RPA

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) automates repetitive, standardized tasks using software robots that log into systems and follow a set of predefined, rule-based instructions, much as a human would. RPA is deterministic, meaning it executes the same steps the same way every time and does not interpret context or exercise judgment, which makes it well suited to administrative, high-volume tasks on the business side of legal organizations, such as client and matter onboarding, conflict checking, court docket or portal monitoring, and pulling data from one system into another without a specialized integration or script. Legal RPA robots are frequently deployed to log into court and regulatory portals to capture filings and deadlines, feed practice management and billing systems, and automate other structured, repeatable back office workflows. Generative AI has introduced a related but distinct category of AI agents, which differ from traditional RPA robots in that they can reason over unstructured input, adapt to variation, and take autonomous action rather than following a fixed script. Major RPA vendors have begun layering these AI agents on top of their existing robots within a single governed platform, but the two technologies serve different purposes, RPA for consistent, rule-based execution and AI agents for judgment-based or non-deterministic steps, and a workflow will often combine both rather than relying on one alone.