Agentic AI: What It Is and How It Can Support Your Practice

Agentic AI: What It Is and How It Can Support Your Practice

As part of LMICK’s continued AI series, this month LMICK discusses agentic AI. Artificial intelligence has rapidly evolved over the past few years, and one of the newest developments—agentic AI—is beginning to reshape how professionals, including lawyers, approach complex tasks. Most attorneys are now familiar with generative AI, which creates content such as text, summaries, drafts, and analysis based on prompts. Generative AI is powerful, but it is fundamentally reactive: it responds to a request, produces an output, and stops.

Agentic AI, by contrast, is designed to act rather than simply respond. These systems can break down goals into steps, choose appropriate tools, take actions across multiple systems or sources, monitor progress, adapt based on results, and continue working until the objective is achieved. In other words, agentic AI functions more like a digital legal assistant that can plan, execute, and iterate—not merely generate text. For example, instead of simply drafting a discovery request, an agentic system might identify what information is missing, search through documents you’ve provided, organize evidence by issue, and prepare a work plan for the next litigation milestone.

For lawyers, the practical benefits of this technology are substantial. Agentic AI can automate time-consuming workflows such as docket monitoring, deadline tracking, conflict checks, file organization, or routine client communications. It can assist with multi-step legal research by gathering relevant statutes, updating cases, comparing jurisdictions, and delivering structured summaries. And because these systems can operate continuously and proactively, they can help lawyers prevent oversights, maintain compliance, and stay ahead of critical tasks.

As with any AI tool, lawyers must remain mindful of confidentiality, accuracy, and ethical duties. Agentic AI should be used within secure, verified platforms; outputs must be checked; and ultimate professional judgment must remain with the attorney. But when used responsibly, agentic AI offers a practical next step in legal technology—one that moves beyond generating text and toward meaningful, workflow-level support that enhances efficiency, organization, and client service.

Below are sample prompts and the types of multi-step, action-oriented responses an agentic AI system might produce. These demonstrate how the technology differs from simple text generation and can support real legal workflows.

1. Litigation Workflow Planning

Prompt: “Review the case file I uploaded, identify all upcoming litigation deadlines under the Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure, and create a week-by-week task plan through the close of discovery.”

What the agentic AI might do:

  • Extract key dates from pleadings and scheduling orders
  • Calculate deadlines under the rules
  • Build a structured task plan and reminders
  • Flag missing documents or filings that need attention

2. Multi-Step Legal Research

Prompt: “Compare how Florida, Georgia, and Kentucky treat enforceability of non-competes for medical professionals and draft a client-ready memo.”

What the agentic AI might do:

  • Gather statutes and recent case law
  • Organize findings by jurisdiction
  • Prepare a comparative summary
  • Produce a memo with citations

3. Client Intake Automation

Prompt: “Analyze this new client intake form, run a conflict check, identify missing information, and draft a follow-up email.”

What the agentic AI might do:

  • Extract parties and issues
  • Cross-check conflicts
  • Flag missing dates or details
  • Draft professional follow-up correspondence

4. Discovery Assistance

Prompt: “Review these 200 PDFs, categorize them by issue, identify potential exhibits for a deposition, and prepare an outline.”

What the agentic AI might do:

  • Sort documents by relevance
  • Highlight key evidence
  • Suggest potential exhibits
  • Create a deposition outline with linked documents

5. Contract Monitoring & Compliance

Prompt: “Track renewal and notice deadlines in these contracts and draft reminder emails as dates approach.”

What the agentic AI might do:

  • Identify contractual deadlines
  • Monitor dates proactively
  • Generate reminder emails tailored to each contract

6. Brief Quality Check

Prompt: “Review this draft brief for inconsistencies, missing citations, and negative treatment of cases.”

What the agentic AI might do:

  • Analyze argument flow
  • Identify gaps or weak points
  • Update or replace citations
  • Suggest revised language

There are several agentic AI platforms that are currently available. Many of the available platforms have different uses and purposes. Some examples are Amazon Bedrock AgentCore; Atera IT Autopilot; Cisco’s Unified Edge; Databricks’ Agent Bricks; and Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise.

As with any AI tool, lawyers must remain mindful of confidentiality, accuracy, and ethical considerations. Secure platforms, proper oversight, and human judgment remain essential. But used responsibly, Agentic AI can elevate a lawyer’s efficiency and reliability—moving from a passive drafting tool to an active participant in legal workflow management.

Questions? Contact Jared Burke for more information.