In this piece for SmartBrief's Practical AI series, Darrow's CEO Evyatar Ben Artzi argues that legal intelligence is doing more than making law firms more efficient — it is beginning to address one of the most persistent structural failures of the legal system: the fact that most people who need legal help never get it.
Ben Artzi opens with a stark set of numbers. There are an average of 2.8 civil legal aid attorneys per 10,000 Americans living in poverty. In rural communities, 86% of low-income households that request legal aid receive no help at all. Forty percent of U.S. counties have fewer than one lawyer per 1,000 residents. The justice gap is not a marginal problem — it is a defining feature of how the legal system functions in practice. Legal intelligence, Ben Artzi argues, is beginning to close that gap in two distinct ways: by detecting violations earlier, before the window for action closes, and by streamlining attorneys' workflows so they can serve more clients in less time.
On the first point, he returns to a theme central to Darrow's mission. Most people don't recognize they've been harmed, or can't afford an attorney by the time they do. Legal intelligence changes the starting point entirely — allowing law firms to proactively scan large volumes of public data for patterns that indicate violations, rather than waiting for clients to arrive. He cites Chicago-based class action attorney Katrina Carroll, who used legal intelligence to uncover biometric privacy violations and build a $40 million case against Bumble, alleging the company collected biometric data from user photos in violation of Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act. Carroll notes that these tools have allowed her to file cases that would otherwise have been too cumbersome or time-consuming to pursue — or would never have been filed at all.
On the second point, Ben Artzi explores how AI-driven tools are reshaping what legal practice looks like at the firm level. By automating repetitive tasks like document review and legal research, legal intelligence frees attorneys to focus on client work. It reduces burnout, making the profession more sustainable. And by lowering the operational cost of running a law firm, it makes it easier for solo practitioners and small firms to establish focused, niche practices — potentially replacing the overwhelmed generalist with a more specialized, accessible model.
He also highlights a category of legal assistance that barely existed before: AI chatbots as first responders. He describes Roxanne the Repair Bot, an AI assistant launched in New York City in January 2025 to help tenants address housing problems before they escalate. When a renter asks what to do about no heat or mold, Roxanne provides real-time, actionable guidance — filling a void that legal aid organizations, stretched by eviction caseloads, simply cannot cover. Crucially, tools like Roxanne expand access to legal information without crossing into unauthorized practice of law, opening up an entirely new category of support.
Ben Artzi closes with a direct challenge to the profession: AI will not replace attorneys, but it will allow them to expand their reach and provide counsel to underserved communities. That, he argues, is a future worth building deliberately.
