An attorney builds a private AI paralegal

Erick Holguin practices at Perez Law in McAllen, working in eminent domain and business litigation. He came into the intensive as a non-technical operator.

What mattered most to him was getting AI to work with the sources lawyers actually rely on. He began using AI integrations with legal research databases and started building what he describes as a junior AI paralegal: a tool that helps him draft case responses for clients and pull the citations to support them.

The point is not to replace the lawyer. It is to take the first-draft weight off his plate, the drafting and the citation-gathering, so he can spend his time on the substantive legal work that actually needs his judgment. He does all of it privately, with client confidentiality kept intact.

He left with the working pattern and a clear next build, and the capability stays in his own hands.