Inside Legal AI

When AI isn’t the bottleneck, knowledge is

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 15:35:09 GMT

Most firms will arrive in 2026 with no shortage of AI tooling. The harder problem is what sits underneath it: whether your firm’s knowledge foundations, governance, and operating model are strong enough to make AI reliable, scalable, and defensible in practice.

That’s the premise of AI x KM 2026 : positioning Knowledge Management as infrastructure, not support, and treating the “knowledge backbone” as the real differentiator in the next phase of legal transformation

Hosted by Inside Practice as a one-day, in-person forum, AI x KM 2026 is built for senior KM, innovation, and operational leaders who are done with abstract AI talk, and ready to compare notes on what it actually takes to move from experimentation to sustained capability.

The conversations to watch

Adoption isn’t a rollout. It’s alignment.
Featuring Barbara Taylor and Elisabeth Cappuyns of DLA Piper our day opens with a direct attack on the #1 execution risk: tools that don’t stick because workflows, roles, and incentives never changed. “Driving Adoption in Law Firms: Aligning Knowledge, Workflows, and AI” is framed around selection, implementation, feedback loops, and change management, so AI becomes a usable part of practice, not another tab attorneys ignore.
KM “lifecycle” models are being replaced by living systems.
Moderated by Katya Linossi of Clearpeople, “From Lifecycle to Living System: Reimagining Knowledge in the AI Era” pushes on a key tension: the moment AI reshapes how knowledge is created and reused, static models break. Expect a discussion centered on capture, governance, reuse, culture, and continuous transformation.
The vendor question is really a taxonomy and curation question.
AI success hinges on what you feed it, how you structure it, and who decides. “KM, Lawyers, and Vendors Working Together: Partnering with AI to Power Law Firm Expertise” is oriented around building effective taxonomies, deciding which assets become AI-ready, and translating outputs into lawyer-ready playbooks and workflow artifacts, done well, this is where KM becomes a multiplier. Panelists come from Ballard Spahr.
Pilot design is strategy, because vendor evaluation is now a core capability.
“Designing Pilots with Purpose: Turning AI Vendor Evaluations into Scalable KM Solutions” is a case study Led by Tom Trujillo of McGuireWoods LLP , built around the unglamorous work: vetting, selecting, proving value, planning financially, and avoiding adoption theater.
Future-proofing means planning for tool depreciation and governance debt.
AI stacks won’t stand still. The “Future-Proofing Your AI Strategy” led by Morgan Llewellyn of HIKE2 tackles total cost of ownership, the speed of tooling change, and why strong knowledge/data foundations are the only sustainable hedge.

The afternoon then turns to where KM strategy becomes visible to users: search, UX, and matter-level intelligence :

“Aligning Knowledge Strategy with AI” with Michael Korn of Paul Hastings LLP
“Reimagining Enterprise Search” with Nicole Bradick of Factor Law
“Transforming Legal Knowledge into AI-Driven Case Intelligence” with Scott Kaiser of Mayer Brown
(And yes, there’s a networking reception to close.)

Key details at a glance

Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Time: 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM (EST)

Location: New York

Early bird: Confirm by February 13, 2026 to save $300 (code AIKMNYC )

Bottom line: If your firm’s AI story is starting to sound like “we bought tools,” AI x KM 2026 is designed to pull the conversation back to what actually determines outcomes: knowledge design, governance, adoption, cost, and the operating model required to make AI trustworthy in practice.

Inside Legal Data: The Operating System of the Modern Firm

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 15:34:20 GMT

The UK legal market enters 2026 at an inflection point where “data strategy” stops being a modernization project and becomes an operating philosophy. The event framing is blunt: data isn’t back-office, it’s the organizing principle for how legal work is priced, delivered, governed, and measured.

Inside Legal Data: London (Apr 9, 2026) leans into that reality with a full-day agenda that connects the dots: institutional intelligence, architecture, governance, AI readiness, and the commercial outcomes leaders actually care about.

The agenda themes that matter most

Opening the day, “Preserving Institutional Intelligence: Using AI Agents to Transform Tacit Knowledge into Data Assets” confronts one of the most underpriced risks in law firms: the steady loss of unwritten expertise through attrition, retirement, and role change. Led by Sarah Pullin of Baker McKenzie , the session focuses on how firms can identify, capture, and structure tacit knowledge before it disappears and how AI and agents change what’s possible when institutional memory is treated as a strategic asset rather than folklore.
In “Rebuilding Law Firm Data Strategy: From Foundation to Action,” Jonathan Elam (CMS) and Petra Smith (HFW) tackle the uncomfortable truth behind stalled analytics programs: most firms are trying to layer insight on top of fragmented, inconsistent, and poorly governed data.
“From Compliance to Value Creation” reframes governance from necessary evil to strategic enabler. Kirit Solanki of Mishcon de Reya shares how Mishcon rethought data ownership, accountability, and controls to move beyond compliance and toward value creation.
“From Dashboards to Decisions: Turn Data into Pricing, Margin & Client Value” marks the agenda’s pivot from infrastructure to outcomes. Paul McMonagle of Taylor Wessing focuses on how firms translate data into pricing discipline, margin protection, and client-facing insight, and why reporting alone rarely alters decision-making.
“Governance 2.0: Integrating Data Governance, AI Governance, Privacy, and Cyber Risk” reflects a shift many firms are already feeling. Dani Alman (Pinsent Masons) and Petra Smith (HFW) explore why data governance can no longer live separately from AI risk, privacy obligations, and cyber resilience, and what integrated governance actually looks like in practice.
In “Building the Business Case for Long-Term Data Strategy Investment,” Tom Delaney of Birketts tackles the hardest internal sell: sustained investment. The session focuses on ROI narratives, executive alignment, and how firms justify long-term data spend in environments still dominated by short-term financial pressures.

Key details at a glance

Date: April 9, 2026
Time: 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM (GMT)
Location: London
Early bird: Confirm by February 20, 2026 to save £300 (code DATALON )

Bottom line: Inside Legal Data: London is built for leaders who have moved past “we need better reporting” and are now solving the real question: how to make data a durable, governed asset that drives decisions—commercially, operationally, and safely—in an AI-shaped market.

From Experiment to Infrastructure: Why Legal AI’s Next Crisis Isn’t Capability, It’s Control

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:36:40 GMT

Inside Legal AI Brief: 01/16/26

For the past two years, the legal industry has treated AI the way a toddler treats a marker: with wide-eyed wonder, frantic enthusiasm, and absolutely no plan for what happens when it ends up on the walls.

Because legal AI has mostly been framed as a question of possibility: What can it do? How fast is it improving? Which tools should firms test?

And to be clear: that phase is done. It’s over. The “AI as a fun side quest” era has ended.

Because across the legal market, vendors, law firms, courts, regulators, professional bodies - AI is no longer being treated like an experiment. It’s being absorbed into the infrastructure of legal work.

Which is a huge change, because “experiment” is where you can shrug and say, “Well, that didn’t work,” like you tried making sourdough in 2020. “Infrastructure” is where, if it fails, society starts emailing you like, “Hi, I can’t access my rights today, is the system down?”

And that’s what changes the risk profile entirely.

This is no longer a story about whether AI works. It is now a story about whether legal institutions are prepared to control it, govern it, and then, this is the real kicker, live with it .

Because it’s one thing to invite AI into the building. It’s another thing to realize you’ve given it keys, a badge, and a desk right next to the confidential files.

The Inflection Point We’re Already Past

Here’s one of the clearest signals something fundamental has shifted: AI has crossed an internal threshold inside institutions.

Vendors are no longer selling discrete tools, little “helpful” add-ons you can trial and then quietly abandon like a gym membership. They’re selling agentic systems , often paired with pricing models that are basically designed to encourage mass adoption.

Litera’s rapid growth after launching no-cost access to agentic capabilities is a perfect example: remove friction, and adoption accelerates. ( Business Wire )

And courts?

Courts are not just watching from a safe distance, stroking their judicial chins and murmuring, “Hmm.” U.S. judges are reportedly already using AI to summarize filings and assist with drafting. ( Wall Street Journal )

Which is… significant!

Because once judges start using AI as a convenience layer, that doesn’t stay a “nice-to-have.” That changes how lawyers write, how they brief, what they emphasize, and what they assume will be “picked up.”

And institutional change rarely arrives with fireworks. It arrives through normalization: one more workflow, one more “assist,” one more quiet assumption that the machine is just… part of the process now.

That moment has already passed.

The End of AI Euphoria and the Rise of Scrutiny

Now, investment in AI hasn’t slowed. But it has sobered up.

The market is moving beyond the “try everything” phase, where everyone acted like they were at a tech buffet piling shrimp onto their plate with both hands, and into a phase of discipline. Spending is being redirected toward what you need if AI is going to operate at scale without turning your firm into a liability factory:

governance and oversight
security and data control
reliability and auditability
integration with knowledge, data, and workflow systems
and ROI you can actually explain to leadership and clients without sounding like a cult member

And this shift mirrors what enterprise leaders are saying more broadly. McKinsey’s State of AI points to organizations focusing less on experimentation and more on operationalizing AI in ways that survive scrutiny. ( McKinsey )

Which makes sense. Because AI is no longer “innovation theater”, where everyone gets to wear a headset and say “synergy” and then go home.

