Microsoft Copilot for Legal: What It Does, How to Try It in Word and How It Compares With Other Legal AI (2026)

TL;DR: On 15 Oct 2026, Microsoft announced Copilot for legal, a set of more than 20 legal "skills" delivered as plugins for Copilot in Word (desktop) and Cowork, according to Law.com. Microsoft's support page says it can summarize, explain, draft, redline and review legal documents, and that it needs an active Microsoft 365 Copilot commercial license. This guide covers what it does, how to try it in Word, its stated limits, and how it sits next to other legal AI add-ins. It is not legal advice, and Microsoft says the same about the tool.

What was announced

Law.com's report (Legal Tech News, 15 Oct 2026) says Microsoft announced "Copilot for legal," a set of more than 20 purpose-built legal skills for its generative AI assistant. It describes the product as an evolution of features first shown in Microsoft's Legal Agent in April, delivered as two plugins: one for Word and one for Cowork, Microsoft's agentic AI offering that can do tasks across Microsoft apps. The Law.com page we could open was cut off by a paywall after that point, so the details below come from Microsoft's own documentation, not from Law.com.

Microsoft's Message Center entry (RM571884, updated 13 Oct 2026) lists the feature as general availability in October 2026 and preview since April 2026, on desktop, worldwide standard multi-tenant cloud. It adds that the plugins can use Microsoft 365 work context and connect to supported third-party legal sources.

What it can do, per Microsoft's support page

• Summarize and explain legal documents, with numbered citations you can click to highlight the passage Copilot used.
• Answer questions across several documents, if you add them with the + button.
• Edit with redlines: suggested changes appear as tracked changes that you accept or dismiss.
• Review a contract against a playbook with the Review contract skill.
• Draft a new contract from a precedent or template, with placeholders you fill in.

How to try it in Word

You need: an active Microsoft 365 Copilot commercial license, and Word desktop. Microsoft says the legal plugin is on by default in Word desktop.

1. Open a legal document in Word desktop.
2. Open Copilot.
3. Type your prompt and send it. Copilot is meant to detect a legal document and use legal skills automatically, and it tends to keep using them for the rest of that chat.
4. Check the answer using the numbered citations.

To turn it off: open the three-dot menu at the top right of the Copilot sidebar, choose Manage plugins & skills, and switch Legal off.

Playbook review

1. Tell Copilot, for example, "Review this contract using a playbook."
2. Add your playbook. It must be a .docx file, uploaded or attached from Microsoft 365.
3. Copilot breaks the playbook into topics with rules and example clauses. Read and edit them.
4. Click Run Review. Microsoft says results stream in, one topic at a time, after a few minutes.
5. Look at each topic's analysis. Where the contract departs from the playbook, Copilot suggests a tracked-change edit. You can accept edits one at a time or use Accept All.

Stated limit: Copilot can currently review contracts only from playbooks, not from templates or other documents.

Drafting

Attach a precedent or template and type "@Draft-new-contract draft a new agreement using this precedent." Copilot converts it to a template with placeholders. You can fill them by attaching context or by hand, then select Finish Draft.

Cowork

In Cowork, you must first add the plugin: open Customize, search for Legal (or go to Roles & Industry), choose Legal for Cowork, and press Add. Then type "/" and the skill name, or let Copilot pick skills from your intent.

Prompt tips from Microsoft

• Be specific. Ask "What are the risks to the seller related to service delivery?" instead of "What are the risks?"
• Ask for one issue at a time when editing. For example, "Update the limitation of liability provision to exclude consequential damages for the buyer," rather than "Remediate all of the risks."

Important limits

• Microsoft says Copilot "doesn't provide legal advice or professional determinations," and is not a substitute for a qualified legal professional. AI output can be wrong, and you are responsible for verifying it.
• Read every tracked change before you accept it. Be especially careful with Accept All.
• Check your employer's or client's policy on AI and on confidential documents before using it. We haven't reviewed Microsoft's data-handling terms here.
• We have not tested the feature, and we don't know how it performs on real contracts.
• Regional and language availability beyond what Microsoft's pages say is unknown to us.

How it compares with other legal AI

Other products also work with Word. We have only read vendor descriptions, not tested any of them, so treat this as a map, not a ranking:

• Spellbook describes itself as a Word-native add-in for contract review, with inline redlines, playbook checks and market benchmarks.
• Thomson Reuters CoCounsel Legal has a Microsoft Word add-in covering contract review, drafting and playbook comparison, with research grounded in Westlaw and Practical Law according to the vendor.
• Harvey is described in comparison write-ups as an enterprise platform with a Word add-in, aimed at multi-document diligence and cross-practice work. The comparison pages we saw were written by competitors or resellers, so verify with Harvey directly.

The practical difference: Copilot for legal is included for Microsoft 365 Copilot commercial subscribers according to Microsoft, so if your organisation already has that license, trying it may need no new vendor. Specialist products may offer legal-specific content or workflows that Microsoft's plugin doesn't claim. Ask each vendor about pricing, data handling and supported jurisdictions.

Sources: Law.com Legal Tech News, "Microsoft Launches Legal Skills Within Copilot, Furthering Move Into Legal Tech" (15 Oct 2026, partially paywalled); Microsoft Support, "Get started with Copilot for legal"; Microsoft 365 Message Center RM571884 (via mc.merill.net); vendor pages for Spellbook and Thomson Reuters CoCounsel. Read 16 Oct 2026. Not legal advice.

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