Drafting & Documents · Review
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Our verdict
A sensible AI choice for Microsoft 365 firms with strong data commitments. Fix permissions first and start small.
Best for: Firms on Microsoft 365 wanting drafting, email and meeting summaries and Excel help in the apps they use.
Watch out for: Copilot Business is annual-commitment only, with no month-to-month option. It surfaces anything users can already access, so audit permissions and ethical walls first. Verify legal output.
Microsoft's AI assistant inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, grounded in your Microsoft 365 work data. No legal research content.
Direct link to the vendor’s website. We don’t earn a commission from this link.
How we research: Researched from vendor documentation, pricing pages and user sentiment. Our methodology
- Best for
- Firms on Microsoft 365 wanting drafting, email and meeting summaries and Excel help in the apps they use.
- Probably not for
- Legal research
- Pricing
- See pricing notes
- Last checked
Pros & cons
Pros
- Built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams
- No training on prompts or work data, per Microsoft
- Prompts and responses logged for retention and eDiscovery
- Copilot Chat included with eligible plans
Cons
- Annual commitment only
- Oversharing risk from existing permissions
- No legal research content
Who it’s for
- Best for
- Firms on Microsoft 365 wanting drafting, email and meeting summaries and Excel help in the apps they use.
- Firms on Microsoft 365 Business plans (up to 300 users)
- Teams wanting AI in Word, Outlook and Teams
- Firms with retention and eDiscovery needs for AI logs
- Probably not for
- Legal research
- Firms whose documents live mostly outside Microsoft 365
- Buyers wanting month-to-month terms
Use cases: Drafting & Documents · Practice: — · Software: Office Productivity
Pricing
- Status
- See pricing notes
- As the vendor publishes it
- Copilot Business add-on and Business Standard/Premium with Copilot bundles; annual commitment required; first-year promotional discount through 2026-12-31. See Microsoft's pricing page for current prices (microsoft.com, checked 2026-10-15).
- Checked
- Before you buy
- Ask the vendor for a written quote, the minimum number of users, the contract term, and whether AI features cost extra.
Pricing changes; confirm with the vendor.
Alternatives: other Drafting & Documents tools
Other tools listed in the same use case, in directory order. Not a ranking.
Legal Research
CoCounsel (Thomson Reuters)
Thomson Reuters' AI legal assistant for research, analysis, and drafting, grounded in Westlaw, Practical Law, and firm documents.
Best forFirms already on Westlaw or Practical Law, and litigators who want research plus citation checks on briefs.
Legal Research
Lexis+ with Protégé
LexisNexis' AI research and drafting platform (formerly Lexis+ AI), grounded in Lexis content with Shepard's Verify, Vault, Workrooms, and agent skills.
Best forFirms already on Lexis+, litigators who value Shepard's citation checks, and firms wanting AI over their document management system.
Legal Research
Midpage
Self-serve AI legal research: case law with AI research tools, an AI citator, plugins and agentic PACER access.
Best forSolo and small-firm litigators wanting affordable, self-serve AI case law research.
Sources
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/copilot-business-faq
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/enterprise-data-protection
- microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/business
Vendor pages we checked, accessed 2026-10-15.
FAQ
Who is Microsoft 365 Copilot best for?
In our verdict: Firms on Microsoft 365 wanting drafting, email and meeting summaries and Excel help in the apps they use.
What should I watch out for with Microsoft 365 Copilot?
In our verdict: Copilot Business is annual-commitment only, with no month-to-month option. It surfaces anything users can already access, so audit permissions and ethical walls first. Verify legal output.
How much does Microsoft 365 Copilot cost?
Copilot Business add-on and Business Standard/Premium with Copilot bundles; annual commitment required; first-year promotional discount through 2026-12-31. See Microsoft's pricing page for current prices (microsoft.com, checked 2026-10-15).