It is entering the same governance conversation as billing systems, pricing models, and client data platforms.

Meaning: boring, consequential, and full of meetings. The true nightmare.

Governance Is Rising, but Fragmenting

If this were a neat story, regulation would be converging smoothly behind adoption. It is not a neat story.

In the United States, AI governance is emerging through state-level activity, which means we’re heading toward the regulatory equivalent of being attacked by a flock of birds: not one clean problem, but dozens of small, frantic ones coming from different angles.

You’ve got legislative developments in Texas ( Texas Legislature Online ), policy direction in California ( Governor of California ), and the likely future is layered compliance rather than one national framework.

And in the UK, the signal is different but still consequential: professional bodies like the Law Society are issuing increasingly urgent guidance on pace and risk, even while enforceable standards remain fluid. ( Law Society )

So if you’re a firm operating across jurisdictions, the risk is not “no regulation.”

It’s fragmentation .

Which forces governance decisions now , before standards stabilize, meaning you’ll be building the plane while multiple governments are simultaneously arguing about what counts as a wing.

The Quiet Risk: Reliability and Security

Here’s the part that tends to get buried under shiny demos: as AI systems become more autonomous, their failure modes become less forgiving.

Agentic systems introduce new attack surfaces, new manipulation risks, and new questions about containment. And the OWASP GenAI project has started formalizing these concerns, highlighting that agentic architectures demand fundamentally different security assumptions. ( OWASP GenAI )

And in legal contexts, those security and reliability questions aren’t abstract “tech issues.”

They are privilege issues. Confidentiality issues. Professional liability issues. Client trust issues.

Because if a system has memory, persistence, and the ability to take delegated action, the question isn’t “Can it draft a clause?”

The question is: What happens when it drafts the clause, stores the clause, reuses the clause, and confidently cites the clause in a context where it absolutely should not?

The industry’s focus on capability has obscured a much harder question:

Can these systems be trusted, audited, and governed inside real institutions, the kind with malpractice exposure and ethical duties and clients who do not accept “the robot did it” as a defense?

Workforce Redesign Is Beginning - Without a Map

AI is no longer just augmenting legal work. It is starting to reshape how time, effort, and value are defined.

Some firms are making that shift explicit. Ropes & Gray’s decision to credit associates for AI-related effort is a tangible signal that work design is changing. ( City A.M. )

And that’s actually a big deal, because it acknowledges the reality: if AI changes the workflow, you can’t keep measuring productivity using the same old yardstick and then act surprised when everyone’s miserable.

Meanwhile, broader workforce signals, burnout, dissatisfaction, suggest institutions are redesigning work faster than they are redesigning incentives, evaluation models, and professional identity.

So the risk is not “people will resist AI.”

The risk is that work changes, and the definition of success doesn’t.

And that creates a professional environment where the rules are unclear, the expectations are inconsistent, and everyone feels like they’re being judged on metrics designed for a different century.

The Core Insight: Capability Is No Longer the Constraint

Put all of this together and you get one conclusion:

The limiting factor for legal AI is no longer technological capability.

It is institutional readiness.

Readiness to govern.
Readiness to secure.
Readiness to explain AI-mediated decisions to clients, courts, and regulators.
Readiness to redesign work without eroding trust or professional judgment.

Because the next phase of legal AI will not be won by the firms with the most tools.

It will be won by the firms that treat AI as infrastructure , not magic , and invest like it.

Which, unfortunately, is the least glamorous kind of investing. It’s not “Look at our futuristic demo.”

It’s “We built controls, audit trails, policy, security, training, and accountability.”

In other words: not a fireworks show. A foundation. And in law, the thing you build on matters a lot more than the thing you show off.

The Inside Legal AI Brief, is the newly reformatted Inside Legal AI Newsletter.

For more information on Inside Legal AI: www.insidelegalai.com

For more information: www.insidepractice.com

This brief was developed using AI tools in conjunction with proprietary internal research, expert inputs, and established editorial processes.

For more information please reach out to us at contact@insidepractice.com

One Question: How do we Build Legal AI that can be Trusted?

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 15:32:48 GMT

Knowledge discipline and architectural control now matter more than models.

For most law firms, the AI conversation has already moved on from curiosity.

The early questions of can this draft, summarize, speed things up?, have largely been answered. What firms are grappling with now is something more difficult and more consequential: what does it mean to trust AI inside a legal operating environment?

Not “trust” in the abstract. Trust in the very practical sense that partners, risk teams, and clients care about:

Can we rely on the output?
Can we explain how it was produced?
Can we defend the system that produced it?

Across recent Inside Practice discussions with firm leaders, innovation teams, and technologists, a consistent pattern is emerging. Legal AI rarely fails because the model underperforms. It fails because the surrounding system was never designed for reliability.

Two pressure points show up again and again: how firms handle knowledge, and how they control access as AI systems become more autonomous. Each exposes a different weakness. Together, they explain why so many pilots stall when firms try to scale.

Why “adding retrieval” hasn’t delivered reliability

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is often positioned as a corrective - a way to ground AI output in firm knowledge and reduce hallucinations. In practice, many firms discover that retrieval solves one problem while revealing several others.

Outputs may be technically linked to internal documents, yet still fall short of legal standards. Answers sound plausible but miss critical nuance. Authorities are incomplete. Context is flattened. The result is work that feels risky rather than reliable.

The issue is rarely the retrieval technique itself. It is the condition of the knowledge being retrieved.

Most law firm knowledge environments were not built with machine consumption in mind. Information is spread across systems, structured inconsistently, maintained unevenly, and constrained by governance requirements that matter enormously in legal practice, ethical walls, matter boundaries, jurisdictional sensitivities.

When that reality is ignored, RAG becomes a thin layer over unresolved complexity.

What firms are learning (often the hard way) is that reliability begins upstream. Before retrieval ever takes place, knowledge must be prepared: structured so meaning is preserved, terminology aligned across practices, outdated material addressed, and context narrowed deliberately so systems are not forced to guess.

Governance here is not a policy exercise. It is an architectural one. If context is too broad, models improvise. If it is too narrow, they underperform. Designing that balance is work firms can no longer avoid.

These realities are the focus of From Retrieval to Reliability: Making RAG Work in Law Firms , a live Inside Practice discussion on January 23, 2026, led by Illitch Real and Zsolt Apponyi of Rubiklab. The session is grounded not in theory, but in the operational realities firms encounter once they try to deploy RAG beyond controlled demos.

When AI stops answering questions and starts taking action

As firms move beyond retrieval and drafting, a second challenge emerges, one that raises the stakes considerably.

Agent-based systems change the nature of the risk. These systems do not simply respond to prompts. They interact with tools, touch data, and initiate actions. At that point, familiar governance questions become more urgent:

What can the system access?
What is it allowed to do?
And how consistently are those rules enforced?

Many firms discover that their existing AI governance frameworks were designed for a different era, one where AI lived inside a single interface and operated largely as a passive assistant. Agents expose the limits of that model. Permissions are implemented inconsistently. Integrations proliferate. Different tools expose the same data in different ways. Control becomes fragmented, and with it, accountability.

This is where architectural questions move to the foreground. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) has attracted attention not because it promises better answers, but because it addresses a different problem: how AI systems connect to the environments they operate within.

MCP focuses on standardizing the interface between AI applications and external resources, data sources, tools, and workflows. For law firms, its relevance lies in the possibility of reducing integration sprawl, enforcing permissions consistently, and introducing auditability into how AI systems actually function in practice.

Whether MCP itself becomes the dominant standard is almost beside the point. The underlying shift is more important. Firms are beginning to recognize that control cannot be bolted on after the fact. It has to be designed into the system.

These issues will be examined in Mastering AI with MCP: A Protocol for Controlling AI Data Access , taking place on January 21, 2026, with Morgan Llewellyn of HIKE2 . The discussion is aimed squarely at firms that are already experimenting with advanced AI and are now confronting the operational consequences.

The uncomfortable middle ground firms are now in

What connects these two conversations is not technology, but operating reality.

Many firms are stuck in an uncomfortable middle ground. They have pilots that impress. They have proof-of-concepts that work under controlled conditions. But when asked whether those systems could be trusted across matters, practices, and jurisdictions, confidence drops.

The reason is structural.

Knowledge is treated as content rather than infrastructure.
Access is treated as configuration rather than design.
Governance is treated as oversight rather than architecture.

The result is AI that performs well in isolation but struggles when exposed to the complexity of real legal work.

What is emerging instead is a more demanding and more realistic view of legal AI:

Knowledge must be prepared intentionally, not simply indexed.
Context must be constrained deliberately, not inferred.
Access must be standardized, not recreated tool by tool.
Control must be embedded in architecture, not managed through exception handling.

This is not glamorous work. It does not produce viral demos. But it is the work required if AI is to become something firms can rely on rather than continually manage around.

