On-premise vs cloud AI for law firms: which fits?
Cloud legal AI is faster to start and cheaper for a small firm; on-premise is the only option where client data never leaves the firm. Choose cloud for public-source research, on-premise for anything indexed over your own matters and work product.
The honest case for cloud
No capital cost, no server room, frontier models, and a vendor DPA that many firms find sufficient. For statutory and case-law research over public sources, the confidentiality question barely arises.
Where on-premise wins
Anything that requires the model to see your files: precedent search across matters, drafting from prior work product, intake summarization. That is also where the value is, and it is exactly the data you cannot afford to send anywhere.
Cost, three years out
Forty seats at $60 per seat per month is $86,400 over three years, with nothing owned at the end. A tier-two build plus retainer lands lower and leaves you with a capital asset — and a system that keeps working if the vendor changes terms.
Three ways to deploy, side by side
| The question | Consumer cloud AI | BAA / enterprise cloud | Handistack on-prem |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where client data goes | Bad: The vendor's cloud | Qualified: The vendor's cloud, contract-bound | Good: Stays on hardware you own |
| Trained on your content | Bad: Yes, unless you opt out | Qualified: No — by contract | Good: Never. No upstream to train |
| Retention of prompts & files | Bad: Vendor policy, human review possible | Qualified: Configurable, vendor-controlled | Good: Your policy, your disks |
| BAA / DPA in place | Bad: Not available | Good: Available | Good: Not needed — no third party |
| Audit trail you control | Bad: None | Qualified: Vendor console | Good: Your log store and SIEM |
| Cost shape | Qualified: $20–30 per seat / mo | Bad: $60+ per seat / mo | Good: One-time build, one flat retainer |
| Works with the internet down | Bad: No | Bad: No | Good: Yes |
You’re the firm where privilege is the product — and ABA 512 is on your desk.
We build, install and maintain the private system that makes this a non-question — inside your building, owned by you, with the control documentation for your file.