TL;DR: Legal software providers are connecting more than one AI model to the same platform. LexisNexis now runs Anthropic’s Claude inside Lexis+ with Protégé, and NetDocuments connects Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to firm documents through a tool called ndConnect. Your firm’s data now sits with several vendors at once, and most contracts haven’t caught up to check for it.
What changed in legal software this year?
LexisNexis added Anthropic’s Claude legal plugin to Lexis+ with Protégé back in February, when the platform first replaced its previous AI tool. On 8 July, that same integration was extended to in-house legal and compliance teams for the first time, alongside more than 100 prebuilt workflows and over 50 skills built by LexisNexis.
Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO of LexisNexis Legal, said the update responds directly to what in-house customers asked for. Robb Hern, the company’s GM of Corporate Legal, put it more bluntly: in-house teams have historically been underserved by legal technology built with law firms in mind.
Who is responsible for how AI models connect to your legal software?
The SRA already expects your Compliance Officer for Legal Practice to own AI governance across the firm. That responsibility now stretches further than it did a year ago.
It’s no longer enough to know that your legal software uses AI. Someone at your firm needs to know which AI providers it uses, what each one is contractually allowed to do with your data, and who checks that before a new integration goes live.
Is this only happening at LexisNexis?
No. NetDocuments has built the same approach into a tool called ndConnect, which lets Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot connect directly to a firm’s document repository through the Model Context Protocol, an open standard for linking AI tools to stored data.
Dan Hauck, Chief Product Officer at NetDocuments, described ndConnect as extending the platform’s document and AI capabilities to third-party AI vendors while keeping the underlying protection and productivity of the core system intact. NetDocuments says existing permissions, ethical walls and data loss prevention rules apply automatically at that connection point, with documents never leaving the platform.
Two of the largest legal software providers in the market have rebuilt their platforms around the same idea within months of each other, which tells you this is becoming standard practice rather than a one-off feature.
What should your firm check before adopting multi-model legal software?
Governance here doesn’t need to be complicated. It needs to exist, and someone needs to check it before signing anything.
Name every AI model connected to the platform
Ask the vendor which AI providers actually touch your data, not just the one featured on the marketing page. Each one may sit under a different agreement.
Confirm nothing is retained outside the platform
Even a brief handoff to an external model is a moment your document could be stored somewhere you don’t control. Get a specific answer on retention, not a general reassurance.
Check that permissions travel with the connection
Your firm’s ethical walls and access restrictions are only useful if they still apply once an external AI model connects. Ask whether that enforcement happens automatically, or whether someone has to configure it separately.
Ask what the audit log actually shows
If several AI systems can reach the same documents, you need to see, in full, what each one did and when. Ask to see a sample log before you commit.
Get liability agreed in writing
If a document is mishandled, you need to know upfront whether that sits with the platform provider or the AI model provider. That question is much harder to answer after something has already gone wrong.
How Labyrinth Technology can help
We work with law firms across the UK on exactly this kind of decision. That means reviewing how AI tools connect to your case management software, your document management software and your compliance software, and checking what a vendor’s security claims actually mean in practice.
If your firm is looking at Lexis+ with Protégé, NetDocuments, or any legal software adding AI capability, we can help you ask the right questions before you sign anything.
Two major legal software providers have rebuilt themselves around multiple AI vendors this year. The firms checking their contracts now won’t be the ones explaining a data question after the fact.