Why these conversations matter now

Neither of these discussions are about chasing the next tool. Both are about confronting decisions firms are already making, often implicitly.

How much autonomy are we prepared to allow
Where do we draw boundaries and how are they enforced
What does “reliable” actually mean in a legal context

As AI capabilities accelerate, these questions are becoming harder to defer. Firms that address them deliberately will be better positioned to scale. Those that don’t will find themselves constrained not by regulation, but by their own systems.

RAG is not “just retrieval.” MCP is not “just integration.”

Both point toward the same destination: AI that is safe enough to scale, consistent enough to trust, and governed enough to defend.

We invite you to join these discussions.

Two events. One question: how do we build legal AI that can be trusted?

Register using codes AGENTS (MCP) and RAGAI (RAG).

Legal AI: London 2025: Real Use Cases, Real Impact

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 11:02:16 GMT

As the legal sector moves from AI experimentation to execution, Legal AI: London (Dec 3–4) brings together the thinkers, builders, and changemakers reshaping how law firms use AI to work smarter, faster, and more strategically. Across two days, attendees will explore how knowledge management, legal operations, and client services can thrive with the right mix of tech, culture, and strategy.

Here are just a few highlights you won’t want to miss:

Stephen Bedford on Building AI-Ready Infrastructure

Dec 3, 10:45 – 11:30 AM | Stephen Bedford , Product Director, Atlas by ClearPeople

AI is only as good as the knowledge it's built on. Stephen Bedford’s session breaks down how firms can bring order to unstructured and fragmented data to unlock real value from AI. A must for anyone wrestling with messy repositories or early-stage taxonomy efforts.

Panel: AI Investment, Pricing & Proving Value

�� Dec 3, 1:45 – 2:30 PM | Moderator : Claire McNamara ( Pennington Manches Cooper ) | Panelists : Sandra Smythe ( Farrer & Co ), Alison Devlin ( Eversheds Sutherland ), Olivia Dhein ( Baker McKenzie ).

It’s not enough to buy AI—firms have to price it right and prove its worth. This panel brings real-world stories from legal KM and innovation leads on how they’re selecting tools, justifying costs, and measuring ROI that matters to clients and leadership alike.

Martin Hasler on People-First AI Adoption

Dec 4, 3:30 – 4:15 PM | Speaker: Martin Hasler , Innovation Manager, VWV

Not all AI tools align with a firm’s people, values, or culture. This thoughtful session challenges firms to evaluate adoption based on inclusion, wellbeing, and long-term impact—not just shiny features. A grounding talk for any team seeking sustainable, human-centered innovation.

Panel: KM Beyond Folders

Dec 4, 12:30 – 1:15 PM | Panelists : Gabriel Karawani (Atlas by ClearPeople), Thomas Procter ( The Lawyer )

The era of KM as static storage is over. This panel explores how firms are transforming knowledge into dynamic, AI-driven intelligence that fuels decision-making, innovation, and client service. If you're ready to reposition KM as a true strategic function, don’t miss this.

Why Attend?

Whether you're leading innovation, managing knowledge, or developing AI strategy, Legal AI: London delivers the clarity and connection points you need to move forward with confidence.

From frameworks for success to cautionary lessons, the event is designed to cut through the hype and focus on what actually works in legal practice today.

See our full agenda here and register your spot.

Setting the Scene: Legal AI in the UK

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 13:04:19 GMT

Generative AI once sat on the edges of legal practice—intriguing, but optional. 

Today it is an integral part of UK firms. Regular generative AI use has more than doubled and nearly two‑thirds of firms have already changed day‑to‑day workflows to accommodate the technology, and one in three now ring‑fence budget specifically for GenAI licences.

That surge is matched by hard‑headed commercial logic.

According to Thomson Reuters’ 2024 Future of Professionals report, 77 per cent of lawyers expect AI to have a “high or transformational” impact on their work within five years, and early deployments are reclaiming about four hours per lawyer per week —worth roughly £80,000 in additional annual billable capacity. At the top end of the market, Magic‑Circle and US‑headquartered giants are treating AI as an arms‑race: Allen & Overy has rolled Harvey out to 3,500 lawyers, while DLA Piper, Gibson Dunn and Ropes & Gray are piloting firm‑wide copilots and bespoke LLMs to attack due‑diligence, research and pricing tasks.

In May 2025 the Solicitors Regulation Authority authorised Garfield.Law , the first fully AI‑driven firm in England & Wales—subject to strict safeguards eliminating the risk of hallucinations and confidentiality breaches. Solicitors Regulation Authority . At the same time , the EU’s newly enacted AI Act threatens fines of up to €35 million or 7 % of global turnover for prohibited or non‑compliant systems, dwarfing even GDPR penalties.

In short, the UK profession has sprinted from proof‑of‑concept to standard operating procedure. Budgets are locked, talent strategies are rewired, clients are demanding an “AI efficiency line” in every fee proposal, while regulators stand ready with both licences and penalties.

The question confronting every managing partner is no longer “Should we adopt?” but “How fast can we industrialise AI—before the market and the rule‑book leave us behind?”

Enter Legal AI London 2025

For two intensive days, 3-4 December , the UK’s flagship summit on AI for the legal profession convenes inside Thomson Reuters’ London HQ.

This peer driven forum will provide the platform for legal tech leaders to share candid “what worked / what tanked” stories, hear from regulators on translating dense rules into practical guard‑rails, and explore case studies on AI labs, drafting copilots, diligence bots, and pricing engines,

Market Shifts You’ll Decode

Talent realignment: Early adopters report ≈30 % faster turnaround on standard docs—freeing talent for high‑value strategy and clients.
Fee re‑negotiations: Corporate legal teams now ask, “Show me the AI efficiency line in your invoice.”
Governance over guesswork: The EU AI Act + SRA oversight will redefine how you vet vendors, sandbox pilots, and certify outputs.
New advisory revenue: Boards increasingly requesting AI risk opinions alongside traditional counsel, birthing an entire service line.

Decide Which Side of the Curve You’re On

Law firms that wait for “best practice” templates will inherit a playbook—written by competitors who showed up first. Join the strategists shaping those templates in real time.

Early‑bird pricing ends 31 July. Secure your seat , lock in up to £600 in savings, and turn AI from a headline into a competitive habit.

Legal AI Pathfinder’s Assembly : Chicago

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 20:10:06 GMT

On March 6-7, more than 100 people gathered for the sold-out Legal AI Pathfinder’s Assembly: Chicago at the beautiful, contemporary offices of Chapman and Cutler in downtown Chicago

Developed as a think tank and peer-to-peer exchange, industry leaders, innovators, practitioners, and solution providers converged for two days in Chicago to dissect, debate, and define the future of law in an AI-enabled world.

Featuring more than 40 different speakers spanning 18 discrete sessions, the conference illuminated a path forward where law firms are not just passive observers but active participants in shaping their destiny with AI – enabling lawyers to work with and alongside emerging tools and tech to a degree where we are not merely adapting to change, but actively driving it.

Attendees were treated to a behind the curtain look at some new tools and platforms at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney as well as a walk-through of some recent success stories at Baker & McKenzie .

We talked about navigating the Build vs. Buy dilemma that many firms are grappling with – examining critical factors like cost, time, and internal expertise that influence these decisions within the realm of generative AI.

And we also explored the transformative role of AI in litigation and the evolution of AI tools and their impact on litigation outcomes and how cutting-edge teams are navigating huge amounts of litigation data efficiently with AI as well as a lively debate around whether or not AI is actually saving clients' money.

Attendees also got a peek at new and evolving product offerings from leading solution providers such as DraftWise, Centari, Thomson Reuters, Infodash, Hike2, Clearbrief and vLex.

As we reflect on the insights and inspiration from the assembly, it's clear that the journey of integrating AI into legal practice is as much about embracing change as it is about steering it, ensuring that the legal profession remains resilient, relevant, and ready for the future.

Ironically, given the tech-forward focus one might expect from any AI conference, we talked a lot about the human component – people, feelings, and change. Law firms are a people business. And people are dealing with - as Jae Um put it “a swirl of feelings” to do with how we work and what defines and threatens our success as lawyers and firms.

The Chapman and Cutler panel “What We Talk About When We Talk About AI” on day one of the conference, also explored change, breaking down the concepts of Homeostasis and Allostasis. In other words, order and disorder. Our own nature is constantly reaching for a sense of stability by maintaining the status quo or an environment where things “stay the same.” But law firms are going to have to change, and it may not always be comfortable. In the current era of tech proliferation, how can firms achieve stability through change?

The emotional and human aspects of AI integration surfaced throughout the program, as we addressed concerns about job replacement and the evolving nature of the work itself.

Is it time for a new talent model in the legal profession?
How as law firms can we uncouple the revenue model from the means of production?
And how will AI reshape the corporate (legal) wallet, impacting the way that firms price (and clients value) the work that we do?

As David Cambria said in his opening keynote, “missed opportunities will cost us more than our mistakes.” We miss 100% of the shots that we don’t take.

