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How Legal Firms Are Getting AI Wrong—And How to Fix It
In their rush to adopt AI, many legal firms are misusing this powerful technology, making critical mistakes that undermine its potential. AI can transform the legal industry, but many firms are misjudging its capabilities. They believe AI can do more than it is designed for, leading to wasted resources, inefficiencies, and even legal and ethical issues.
Let’s explore how law firms are misusing AI, the risks involved, and, more importantly, how AI can be used correctly to streamline processes, save time, and boost productivity.
The AI Adoption Dilemma in Legal Firms
Misconceptions About AI in Legal Work
One common misconception within law firms is that AI can handle high-level legal tasks, such as drafting documents, making decisions, or advising clients. However, AI tools are not equipped to manage such critical and nuanced responsibilities.
This overreliance on AI presents several risks:
Lack of Accountability: AI tools can provide confident yet incorrect answers. In legal work, errors like these could expose firms to serious liability issues.
Outdated Tools: Many firms spend significant amounts on software that only addresses part of their needs—such as research or document generation—while neglecting other crucial tasks. This is especially true of older, clunky solutions that have not evolved with AI’s capabilities.
Unfit for Purpose: Some firms invest in expensive software without fully understanding its limitations. They may, sometimes embarrassingly, discover that these tools do not meet their needs or integrate poorly with their existing systems. Before investing in any AI or software, it is essential to define clear goals and assess whether the technology can deliver the desired outcomes.
These missteps highlight the need for a strategic approach to AI adoption. Focus on what AI excels at—automating repetitive tasks—rather than expecting it to fulfil roles it is not designed for.
The Right Way to Use AI in Law Firms
Instead of replacing legal expertise, AI should be seen as a tool to increase efficiency by automating repetitive tasks. When used correctly, the right AI tools can help legal professionals reclaim valuable time and focus on the work that truly matters.
1. Automating Client Onboarding
Onboarding new clients can be a labour-intensive process, involving forms, data collection, and document generation. AI can automate many of these steps, streamlining the collection of client information, setting up automated follow-up tasks, and even drafting initial agreements. This frees up solicitors to concentrate on higher-value work.
2. Summarising Case Law and Querying Internal Databases
AI can quickly sift through case law, legal research, and a firm’s internal databases, helping solicitors find precedents and key information much faster. Tools like Microsoft Copilot and Azure AI can be customised to search internal servers and provide summaries, saving countless hours of manual research.
3. Meeting Summaries and Action Points
AI can help law firms run meetings more efficiently by summarising discussions and auto-generating action points. This removes the need for post-meeting admin work and ensures teams are aligned and can act quickly on decisions made.
4. Drafting Letters and Routine Documents
AI can generate first drafts based on templates, replacing the need to manually draft standard letters or updates. Solicitors can then review and finalise these documents, reducing time spent on repetitive writing tasks.
5. Tracking Billable Hours and Predictive Analysis
AI can help legal firms track billable hours more accurately, ensuring time tracking is precise and aligns with key performance indicators (KPIs). AI tools can also use predictive analysis to forecast legal trends and case outcomes, helping firms stay ahead of industry developments.
Firms Overspending on Incomplete Software Solutions
A frequent issue is that firms are investing in costly software solutions that only cover part of their needs. Many older systems focus on narrow tasks, such as legal research, while ignoring broader workflow integration, such as managing client communications or tracking billable time.
The problem is that firms often implement these solutions without fully understanding what they need the software to achieve. They may expect a one-size-fits-all approach, only to be left embarrassed when the tools fall short of expectations or prove to be unfit for purpose.
It’s crucial for law firms to start with a clear understanding of their goals before committing to any AI or software investment. What outcome are you hoping to achieve? What are the most repetitive tasks in your firm that could benefit from automation? Answering these questions should be the first step in your AI journey.
How to Get It Right: Start with Discovery Days
This is where our Discovery Day come in. Before diving into any solution, it is essential to map out exactly what you need and why. Our bespoke Discovery Days are designed to help law firms identify the best areas for automation and AI integration, ensuring that you invest in the right tools for the job.
During our Discovery Days, we work closely with your team to:
Map Out Workflows: We document and analyse your workflows and systems to understand how your team interacts with software and where inefficiencies lie.
Identify Pain Points: We explore the challenges you face with your current software setup—whether it’s outdated tools or a lack of integration.
Explore Solutions: We brainstorm AI and data-driven solutions tailored to your firm’s needs, such as automating communications, tracking billable hours, or implementing predictive analysis.
Define Objectives: We help you set clear short- and long-term goals, ensuring that any software or AI solution aligns with your overall strategy.
Outline Next Steps: Based on our collaborative findings, we develop a detailed roadmap for implementing new workflows and integrating AI tools to meet your specific needs.
Our Discovery Day provide clarity to help you move forward with confidence. Whether it’s automating client interactions, setting alerts for key deadlines, or using AI for predictive analysis, we can help you make informed decisions about the right tools for your firm.
Why AI Shouldn’t Replace Legal Judgement
As transformative as AI can be, it is not a replacement for human legal judgement. AI lacks the nuance, intuition, and ethical reasoning that are essential in the legal field. It cannot (and should not) make final decisions or draft complex legal documents without thorough human oversight.
AI works best when it supports solicitors by handling the routine, repetitive tasks that consume valuable time. It can speed up research, organise information, and streamline workflows, but it should not replace the expertise that only a human legal professional can provide.
Conclusion
AI has the potential to revolutionise how legal firms operate, but only when used correctly. The key is to understand where AI can add value—by automating routine tasks—and where human oversight is essential. Many firms waste money on software that only solves part of the problem, often because they didn’t fully understand their needs before purchasing it.
With the right approach, AI can help firms save time, improve accuracy, and enhance overall productivity. Our bespoke Discovery Days help law firms adopt AI wisely, ensuring that they invest in solutions that are the right fit for their specific needs.
To unlock AI's potential in your legal practice, contact us to schedule a Discovery Day and explore how AI can streamline your firm’s workflows and transform your operations.
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