Overview
AI Legal UK · The Counsel is a junior counsel in your pocket — a quiet legal assistant that has read every Act of Parliament for England & Wales, works 24/7 and never gets tired. It analyses your legal documents — contracts, employment agreements, property leases, privacy policies — and tells you exactly where the risks are, what is missing, and what to change.
Whether you are a freelancer checking an IR35 clause, a landlord reviewing a tenancy agreement, or a small business owner who just received a 40-page supplier contract, The Counsel gives you the same quality of first-pass analysis that a City law firm charges hundreds of pounds an hour for.
It ships as two editions that can be used independently or together:
- The web edition — The Counsel is rendered as an editorial broadsheet rather than a SaaS dashboard. Drop in your documents from the browser and watch the panel work clause by clause via SSE streaming. Six primary nav entries: Chambers · Review · Generate · Caselaw · Library · Docs. Best for most users. Try it now at the-counsel.co.uk or self-host the open-source build (see the deployment guide).
- The CLI skills — 38 commands you run inside Codex, Claude Code, or another compatible agent host as
/legal <command>. Best for developers and power users who work in the terminal.
Both products share the same legal analysis methodology, risk-scoring system, and jurisdiction scope (England & Wales only).
What Can It Actually Do?
Here is what The Counsel can do for you, in plain English:
- Review any contract and score it 0--100 for risk — employment contracts, supplier agreements, NDAs, freelancer terms, you name it
- Check employment contracts against the latest 2025 employment law changes, including the Employment Rights Bill reforms
- Tell you if a contractor arrangement is inside or outside IR35 — with specific reasons and evidence
- Generate NDAs, privacy policies, and terms of service from scratch, tailored to England & Wales law
- Compare two versions of a contract and highlight exactly what changed between drafts
- Audit your website for GDPR compliance — consent mechanisms, data processing, privacy notices
- Analyse tenancy agreements against the new Renters' Rights Act 2025, flagging unfair terms and missing protections
- Review commercial leases clause by clause, checking break clauses, rent review mechanisms, and repair obligations
- Review wills for inheritance tax planning opportunities and missing provisions
- Check corporate compliance — Companies Act duties, board governance, filing obligations
- Assess IP protection — patent, trademark, and copyright issues in your agreements
- Run AML and immigration compliance checks for regulated businesses
- And 25+ more specialist analyses covering consumer rights, ESG reporting, dispute resolution, debt recovery, and more
How Accurate Is It?
This is AI analysis, not legal advice. Think of it as a highly informed first pass that catches the vast majority of issues a solicitor would flag. It is designed to save you time and money by identifying risks early — not to replace professional legal counsel for final decisions.
In practice, it is excellent at:
- Spotting missing clauses that should be in a standard contract
- Identifying one-sided terms that favour the other party
- Flagging regulatory compliance gaps (GDPR, employment law, consumer protection)
- Translating legal jargon into plain English so you understand what you are agreeing to
Where you should still consult a solicitor:
- Final sign-off on high-value contracts
- Complex multi-jurisdictional arrangements
- Litigation strategy and court proceedings
- Tax structuring and estate planning beyond initial analysis
The tool is honest about its limitations. Every report starts with a clear disclaimer that the analysis is AI-generated and not a substitute for professional legal advice.
Who is it for?
- Freelancers and contractors reviewing their own service agreements and IR35 status
- Small businesses that need NDAs, terms of service, privacy policies, or compliance audits without the cost of a solicitor for the first pass
- Property professionals analysing leases, tenancy agreements, and conveyancing documents
- In-house legal teams using AI as a triage tool to prioritise solicitor time on the highest-risk issues
- Legal tech agencies integrating AI-assisted analysis into client workflows
- Developers building on top of the skill system or contributing new legal domains
Key capabilities
Multi-agent contract review
The flagship /legal review command launches five parallel AI agents that each focus on a different dimension of a contract — the same way a legal team would divide work among specialists:
| Agent | What it checks |
|---|---|
| Clauses | Every clause reviewed individually for risk, fairness, and completeness |
| Risks | How severe are the risks? What is your financial and legal exposure? |
| Compliance | Does the contract meet regulatory and statutory requirements? |
| Terms | Are definitions clear? Is the language consistent? Are there ambiguities? |
| Recommendations | Specific, actionable suggestions for what to change and why |
Results are aggregated into a Contract Safety Score (0--100) using weighted scoring (20/25/20/15/20). A score below 50 means you should think twice before signing without professional advice.
Two additional orchestrators cover specialist areas:
- Employment review — 4 parallel agents (contract, rights, discrimination, obligations)
- Corporate review — 3 parallel agents (compliance, documents, risk)
38 skills across 11 categories
| Category | Skills |
|---|---|
| Contract analysis | first-read, review, risks, compare, plain, negotiate, missing, benchmark |
| Property | property, tenancy |
| Employment & corporate | employment, corporate, ir35, aml, immigration |
| Document generation | nda, terms, privacy, agreement, freelancer, board-pack |
| Compliance & reporting | compliance, gdpr, consumer, esg, ai-compliance, legislation-tracker, regulatory-calendar, pre-launch, report-pdf |
| Matter management | matter-brief |
| Specialist | dispute, due-diligence, ip, debt, wills |
| Utility | fetch-samples |
Live legislation lookup
The platform connects to legislation.gov.uk and a corpus of 63,000+ court cases for real-time statute search, amendment checking, and in-force verification. This means every analysis references the law as it stands today, not a snapshot from months ago.
Jurisdiction
England & Wales only
All analysis, statute references, and generated documents are scoped to the laws of England & Wales. Scottish law, Northern Irish law, and other jurisdictions are not covered.
Important disclaimer
AI analysis, not legal advice
The Counsel produces AI-generated legal analysis as a starting point for review. It does not constitute legal advice and is not a substitute for qualified counsel. Always consult a qualified solicitor before signing contracts or relying on generated legal documents.
Next steps
- Requirements — what you need before installing
- Installation — three ways to install
- Quick Start — get your first review in 60 seconds