Ilona Logvinova , Managing Counsel, Head of Innovation at McKinsey & Company also echoed, “it’s time to go back to first principles.” A data driven approach is necessary.

Ilona led the opening panel on day two of the conference featuring Brad Christmas , CIO at Foley & Lardner , Casey Flaherty , Chief Strategy Officer at LexFusion , and Darth Vaughn , Managing Director Legal Ops at Ford Motor Company as they riffed on the powerful analogy of a great surgeon working in a dirty hospital. Indeed, law firms need to be more data-driven. The data is there. As is the power of analysis. We just need the right algorithm and a better understanding of our own workflows.

Regardless of the size of the firm or its appetite, the single best thing we can do is create a guiding light for the firm’s approach to data, which can be used it to gain support, filter out the noise, and provide focus.

Tom Baldwin, CEO & Founder, at Entegrata, drove this point home within his panel as well which also featured Cindy Bare , Chief Data and Innovation Officer at Frost Brown Todd , Rachel Shields Williams , Director, Knowledge Management Enablement & Insights at Sidley Austin , and Andrew Sprogis , Chief Innovation Officer at Katten Muchin Rosenman . The takeaway here is that firms can be solving problems today with data. But far too many are paralyzed and stuck on the idea of perfection. We cannot let the weight or scope of this need stop firms from starting down this road. “Just because some firms have data teams, doesn’t mean data isn’t everyone’s job. Data is everyone’s job!”

Exciting and scary. But this requires a synergistic, collaborative approach if we are to become the designers of a new era for law.

Lawyers’ work has never been more important than it is today. But law firms cannot expect to be rewarded for inefficiency. We must meet our attorneys and clients where they stand and work from that point forward. People are the product, the problem, and the solution.

The fear that human inputs are going to be diminished as AI and automation takes hold in society is something that we must contend with. But GenAI can be both a tool and a co-worker.

Again, as the brilliant Jae Um said:

“AI is being discovered, not designed. We need to take a deep breath, take a step back, look at the bigger picture, and flip the script. The question isn’t whether AI will change how we live and work. The key questions are when, where, and how? The answers are murky but rooted in what people will and won’t do. The challenge facing law firms today is a human one, and now is the time for law firm leaders to rise to the occasion with vision, curiosity, courage, and empathy.”

Thanks again to all of our speakers, sponsors, and panelists contributing to this fascinating two-day forum as we shared wins and losses, progress, milestones and lessons learned at the intersection of digital transformation, data literacy, and firm strategy.

Thanks to Damien Riehl, VP, Solutions Champion, at vLex for chairing the conference and leading us through these two captivating days of discussion and discovery.

A huge thanks to our host firm and lead partner, Chapman and Cutler . And thanks again to our event sponsors – vLex, Thomson Reuters, Centari, DraftWise, Clearbrief, Hike2, and Infodash .

Each of your contributions helped to make this event all that it was. And we look forward to doing it again soon!

COMING NEXT:

AI x KM: The Next Frontier in Legal Knowledge Management

New York // April 24th // 2024

Law Firm Data Strategy & Modernization

New York // June 27 // 202

Legal AI Pathfinder's New York Assembly Feedback

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 19:50:30 GMT

As part of the program at the Legal AI Pathfinder's Assembly: New York

chair, Damien Riehl posed a series of questions to attendees, focusing on their current perspectives and future outlooks regarding AI.

The Future of Law Firms in the Age of Generative AI: Reimagining the Law Firm Value Proposition

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 15:00:13 GMT

Whose time is it to shine? Given the potential for generative AI to automate a significant portion of routine legal tasks, let’s pose the question – how might AI fundamentally redefine the conventional law firm structure, billing model, and value proposition?

Is it feasible to believe that law firms can simply continue to sell hourly units of human judgement into a future that will inevitably be rife with tech-forward legal startups—not to mention the Big Four consultancies, which are aggressively venturing into legal services buoyed by their AI prowess?

This discussion will posit whether the distinctive human elements of legal practice - nuanced judgment, empathy, negotiation skills, among others - can continue to provide traditional law firms with a competitive edge, or if the algorithmic efficiency and cost-effectiveness of AI will render these aspects less relevant in the future.

Perhaps it boils down to a “Run the Company vs. Bet the Company” distinction.

If AI is going to disrupt and restructure the industry – arguably crashing the “Run the Company” work that law firms have long enjoyed, who is best positioned to pick up the low-level/high volume legal work at scale?

This discussion at Inflection Point: The Legal AI Revolution Part 2 featuring Anand Upadhye (Modern Lawyer Strategies), Jennifer Leonard (Creative Lawyers), Jordan Furlong ( Law21) and Jae Um (Six Parsecs) critically examined the long-term viability of the traditional law firm model amidst the rapid emergence and proliferation of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, and the concurrent rise of new players in the legal services market – and will further scrutinize how the incorporation of AI technologies by non-traditional legal service providers, including the Big Four consultancies, may intensify competitive pressures, potentially disrupting the market dominance of established law firms.

To what extent will traditional law firms be forced to reimagine their value proposition in the not-too-distant future? And what are the strategic considerations for traditional law firms navigating this paradigm shift?

Looking Ahead to 2024

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 17:58:39 GMT

2023 has been a landmark year for the team at Inside Practice.

Building on the successful virtual events - Inflection Point: The Legal AI Revolution Part 1 & Part 2 , this December we held our first in person event - the sold out Legal AI Pathfinder’s Assembly: New York as we have continued to bring together leaders to drive meaningful discussion around the biggest AI challenges the legal profession faces.

Looking ahead to 2024, we just announced Legal AI Pathfinder's: Chicago and we will shortly be releasing details of our lineup of AI programs, webinars, and podcasts throughout the year.

If you are interested in participating as a speaker at one of our 2024 programs, we have created a short call for speakers form

We look forward to the possibility of collaborating with you and continuing our journey of building cutting thought-leadership, discussions, and developments throughout the legal profession.

If you would like more information on how you can partner with us and collaborate on future programming, please contact us

What Does it Mean to be a Lawyer in an AI-Enabled World?

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 15:58:53 GMT

If you missed Inflection Point: The Legal #AI Revolution Part 2 - we have just made the keynote session available - "What Does it Mean to be a Lawyer in an AI-Enabled World? "

As the dust settles around the recent AI hype cycle, law firm, in-house and other industry leaders are going to have to begin making decisions and placing bets – addressing justification in capital investment, the unification of talent and toolsets, the development of use-policy and governance, among many other strategic considerations.

A few firms are already out in front of the pack – early adopters that had the foresight to begin their AI and tech journeys years ago.

In this opening keynote session, Danielle Benecke (Founder, Baker McKenzie Machine Learning) will begin to unpack the transformational impact of AI on the profession – taking a broad industry perspective that will also intersect and contrast with initiatives at Baker McKenzie – from their Reinvent innovation program to their 2017 AI Task Force, to Baker's Machine Learning Practice of today.

What has been the “North Star” for Baker & McKenzie along their AI journey?
What led them to place bets years ago on a coming paradigm shift that is impossible to ignore today?
Which instincts of theirs were right, which have been challenged, and what are the big open questions for all of us?

This discussion shares a story arc and tech progression that will help us to better understand where we’re at today and the implications for lawyers and law firms in a rapidly evolving AI-enabled world.

Charting Legal AI's Future: Key Takeaways from the Legal AI Pathfinder's Assembly NYC

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 13:37:33 GMT

The Legal AI Pathfinder’s Assembly – New York took place last week at the offices of Simpson Thacher on December 7th.

Developed as a think tank and peer-to-peer exchange for law firms charting their respective AI roadmaps, the program took a deep dive into the evolving role and impacts of generative AI within law firms – examining how several firms are leaning in, proactively experimenting, and invested in the strategic integration of AI into both the practice and business of law.

Conference chair, Damien Riehl , VP, Solutions Champion at vLex , welcomed everyone in attendance to the program, with a retrospective look at the major AI milestones and events that have taken place over the past year.

In the opening session titled, Making Sense of 2023: Trajectory and the Speed of Change , we heard from Daniel Katz ( Chicago Kent College of Law , 273 Ventures ), as he was essentially interviewed by co-hosts at The Geek in Review Podcast, Greg Lambert ( Jackson Walker LLP ) and Marlene Gebauer ( Mayer Brown ).

The discussion was largely anchored by two independent arcs of maturity – focusing on the underlying models themselves, as well as additional engineering enhancements. Professor Katz guided attendees across the arc from out-of-the-box, “zero-shot” capabilities along a progression from basic functionalities to more advanced integrated applications, incorporating more complex elements.

Dan equated this progression and journey to a slow and systemic climb – as opposed to summiting Mount Everest overnight (which a lot of the hype would have us believe). Clearly, a lot of fine-tuning has yet to take place moving forward, as these models require an exceptional “information diet” – along with a need to balance ethical walls and information security.

Next, we heard from Joe Green who shared Gunderson Dettmer s story of building its own internal generative AI chat application, “ChatGD” – including why they decided to build it, how it’s used, and what the firm has learned in the process.

