Building Legal Agents When You Can't See the Data — Jacob Lauritzen, CTO of Legora

Legal technology is undergoing a fundamental transformation as AI agents move beyond simple research tools to orchestrate complex legal workflows. Jacob Lauritzen, CTO of Legora, explains that the industry is shifting from manual document review to automated, agent-driven processes that handle tasks like due diligence and contract drafting. Key innovations include "tabular review," which allows for bulk extraction across thousands of agreements, and the use of specialized "legal engineers" to bridge the gap between technical AI capabilities and professional legal requirements. Despite concerns regarding the displacement of junior staff, the focus remains on enhancing productivity and enabling lawyers to prioritize high-value strategic judgment. Security remains paramount, with firms increasingly adopting cloud-based infrastructure to manage confidential data while leveraging model arbitrage to optimize performance, cost, and latency across diverse legal tasks.