Microsoft Copilot's legal skills are on by default in Word desktop

Since 15 October 2026, anyone with a Microsoft 365 Copilot commercial licence has had contract review, redlining and drafting skills in Word desktop, switched on by default, according to [Microsoft's announcement of Copilot for legal](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft-copilot-blog/introducing-microsoft-copilot-for-legal/4564246) and [its admin page](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/manage/manage-copilot-for-legal). Microsoft made more than 20 legal skills generally available that day. A second plugin, for Cowork (Microsoft's workspace for handing Copilot multi-step jobs across files, emails and meetings), has to be added by each user.

In Word, Copilot detects that the open document is a legal one and uses the legal skills without being asked, [Microsoft's support page](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/word/get-started-with-copilot-for-legal) says. It summarises with numbered citations that highlight the passage it relied on, proposes redlines as tracked changes that the lawyer accepts or dismisses, and drafts a new agreement from a precedent. A "Review contract" skill reads a playbook (the team's written negotiating positions), breaks it into rules and checks the contract topic by topic. The playbook must be a .docx file, and Copilot cannot yet review against a template or any other document, the page says.

The numbers Microsoft gives

• More than 1,800 users of the early-access version (Legal Agent, released in April 2026) generated nearly 100,000 edits and kept roughly seven in ten, Microsoft says. That is about 55 edits a user over six months (100,000 ÷ 1,800). It does not say how many contracts, or of what kind.
• Microsoft's internal evaluations rate the edits above 90% for fluency, 95% for conciseness and 85% for relevance. None of those measures whether an edit was legally right, and Microsoft released no result on an independent legal benchmark, [LawSites noted](https://www.lawnext.com/2026/10/microsoft-launches-copilot-for-legal-becoming-the-fourth-ai-giant-in-five-months-to-build-out-a-legal-vertical.html).
• One time saving, from Microsoft's own senior corporate counsel, Aneesh Mehta: a first review that "might take me an hour" can "often take several minutes". That is one person's account, published by the seller.
• Matt Simpkin, chief information officer of the law firm Clyde & Co, says Copilot adoption there is "approaching 90%" and every colleague will get a premium licence. That is use of Copilot in general; he gives no figure for legal work.

What the posts leave out

Price. Microsoft names no separate charge; the skills need a Microsoft 365 Copilot commercial licence. Our tools tracker lists Copilot Business from $18 a user a month paid yearly, as [Microsoft's pricing page](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/pricing) showed on 12 November 2026. Microsoft's pages do not say which plans count as commercial. A customer asked under the announcement on 10 November whether Business Standard with Copilot qualifies; no reply from Microsoft was posted when we read it on 12 November.

Jurisdiction and control. On 18 October a customer asked whether the skills are based solely on US law, and later whether admins could limit them to specific groups. The thread shows no Microsoft answer. Another customer pointed to the admin page, which names two controls: a policy called "Legal Skills in M365 Copilot in Word" in the Microsoft 365 Apps admin centre, and a plugin called "Legal for Cowork" on the Agent Tools page of the Microsoft 365 admin centre.

People. Microsoft says nothing about training, review procedures or legal headcount. Its notice says Copilot "doesn't provide legal advice" and that the user is "solely responsible for reviewing, verifying, and deciding whether to rely on any output". The review screen has an "Accept All" button. Because the plugin follows the licence, not the job title, a sales or procurement colleague with Copilot gets the same redlining.

What to do about a legal tool your Copilot users already have

• If you run legal operations: ask IT this week whether the "Legal Skills in M365 Copilot in Word" policy is set, and who outside the legal team holds a Copilot licence. Decide whether those people should have contract redlining at all.
• To pilot: pick one contract type with a written playbook, save the playbook as .docx, and have two lawyers log minutes per first review with and without the skill, the suggested edits they rejected, and any wrong edit they nearly accepted. Set a rule on "Accept All" before you start.
• Before buying a specialist legal AI tool, run it on the same contracts. The Word skills come with a licence you may already pay for.