Joe emphasized the importance of setting realistic expectations and goals for AI adoption in law firms, focusing on flexibility and value rather than perfect replacement of human attorneys – perhaps minimizing the type of work that clients don't particularly value while reframing (in the client’s mind) what it is that they are happy to pay law firms for.

Following Joe, we heard from the IncuBaker team at BakerHostetler – featuring Katherine Lowry , Leigh Zeiser , and Elaine Dick . This comprehensive, deep dive into Baker Hostetler's AI journey offered valuable insights into the strategic and disciplined approach necessary for successful AI integration in law firms – emphasizing the importance of building a strong data foundation and not rushing into AI without proper assessment and evaluation.

The IncuBaker team covered an incredible amount of ground within their allotted time, sharing a number of guiding principles that help to assess use case feasibility and business value and more broadly navigate the complexities of AI adoption.

Troutman Pepper s Jason Lichter and Andrew P. Medeiros were up next as they delved into the firm's AI Task Force and its development and strategic implementation—emphasizing the importance of identifying AI aptitude across practice areas, forming a cohesive strategy for AI integration, and ensuring widespread expertise within the firm.

The Troutman team also shared a live demo of “Athena,” the firm’s ChatGPT application developed to help attorneys and business professionals safely and effectively use generative AI to improve workflows and enhance overall user and client experiences. Andrew and Jason fielded a number of audience questions and led a very lively discussion.

After lunch, we heard from the team at Gibson Dunn , as Meredith Williams-Range , Lawrence Baxter , and Jeff Saper led the audience through a discussion centered on the critical role of data in driving AI transformation – with a particular focus on governance, security, and privacy.

This session highlighted the interconnectedness of data collection, governance, and analytics as foundational pillars for effective AI implementation – emphasizing the importance of cross-functional teams, the collective ownership of data, and the role of stewardship in managing and maintaining data.

“Unintentional data breaches can be just as dangerous as intentional ones.”

Up next, we had Philip Bryce , Amol Bargaje , and Marlene Gebauer from Mayer Brown leading attendees through a discussion centered around the firm’s journey through this year’s wild AI hype cycle.

The team at Mayer Brown highlighted their journey from the initial exploration of emerging GenAI tools and tech and the need for adaptability and strategic planning – to addressing client inquiries about AI’s impact.

Mayer Brown's approach to AI adoption is focused on creating a balance between innovation and responsible use, emphasizing the importance of setting expectations and ensuring that AI tools are evaluated for their feasibility, business value, and ethical implications.

This was a fantastic conclusion to the program’s “firm spotlight sessions” leading us to the closing Futurecasting panel, featuring Centari CEO Kevin Walker , James Ding , Co-founder & CEO at DraftWise , Emily Colbert , Senior Vice President, Product Management at Thomson Reuters , and moderated by the day’s conference chair, Damien Riehl .

This closing discussion aspired to break down AI’s capability into discrete terms, illuminating opportunities that exist between pain points and what the technology can do, where these applications fit within the value chain, and more broadly what these visions of the future mean for law firms today in terms of tech strategy, data readiness, business models, talent and training.

Each of our esteemed panelists shared their own foresight and projections, sparking some very compelling dialogue with attendees. These projections were largely limited to the next 12-to-24 months, which seemed a reasonable time horizon given all that has transpired in the past year.

Will there be a shift from experimentation with GenAI to practical use within the next year?
Should we expect AI to become a regular part of lawyers' workflows, with less reliance on manual review and more focus on using AI for edge and efficiency?

Exercising human judgment is likely always going to be a part of the equation. While AI can and will expedite certain workflow components, most in attendance last week felt that a combination of humans and relevant data is still going to produce the best results for your clients.

At the same time, clients are expecting law firms to keep up with the pace of change and evolve and improve in step with emerging tech capabilities. And therein lies the challenge.

Strategic and practical innovation increasingly demands refreshed skillsets, proper training, and education enabling an ability to work with and alongside emerging tools and tech to a degree where we are not merely adapting to change, but actively driving it—taking a hands-on, developmental approach to shaping the tools that will no doubt reshape our profession.

Last week’s conference proved to be a fascinating and comprehensive exploration of an emerging blueprint for data-driven transformation that balances practical and realistic near-term expectations with longer-term aspirational goals—emphasizing the importance of education, experimentation, innovation, collaboration, and data literacy.

A huge thanks to Oz Benamram , Stephanie Cano , and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP for hosting and to event partners, DraftWise, Centari, Thomson Reuters, and vLex for helping to bring this event to life. And of course, a tremendous amount of gratitude to all of our speakers and spotlight firms!

We hope you will consider joining us as we continue the discussion next year at the Legal AI Pathfinder’s Assembly—Chicago this March 6-7.

More details can be found here: Legal AI Pathfinder’s Assembly ( insidepractice.com )

Responsible AI in Practice

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 17:40:31 GMT

INTRODUCTION:

RESEARCHING PUBLIC ATTITUDES AS A GUIDE FOR NAVIGATING RESPONSIBLE AI

What do the public really think about AI?

In 2021 we undertook research to understand what AI controls might look like and the public attitudes that underpin them. Our findings showed people did not regard AI as a top priority for regulation - instead regulating cybersecurity, data privacy, child sexual abuse online, misinformation, and tax contribution were viewed as more important.

But the world has changed since then, with both AI technology and the associated policy environment evolving. AI products are more readily available for use, and people’s understanding of and expectations about the role AI should play in society are changing. Policy, law and regulation will likely be influenced by those societal expectations, in turn shaping the AI development and operating environment.

To help anticipate the pressures on policymakers and demands from stakeholders that will shape the legal and policy framework for AI, companies can build a deeper understanding of people’s expectations around it. To get a clearer picture of what people think about AI, this year we spoke to focus groups of policy-informed individuals in Germany, the UK and the US to explore their perspectives on AI issues such as bias, consent,

copyright, transparency, and content moderation. We’ve found that people’s attitudes towards AI are developed, nuanced and remain optimistic about the potential of AI, but there is much more work to do to demonstrate that the right tools are available to realise the full potential of AI responsibly and safely.

No single piece of research can provide a comprehensive roadmap on how best to meet societal expectations - particularly on a topic as broad and complex as AI. Nonetheless, we hope these findings can serve as a guide, indicating the direction of travel, helping identify possible approaches to relevant issues, and pinpointing questions for deeper exploration.

“The report provides valuable insights into public perceptions about AI and offers practical analyses to help guide companies who are defining their AI strategies. Although regional and individual approaches may vary, the public appears optimistic about AI's potential and expects thoughtful collaboration among industry and the regulators on AI governance, accountability and oversight. We are excited to partner with Milltown Partners on this important research and look forward to continuing this foundational dialogue with our clients and our network.”

Devika Kornbacher, Partner & Co-head, Global Tech Group, Clifford Chance

Read the full report

Inflection Point: The Legal AI Revolution – Part 2

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 17:46:45 GMT

Bold predictions, cautionary advice, and guidance

This past Thursday, September 14, Inside Practice LLC hosted a full-day virtual conference – Inflection Point: The Legal AI Revolution – Part 2 (following up on a June 20 conference of the same name), where more than 150 attendees tuned in for an in-depth exploration focused on how law firms are navigating opportunity and risk – exploring the implications of the exponential maturity of #AI tools for the business and practice of law.

Attendees heard from more than 20 legal industry leaders and luminaries as they addressed themes ranging from justification in capital investment to the unification of talent and toolsets, the development of use-policy and governance, and client perspectives, among many other strategic considerations.

The conference began with a table-setting keynote as Danielle Benecke ( Baker McKenzie ) helped to frame where we are within the AI hype cycle while busting some myths and unpacking the transformational impact of AI on the profession. Danielle focused on strategy, capability, and risk as she highlighted her own firm's story arc and tech progression that led them to place bets years ago on a coming paradigm shift that is impossible to ignore today.

From there, the conference pivoted to lively panel discussions, beginning with a deeper dive into AI's business implications. Led by Ken Crutchfield ( Wolters Kluwer and flanked by a distinguished panel comprised of David Cunningham ( Reed Smith LLP ), David Wang Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Nicole Bradick ( Theory and Principle rinciple), tackling the timely topic of justifying investments in AI, emphasizing the precarious balance firms must strike between seizing AI's potential and managing the many inherent risks for early adopters.

Next up, attendees heard from members of Troutman Pepper 's Generative AI Task Force Alison Grounds , Christopher Forstner , Jessica Kozlov Davis, and Andrew Medeiros shared the firm's approach to consolidating and leveraging the collective skills and expertise of the firm's attorneys and other allied professionals, unifying talent and resources to help pilot, vet, guide, and educate around both the internal/operational, and external, client-facing and advisory challenges and opportunities that generative AI brings to bear.

AI's trustworthiness was another central theme of the conference as a panel of legal luminaries including David Perez ( Perkins Coie LLP ), Jacqueline Schafer ( Clearbrief ), Scott Rechtschaffen ( Littler ), Natalie Pierce ( Gunderson Dettmer ) and Christian Lang ( Lega ) discussed building robust policies and frameworks to harness the power of generative AI safely, bridging the gap between risk, security, and tech innovation.

