, chief executive of LBOX, said.

A major concern for legal tech firms, however, is that Korean companies could become increasingly dependent on overseas services as domestic regulations hold back their players. Cases of individuals using AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude for self-representation in legal matters are on the rise.

“While verified domestic legal tech services are being restricted by regulation, people are turning to AI for legal advice,” Choi I-seon, a lawyer and policy committee member at the Korea Artificial Intelligence Association, said at a National Assembly policy forum in February.

Still, a Supreme Court ruling in February recognizing the legality of legal document drafting services by the legal tech firm LawForm has raised expectations for less regulation, which will foster AI use in the legal industry.

“It signals that opportunities are gradually opening up in Korea,” Lim said. “It will serve as a catalyst to accelerate discussions on establishing policy standards.”

“It took four years for this case to reach a final ruling at the Supreme Court. Relying solely on judicial decisions while AI services rapidly advance makes it difficult to resolve uncertainties in the field,” another industry official said.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY CHANG YOON-SEO [[email protected]]