Microsoft 365 and Legal AI: Integration Patterns That Make Sense for Firms

Many firms already live inside Microsoft 365: Outlook, Word, Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint are where most work actually happens.

When you add “legal AI” to that mix, there are two broad patterns:

tools inside Microsoft 365 (Copilot, add-ins, plugins); and
tools that integrate with 365 from the outside (case management, DMS, knowledge systems).

This article looks at how UK firms can think about Microsoft 365 and legal AI as a joined-up environment, rather than a collection of disconnected features.

1. Clarify where your source of truth lives

Before worrying about AI, decide:

Is your matter file primarily in SharePoint/OneDrive, or in a separate DMS / case management system?
Are Teams channels and chats part of the formal record, or side conversations?
How do you currently capture time and tasks from Outlook and Word?

AI will be most effective where:

there is a clear relationship between documents/emails in 365 and matters in your core system;
permissions are sensibly set (no giant free-for-all document libraries);
duplication is minimised.

Without this, AI just makes the chaos more searchable.

2. Understand what Microsoft’s own AI provides

Microsoft’s AI offerings (such as Copilot) can:

summarise email threads in Outlook;
draft and edit documents in Word;
generate meeting summaries and action lists from Teams calls;
answer questions over documents stored in 365.

These features are powerful, but they are:

general-purpose, not tuned for legal workflows;
tied to where the data lives (mainly SharePoint/OneDrive and Exchange);
governed by Microsoft’s licensing and data-handling terms.

They are often an excellent way to introduce AI gently:

drafting internal notes;
rephrasing content;
orienting yourself in long documents.

But they are not, on their own, a case management solution.

3. Decide what needs to sit outside 365

Certain functions are usually better handled by specialist systems, for example:

matter/matter-level workflow and tasking;
time recording and billing;
structured chronologies and bundling;
single client/matter views that span email, documents, time and tasks.

Legal AI that supports these functions works best when:

it can see enough of your 365 data to be helpful;
but writes back to your case management or DMS as the system of record.

That way, you avoid creating yet another silo.

4. Integration patterns that make sense

For most small and mid-sized firms, sensible integration patterns include:

Outlook add-ins that:
- link emails to matters;
- trigger AI summaries into the case management system;
- suggest time entries based on messages.
Word integrations that:
- allow AI-assisted drafting against matter templates;
- save outputs directly to the right matter;
- track time spent on documents.
Teams and SharePoint hooks that:
- let you save key messages and files into matters;
- pull matter information into channels where appropriate.

The key is to keep workflow matter-centric, even when people are working in Microsoft tools.

5. Governance questions to ask

When combining Microsoft 365 AI with legal AI from other vendors, ask:

Where will AI processing happen – inside Microsoft’s tenant, your vendor’s cloud, or both?
How will you ensure that prompts and outputs are not used to train models in ways you are not comfortable with?
Can you see and audit which tools accessed which documents for a given matter?

Align this with your broader AI policy so that fee-earners have simple guidance:

“For internal drafting, Copilot is fine.”
“For client-confidential summaries, use the approved workflow inside our case management system.”

6. Avoid overlapping features that confuse users

It is easy to end up with:

Microsoft summarising documents;
your case management AI summarising the same documents;
a DMS provider offering yet another summariser.

Fee-earners then ask: “Which one am I supposed to use?”

To avoid this:

consolidate where possible around a small number of official workflows;
decide, for each common task, which tool is primary;
hide or disable unused options where your licensing allows.

Where OrdoLux fits

OrdoLux is being designed to live alongside Microsoft 365, not fight it:

emails and documents from Outlook and Word are linked to matters in OrdoLux;
AI features in OrdoLux work with that matter context to produce summaries, chronologies, drafts and time entries;
firms can still use Microsoft’s own AI features for internal work, while treating OrdoLux as the matter brain.

The aim is a world where:

fee-earners keep working in Outlook, Word and Teams;
AI helps them there;
but the record of what was done, why and for which client lives in OrdoLux.

This article is general information for practitioners — not legal advice.

Looking for legal case management software?

OrdoLux is legal case management software for UK solicitors, designed to make matter management, documents, time recording and AI assistance feel like one joined-up system. Learn more on the OrdoLux website.