The conference also offered attendees a glimpse at two standout practical product demos. James Ding , ( DraftWise ), demonstrated how AI is being used to ignite data-driven decisions – giving rise to a new era of contracts and negotiations. Samuel Smolkin , ( Office & Dragons ), showcased an innovative solution to manage revisions to hundreds of documents seamlessly.

The focus then shifted to corporate legal departments as Ed Walters ( vLex ) moderated a candid and insightful discussion, debunking myths and exploring real-world applications of AI within in-house legal teams with a lively panel featuring Jason Barnwell ( Microsoft ), Jenn McCarron ( Netflix , CLOC (Corporate Legal Operations Consortium) , and Joël Roy ( Novartis ).

The conference concluded with a fascinating discussion and debate examining the long-term viability of the traditional law firm model amidst the rapid emergence and proliferation of generative AI technologies and the concurrent rise of new players in the legal services market.

Led by the day's conference chairperson, Anand Upadhye (Modern Lawyer Strategies), this closing discussion energized everyone in attendance as Jae Um ( Six Parsecs ), Jennifer Leonard (Creative Lawyers) and Jordan Furlong ( Law21 ) delved deep into the challenges and opportunities that await traditional law firm models.

Inflection Point: The Legal AI Revolution – Part 2 was another fantastic series of discussions with bold predictions, cautionary advice, and guidance. Hearing from our esteemed speakers and panelists, it is evident that the merging of law and AI presents both remarkable opportunities and daunting challenges.

The recurring themes surfaced throughout the day, emphasizing the necessity of bridging technological prowess with human intuition, setting ethical and operational guidelines, and the impending evolution of traditional law firm models in an AI-driven future – underscoring the importance of adaptability, forward-thinking leadership, and informed decision-making.

This event provided attendees with a clearer understanding of the emerging AI landscape and the tools and frameworks necessary to navigate inevitable change with confidence and strategic foresight.

The full event replay is available on demand.

Next, we turn our attention to Legal AI Pathfinder’s Assembly: New York.

The Legal AI Pathfinder's Assembly is a peer-to-peer forum and platform for law firms to share progress, experience, observations, and experimentation in an intimate setting as we collectively grapple with the development of strategic roadmaps that will help guide proper investment, education, and deployment of emerging AI tools and tech.

Hosted at the New York offices of Simpson Thacher, the Legal AI Pathfinder's Assembly will showcase several law firms that are leaning in, proactively experimenting, and investing in the strategic integration of AI into both the firm's practice and business – providing attendees with an opportunity to assess and consider our firm readiness. At the same time, our peers offer an introspective look into the demanding yet profoundly rewarding process of identifying their own North Star in charting their strategic course forward.

Seating is limited. Reserve your spot today! Early bird - Confirm your place by October 11th and save $200

Future of Professionals Report

Fri, 25 Aug 2023 12:48:37 GMT

How AI is the Catalyst for Transforming Every Aspect of Work

Thomson Reuters has surveyed 1,200 professionals across North America, South America, and the UK to understand better how the macro trends impacting their businesses are converging with their talent, customers, and environment.

These professionals think AI, tech, and automation will have by far the most significant impact on their business in the next five years.

Key Findings:

67% of respondents believe AI will have a transformational or high impact on their profession in the next five years and two-thirds of survey respondents 66% predict AI will create new professional career paths.
45% of professionals pin their artificial intelligence aspirations on improved productivity, expecting benefits for their talent, customers, and environment.
“Producing high-quality advice” tops the list of essential motivators across industries, with AI leading professionals into the new era of what it means to be an advisor
Developing responsible AI is an industry issue and a societal imperative. Professionals stated some of their biggest concerns: accuracy 25%, data security (15%), and ethics (15%).

Among legal pro fe ssionals, improved productivity and efficiency were seen as the biggest positive effects of AI (75% and 67%, respectively). And among those resp ondents at law firms more than half (55%) see AI as an opportunity for increased revenue and lower costs. Further, a large majority (81%) of legal respondents said they expect new services that will create new revenue streams to emerge within the next five years.

A majority (58%) also said they anticipate a rise in their professional skill level, while more than two-thirds of legal professionals see a more consultative approach to advice emerging.

Read the full report

International Legal Generative AI Report

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 12:21:36 GMT

LexisNexis International Legal Generative AI Survey Shows Nearly Half of the Legal Profession Believe Generative AI Will Transform the Practice of Law

LexisNexis has released the results of its International Legal Generative AI Survey.

The survey involved 7,950 participants, including lawyers, law students, and consumers from the U.S., U.K., Canada, and France. The study aimed to gauge awareness and expectations regarding the impact of generative AI on the legal profession.

Key Findings:

47% of respondents believe generative AI will significantly or transformatively impact the practice of law.
45% think it will have some impact, while only 7% believe it will have no impact.
Among corporate counsel, 60% expect law firms to adopt AI technology like generative AI tools, with only 10% disagreeing.
67% of U.S. corporate counsel, followed by 61% of French, 59% of U.K., and 53% of Canadian counsel, expect their law firms to adopt generative AI tools.
78% of corporate counsel expect transparency from law firms when using generative AI tools.

Read the full report

Becoming Ironman Esquire: How the Human-Centered AI Revolution Makes Legal Professionals More Important, Not Less.

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 17:23:02 GMT

Becoming Ironman Esquire: How the Human-Centered AI Revolution Makes Legal Professionals More Important, Not Less

If you missed Inflection Point: The Legal #AI Revolution - we have just made the keynote session available - "Becoming Ironman Esquire: How the Human-Centered AI Revolution Makes Legal Professionals More Important, Not Less."

In this comprehensive discussion, CAT CASEY , Chief Growth Officer at Reveal , addressed:

+ The concept of human-centered AI ( #HCAI ) and its significance to the legal profession
+ Why is #AI more reliant on human interaction in complex areas like law
+ Why long-term success depends on realizing the importance of the human element in AI
+ How the legal industry can combine powerful AI tools with user-friendly interfaces to drive adoption, while keeping the user at the center of the process.
+ and much more

Why Law Firms Must Responsibly Embrace Generative AI

Fri, 14 Jul 2023 14:25:34 GMT

“AI won't replace lawyers, but lawyers who use AI will replace lawyers who don't.”

Abstract

In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), the professional axiom stands truer than ever: “AI won't replace lawyers, but lawyers who use AI will replace lawyers who don't.” This paper is a must-read for any forward-thinking law firm seeking to outpace competition and excel in an AI-augmented world, all while upholding the professional standards of ethical and client service that is not only competent, but exceptional.

The transformative impact of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) on the legal industry is inevitable, a change predicted to fuel global GDP growth by almost $7 trillion over the next decade. Amid growing concerns and even some calls for an outright prohibition of GAI in law firms, we argue for a balanced, responsible embrace of this technology. This stance, we believe, is imperative for the future of the legal profession and can position legal professionals at the forefront of innovation and client service. We provide several real-world examples of how organizations, including law firms, are already successfully leveraging GAI.

Our paper highlights how GAI, augmented with human input, can greatly improve the legal sector. Federal courts’ recent acknowledgement of GAI’s role in litigation, with requirements for its explicit disclosure, points towards its future ubiquity. In navigating this shift, we emphasize that lawyers must uphold their ethical standards and obligations outlined in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

We address and confront counterarguments suggesting GAI’s unsuitability for legal work, potential for ethics violations, and risks of inaccuracies, bias, privacy breaches, and legal risks. Acknowledging the inherent risks, we present strategies to mitigate these and continue competently delivering exceptional client service.

We also underline the risks of not using GAI, from potential unauthorized data disclosure to possible reputational damage and competitive disadvantage in the legal industry. Highlighting the importance of responsible GAI usage, we present a comprehensive list of the Top 10 best practices for its implementation within law firms. We conclude by stressing that legal professionals’ refusal to adopt GAI could lead to their obsolescence, predicting the prevalence of GAI policies across U.S. industries, including the legal sector, by 2023 end.

Read the full paper here

Inflection Point: The Legal AI Revolution – Part 1

Fri, 23 Jun 2023 13:36:30 GMT

A complex confluence of tech, ethics, and law.

This past Tuesday, June 20 Inside Practice hosted a full-day virtual conference – Inflection Point: The Legal AI Revolution – where more than 185 attendees tuned-in for an in-depth exploration of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the legal profession.

The conference began with an emphasis of the significance of human-centered #AI and the collaborative potential between AI and legal professionals. As keynote speaker Cat Casey (Chief Growth Officer at Reveal-Brainspace) said:

“ Man and Machine beats man or machine every day .”

