In his new column, “The 80/20 Principle,” Ernie Svenson demystifies technology. Recently, he polled a group of solo and small firm lawyers about their preferred AI tools. The results? Surprising.
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The AI Tool Battle: What Lawyers Prefer
ChatGPT dominated with 57% of responses. But the comments explaining their preferences revealed something more interesting.
- “I’ve been all in with ChatGPT and not dabbling with others.”
- “I pay for ChatGPT, but when I do the same query with both GPT and Claude, I find that I prefer Claude’s free response to GPTs. Claude feels like being in dialogue with a “smarter” person, and I find myself wasting less time and feeling less irritated as I edit or build off the output.
- “I have been experimenting with Perplexity. I previously was using ChatGPT, which provided good general responses. I’ve found that I like Perplexity better because the responses appear more well-supported. In both cases, I use the tools like an enhanced search function and not for drafting.”
- “For legal drafting, my primary has become Gemini AI. It seems to match my voice. Plus, it can read PDFs that are not OCR’d.”
- “I JUST paid for Claude and I am far more impressed with its output. I love Spellbook; I see a benefit in it separate from the other tools. I am loving Claude. ChatGPT is too consumer-oriented, and I have to check its output more.
- “I pay for ChatGPT Pro. I recently watched an AI writing webinar and the presenter used Claude. I haven’t used it, am very happy with the $$$ version of ChatGPT, but might want to check it out.
- “I went all-in with the pro version of ChatGPT. I have started playing around with Westlaw’s AI tools in hopes that I will get more real cases and fewer hallucinations.”
What the Comments Revealed
Most lawyers aren’t experimenting. One person said it clearly: “I’ve been all in with ChatGPT and not dabbling with others.”
That might be a mistake in the long run.
Tool choice depends on the task. Some lawyers prefer Claude for tone, Perplexity for research, and Gemini for what many call the best AI for drafting. No single AI tool for lawyers excels at everything.
Legal-specific Options Are Often Disappointing
Attorney Carolyn Elefant recently described her test of how ChatGPT Deep Research and Lexis handled the same legal issue about a utility’s non-consensual entry onto private property constituted a taking under federal and state law.
She reported:
- “ChatGPT Deep Research was faster and more intuitive. I didn’t have to go through multiple login screens or navigate a cluttered interface …
- ChatGPT … produced a comprehensive, reasoned memo that restated the question clearly and then walked through relevant federal and Maryland law. Most impressively, it identified the key U.S. Supreme Court case — Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid — right at the start.
- That case is central to the issue of temporary physical takings, and Lexis completely missed it.”
A lawyer in our survey reported similar disappointment:
- “Every time I demo one of these legal-specific tools, they suck.”
Obviously, there are ethical concerns that the legal-specific AI tools purport to address. And no doubt they generally provide good results. So what’s the takeaway?
The Real Insight About Using AI Tools
Focusing too much on a single AI tool might not be the best approach right now. It’s better to understand what each tool does best — and use the right one for each task.
- ChatGPT excels at conversation and problem-solving.
- Claude produces more polished writing.
- Perplexity delivers better-sourced research.
- Gemini handles complex documents.
Why Do Lawyers Resist Experimenting?
Most lawyers find one AI tool that works “well enough” and stop there.
But that’s like using a hammer for every job because you’re comfortable with hammers.
The lawyers getting the best AI results? They’re tool-switchers. They use Claude for writing, Perplexity for research and ChatGPT for brainstorming.
It takes more upfront effort, but the results are dramatically better.
The Bottom Line: Don’t Stay Married to Your First AI Tool
With AI for solo and small firm practice, the bottom line is: Try different options for different tasks. Pay to get access to the best models. Learn what each does best.
(And if you want to join a discussion group where lawyers are trying different AI tools, check out the ChatGPT Lab for Lawyers.)
Image © iStockPhoto.com.
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