From there the conference pivoted to a series of lively panel discussions where we examined:

AI’s impacts on the practice of law - the current viability, adoption, and adaptation of generative AI tools in the legal field, debating whether these tools can enhance accuracy and quality while reducing human error, while exploring the impact on legal research, workforce transformation, and the types of legal work most likely to be automated.
How AI automation will affect legal business models and client expectations.
The use of #GAI and #LLMs for data-driven decision-making, potential pricing implications, and the skillsets required to leverage AI technology effectively.
#LargeLanguageModels (LLMs) and their underlying technology, discussing the creation and training of LLMs, prompting AI tools for specific applications, and the current and future capabilities of LLMs across various legal tasks.
How quickly this technology is moving (logarithmic scale, exponential growth), and what it means for our immediate and more distant futures?
The many #ethical and legal considerations concerning the deployment of emerging and maturing AI tools within the practice of law – with a focus on lawyer use, promises and pitfalls, tech competence, privacy, ideation, access to justice, and much more!

The conference also showcased several tools and tech making an impact today – with DraftWise showcasing how their chat feature for Document Management Systems (DMS) enables you to harness your own internal data set, query it and quickly come to the table with answers.

And Infodash shared an up-close view of the power of an M365 based legal intranet and how they are helping law firms seamlessly unite all of their professionals – keeping everyone connected, collaborative and productive – while providing flexibility to customize and share ever-changing information needs across the firm.

All said, it was a fantastic and highly interactive series of discussions that ultimately makes clear that this is not the time to be standing still. We cannot opt out of AI and machine learning. It’s absolutely a time to lean in and learn as much as we can as AI’s impact on the workplace is quickly manifesting itself as a complex confluence of tech, ethics, and law.

As conference chair, Anand Upadhye (Founder, Modern Lawyer Strategies) succinctly said, “the question is now what ? How are the movers and shakers in legal technology going to harness this technology to improve and streamline attorney work product? From legal research to brief-writing to contracts, how is this technology reconfiguring how legal work will be completed in the next 5-10 years? Which tools and products will stick first and become indispensable to attorneys, like spreadsheets to accountants? And which areas of law practice will the tech fail to make an impact?”

For anyone interested in viewing the recording of this week’s conference, the full event replay is OnDemand

And finally, please mark your calendars

Our follow up to this week’s event – our 2nd installment in the series – Inflection Point: The Legal AI Revolution – Part 2 – once again happening virtually this September 14, 2023.

More details and a sneak peak at the emerging agenda can be found here: Inflection Point: The Legal AI Revolution – Part 2

Early this year, it would have been safe to assume that most law firms don't yet have plans to actually use generative AI in their legal practice. As we approach the latter parts of this year, to what extent has this changed?

As the dust settles around the AI hype cycle, law firm leaders across various firm functions are going to have to begin making decisions and placing their bets – addressing justification in capital investment, the unification of talent and toolsets, the development of use-policy and governance, among many other strategic considerations.

We hope you’ll decide to join us in September as we continue this fascinating discussion!

Casetext: A Ten Year Overnight Success

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 13:28:04 GMT

Since 2013, Casetext has empowered lawyers to provide higher-quality and more affordable representation to more people, through the power of AI.

Casetext’s co-founders shared a vision to expand access to the law through the application of advanced AI. Ten years later, they continue their mission to challenge the status quo, with an eye toward the future.

From BigLaw to a Sunnyvale living room

As a student working in the Community Law Clinic at Stanford Law, Jake Heller was struck by how inaccessible legal information was compared to information in other fields. He saw firsthand how the expensive tools from Lexis and Westlaw put small law firms, public service attorneys, and indigent individuals at a disadvantage. Many couldn’t afford to use those services for even 20 minutes a day—how could there be equal access to justice when there wasn’t even equal access to the text of the law itself?

Continued

We need to talk about ChatGPT

Fri, 02 Jun 2023 07:41:48 GMT

“THE DEVELOPMENT OF AI IS AS FUNDAMENTAL AS THE CREATION OF THE MICROPROCESSOR, THE PERSONAL COMPUTER, THE INTERNET, AND THE MOBILE PHONE.” — BILL GATES

The legal profession has long been characterized by daunting hours, high-stress environments, and difficulty in balancing personal and professional lives. Lawyers are well aware of the sacrifice, intellect, and work ethic required to serve clients in this demanding field. What if lawyers could maintain (or increase) revenues while reducing workloads and work hours? What if this same solution could also potentially improve access to justice? Could we navigate the potential benefits and pitfalls? This may be a pipe dream. Or it may be here.

The ascendence of advanced large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4 and ChatGPT have sparked conversations about the future of the legal profession and how these AI-driven systems might help remedy some of the profession’s less-favorable aspects. Recent, exponential leaps in LLMs have presented both opportunities and challenges that have the capacity to reshape the legal landscape, making the law more accessible and affordable. This article will examine the potential of LLMs like GPT, and how, if approached thoughtfully and ethically, these tools might contribute to a more balanced, efficient, and fulfilling legal career while also improving our society and justice system.

Continued

Corporate legal departments see use cases for generative AI & ChatGPT

Mon, 22 May 2023 11:27:03 GMT

A new report reveals that corporate legal department lawyers view generative AI’s potential similarly to their law firm peers, although adoption remains in early phases

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT have a future with corporate attorneys, who believe that such tools can and should be leveraged for legal work — although adoption still isn’t widespread and may be dependent on how legal departments are able to address the tools’ perceived risks.

A recent survey has found that those in corporate law departments are largely optimistic about the potential for generative AI and programs such as ChatGPT in performing both legal and non-legal work.

Continued

AI and the future of humanity

Thu, 18 May 2023 14:20:21 GMT

AI and the future of humanity | Yuval Noah Harari at the Frontiers Forum

In this keynote and Q&A, Yuval Noah Harari summarizes and speculates on 'AI and the future of humanity'. There are a number of questions related to this discussion, including:

In what ways will AI affect how we shape culture?
What threat is posed to humanity when AI masters human intimacy?
Is AI the end of human history?
Will ordinary individuals be able to produce powerful AI tools of their own?
How do we regulate AI?"

The event is was organized and produced by the Frontiers Forum, dedicated to connecting global communities across science, policy, and society to accelerate global science-related initiatives.

Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, philosopher, and the bestselling author of 'Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind' (2014), 'Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow' (2016), '21 Lessons for the 21st Century' (2018), and the series 'Sapiens: A Graphic History' (launched in 2020, co-authored with David Vandermeulen and Daniel Casanave).

Yuval Noah Harari speaks internationally and teaches at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. On this channel you can see his interviews, lectures, and public conversations with prominent leaders and influencers, — including Mark Zuckerberg, Natalie Portman, Christine Lagarde, Chancellor Kurz of Austria, Jay Shetty, and Russell Brand.For more information: https://www.ynharari.com/

The decline of time-based law firms

Wed, 10 May 2023 19:29:40 GMT

Lawyers' billed hours constitute the inventory of law firms and the foundation of their profits. Legally trained AI will decimate those hours. What happens then?

Feeling apocalyptic about the impact of legally trained Large Language Models (LLMs) on the future of law firms? No? Allow this excerpt from Corporate Counsel to help you with that.

"There’s reason to believe a boatload of tasks could be replaced by AI—about 44% of legal tasks within the U.S., according to Goldman Sachs’ report on generative AI. If that comes to pass, “the next thing that happens is GCs saying we’re not paying $900 an hour for associates to do something a machine can do for 2% of the cost,” Cemenska said. “If 44% of the work goes away, about 85-90% of junior associate work goes away and a significant portion of senior associate and non-equity partner work is going to be partially eroded.”

Now, to be clear, that calamitous estimate is based on a Goldman Sachs “report” that runs all of 20 pages and purports to cover vast swathes of global industry. The only lawyer activities mentioned in that report are: “Review documents and proposed actions for compliance with legal, regulatory, and corporate standards; provide arguments and scenarios for and against compliance in unclear cases.” So I wouldn’t call it the definitive analysis of LLMs in the legal sector.

But the legal tasks enumerated in that report are also only a sample. Equally susceptible to LLM-ification are legal research, legislative and regulatory review, caselaw summary, memo writing, factum drafting, document creation, due diligence, and contract analysis, to name just the most common lawyer activities. ChatGPT4 alone could do a good first pass on most of these, never mind more advanced programs like Co-Counsel, Harvey, Lexis +AI, Jurisage, and many more to come.

Continued

How to Survive the Robot Lawyer Takeover

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 17:35:04 GMT

Hey there, legal eagles! It's your friendly neighborhood Technocat! Here to talk about the robot lawyer takeover in my latest cheeky video @the_Technocat YouTube.

Generative AI tools like Chat GPT have been trending like crazy since the end of 2022. There is a ton of hype, but much like the internet in the 2000's there is also substance to back it up. Generative AI and AI broadly speaking is transforming the practice of law, and there is no going back!

Simply put, the Robot Lawyers are here, now what?!

In this informative and irreverent video, I explore the rise of chatbots, AI, and generative AI in the legal industry. And what it means for lawyers today.

Continued

New report on ChatGPT & generative AI in law firms shows opportunities abound, even as concerns persist

Mon, 17 Apr 2023 16:54:12 GMT

A new report discusses the evolving attitudes towards the use of generative AI and ChatGPT within law firms, surveying lawyers about the opportunities and potential risks

It didn’t take long after OpenAI released its ChatGPT prototype for public use — shedding light on the myriad abilities that its underlying technology, generative artificial intelligence (AI), possessed — that many lawyers and legal industry experts became keenly aware of what these tools could mean for the profession and for law firms in particular.

Not surprisingly, strong opinions arose, not only about the potential sea-change in the delivery, pricing, and execution of legal services that the wider use of generative AI could bring, but also about the unknown risks that such usage could pose.

In fact, a recent survey of law firm lawyers illustrated this dichotomy well — a large majority (82%) of those surveyed said they believe that ChatGPT and generative AI can be readily applied to legal work; and a slightly smaller majority (51%) said that ChatGPT and generative AI should be applied to legal work.

Continued

Generative AI in the Legal Profession

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 17:17:55 GMT

When Open AI released ChatGPT in late 2022, it galvanized the collective imagination—and collective anxiety. Even lawyers wondered how such new AI technologies would change their profession.

Since OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022, a variety of new generative AI chatbots have flooded the market and, unlike many AI systems before them, have hit a culture zeitgeist. ChatGPT—and programs that rely on GPT technology—are seemingly everywhere. A student might use a chatbot to generate a five paragraph essay on The Scarlett Letter, for instance. A manager might use one to email to their colleagues about the latest office policies. Or, perhaps, a lawyer might deploy one to begin a real estate contract, or a legal brief? (For a useful breakdown of the timeline and how the technology works, see “ChatGPT is everywhere. Here’s where it came from,” in the MIT Technology Review.)

As Annie Lowrey writes in The Atlantic, “No single technology in modern memory has caused mass job loss among highly educated workers,” Lowrey wrote. “Will generative AI really be an exception?”

Continued

Inside Legal AI

When AI isn’t the bottleneck, knowledge is

The conversations to watch

Key details at a glance

Inside Legal Data: The Operating System of the Modern Firm

Inside Legal Data: London (Apr 9, 2026) leans into that reality with a full-day agenda that connects the dots: institutional intelligence, architecture, governance, AI readiness, and the commercial outcomes leaders actually care about.

The agenda themes that matter most

Key details at a glance

From Experiment to Infrastructure: Why Legal AI’s Next Crisis Isn’t Capability, It’s Control

Inside Legal AI Brief: 01/16/26

For the past two years, the legal industry has treated AI the way a toddler treats a marker: with wide-eyed wonder, frantic enthusiasm, and absolutely no plan for what happens when it ends up on the walls.

One Question: How do we Build Legal AI that can be Trusted?

Knowledge discipline and architectural control now matter more than models.

Why “adding retrieval” hasn’t delivered reliability

When AI stops answering questions and starts taking action

The uncomfortable middle ground firms are now in

Why these conversations matter now

Legal AI: London 2025: Real Use Cases, Real Impact

Stephen Bedford on Building AI-Ready Infrastructure

Panel: AI Investment, Pricing & Proving Value

Martin Hasler on People-First AI Adoption

Panel: KM Beyond Folders

Why Attend?

Setting the Scene: Legal AI in the UK

Generative AI once sat on the edges of legal practice—intriguing, but optional.

Enter Legal AI London 2025

Market Shifts You’ll Decode

Decide Which Side of the Curve You’re On

Legal AI Pathfinder’s Assembly : Chicago

On March 6-7, more than 100 people gathered for the sold-out Legal AI Pathfinder’s Assembly: Chicago at the beautiful, contemporary offices of Chapman and Cutler in downtown Chicago

Developed as a think tank and peer-to-peer exchange, industry leaders, innovators, practitioners, and solution providers converged for two days in Chicago to dissect, debate, and define the future of law in an AI-enabled world.

Attendees were treated to a behind the curtain look at some new tools and platforms at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney as well as a walk-through of some recent success stories at Baker & McKenzie .

We talked about navigating the Build vs. Buy dilemma that many firms are grappling with – examining critical factors like cost, time, and internal expertise that influence these decisions within the realm of generative AI.

Attendees also got a peek at new and evolving product offerings from leading solution providers such as DraftWise, Centari, Thomson Reuters, Infodash, Hike2, Clearbrief and vLex.

As we reflect on the insights and inspiration from the assembly, it's clear that the journey of integrating AI into legal practice is as much about embracing change as it is about steering it, ensuring that the legal profession remains resilient, relevant, and ready for the future.

More questions than answers…

The emotional and human aspects of AI integration surfaced throughout the program, as we addressed concerns about job replacement and the evolving nature of the work itself.

As David Cambria said in his opening keynote, “missed opportunities will cost us more than our mistakes.” We miss 100% of the shots that we don’t take.

Ilona Logvinova , Managing Counsel, Head of Innovation at McKinsey & Company also echoed, “it’s time to go back to first principles.” A data driven approach is necessary.

Regardless of the size of the firm or its appetite, the single best thing we can do is create a guiding light for the firm’s approach to data, which can be used it to gain support, filter out the noise, and provide focus​.

Exciting and scary. But this requires a synergistic, collaborative approach if we are to become the designers of a new era for law.

Lawyers’ work has never been more important than it is today. But law firms cannot expect to be rewarded for inefficiency. We must meet our attorneys and clients where they stand and work from that point forward. People are the product, the problem, and the solution.

The fear that human inputs are going to be diminished as AI and automation takes hold in society is something that we must contend with. But GenAI can be both a tool and a co-worker.

Again, as the brilliant Jae Um said:

Thanks again to all of our speakers, sponsors, and panelists contributing to this fascinating two-day forum as we shared wins and losses, progress, milestones and lessons learned at the intersection of digital transformation, data literacy, and firm strategy.

Thanks to Damien Riehl, VP, Solutions Champion, at vLex for chairing the conference and leading us through these two captivating days of discussion and discovery.

A huge thanks to our host firm and lead partner, Chapman and Cutler . And thanks again to our event sponsors – vLex, Thomson Reuters, Centari, DraftWise, Clearbrief, Hike2, and Infodash .

Each of your contributions helped to make this event all that it was. And we look forward to doing it again soon!

﻿

COMING NEXT:

AI x KM: The Next Frontier in Legal Knowledge Management

New York // April 24th // 2024

more

Law Firm Data Strategy & Modernization

New York // June 27 // 202

Legal AI Pathfinder's New York Assembly Feedback

chair, Damien Riehl posed a series of questions to attendees, focusing on their current perspectives and future outlooks regarding AI.

The Future of Law Firms in the Age of Generative AI: Reimagining the Law Firm Value Proposition

Whose time is it to shine? Given the potential for generative AI to automate a significant portion of routine legal tasks, let’s pose the question – how might AI fundamentally redefine the conventional law firm structure, billing model, and value proposition?

Looking Ahead to 2024

2023 has been a landmark year for the team at Inside Practice.

What Does it Mean to be a Lawyer in an AI-Enabled World?

If you missed Inflection Point: The Legal #AI Revolution Part 2 - we have just made the keynote session available - "What Does it Mean to be a Lawyer in an AI-Enabled World? "

Charting Legal AI's Future: Key Takeaways from the Legal AI Pathfinder's Assembly NYC

The Legal AI Pathfinder’s Assembly – New York took place last week at the offices of Simpson Thacher on December 7th.

Responsible AI in Practice

INTRODUCTION:

﻿ RESEARCHING PUBLIC ATTITUDES AS A GUIDE FOR NAVIGATING RESPONSIBLE AI

Inflection Point: The Legal AI Revolution – Part 2

Bold predictions, cautionary advice, and guidance

Future of Professionals Report

How AI is the Catalyst for Transforming Every Aspect of Work

International Legal Generative AI Report

LexisNexis International Legal Generative AI Survey Shows Nearly Half of the Legal Profession Believe Generative AI Will Transform the Practice of Law

Becoming Ironman Esquire: How the Human-Centered AI Revolution Makes Legal Professionals More Important, Not Less.

Becoming Ironman Esquire: How the Human-Centered AI Revolution Makes Legal Professionals More Important, Not Less

Why Law Firms Must Responsibly Embrace Generative AI

“AI won't replace lawyers, but lawyers who use AI will replace lawyers who don't.”

Abstract

Inflection Point: The Legal AI Revolution – Part 1

Setting the Scene: Legal AI in the UK

Generative AI once sat on the edges of legal practice—intriguing, but optional. 

Enter Legal AI London 2025

Regardless of the size of the firm or its appetite, the single best thing we can do is create a guiding light for the firm’s approach to data, which can be used it to gain support, filter out the noise, and provide focus.

Whose time is it to shine? Given the potential for generative AI to automate a significant portion of routine legal tasks, let’s pose the question – how might AI fundamentally redefine the conventional law firm structure, billing model, and value proposition?

RESEARCHING PUBLIC ATTITUDES AS A GUIDE FOR NAVIGATING RESPONSIBLE AI

Lawyers' billed hours constitute the inventory of law firms and the foundation of their profits. Legally trained AI will decimate those hours. What happens then?