October 23, 2024

 Erica White

change management Consulting best practices legal operations law department innovation artificial intelligence legaltech consulting

Introduction

For corporate law departments, the pressure to do more with less never lets up – and, at most law departments, it never stops increasing. Consequently, in 2025, many law departments intend to deploy AI to increase efficiency and innovate in ways that boost business competitiveness.

However, AI use by law departments is not a panacea. Unless its implementation successfully addresses several critical challenges, the technology can fail to achieve operational, competitive, and strategic goals. Keeping in mind the principle of ‘First, do no harm,’ here are the most common and most consequential mistakes law departments must avoid when adopting AI in the coming year (and beyond!):

What Not to Do #1: Disregard the goals and objectives of the business.

Many law departments have already received mandates from the business to incorporate AI in 2025. Rather than hurrying to select and implement an AI tool, the crucial first step is determining both departmental and enterprise-wide goals and objectives. Many of them — accelerating your contracting cycle, reducing legal request turnaround times, improving your knowledge management, and trimming costs — may overlap and lend themselves to synergistic solutions. A law department can best leverage AI by aligning its AI initiatives with both the law department’s objectives and those of the business as a whole.

What Not to Do #2: Skip the gap analysis and just pick something.

The market is awash in AI tools for solving pressing law department problems. But by jumping straight into selecting a tool without first conducting a thorough gap analysis, you risk wasting resources and causing unnecessary frustration. Law departments should instead begin by assessing their specific needs and identifying the gaps where AI can deliver maximum value. This allows you to narrow down the AI tools worthy of serious consideration. Evaluating and then comparing similar tools’ capabilities, costs, and how well they address the identified gaps enables you to select and implement AI that best meets your particular needs.

What Not to Do #3: Ignore the rest of your tech stack.

When a law department selects and implements an AI tool without first considering the other technology it uses, several issues can arise. For example, the department might already have technology with AI capabilities that it is underutilising. Instead of spending time and money investing in new AI tools, the department could achieve its goals simply by expanding its use of current systems. Similarly, selecting an AI tool without confirming its ability to integrate with other daily-use tools can mean significant frustration and delays, low user adoption, or even a failed implementation.

What Not to Do #4: Skip over defining your current state.

A crucial preliminary step for optimal selection and implementation of any AI tool is determining the existing ways in which law department members do their work. This includes identifying the types of work they do, the tools and processes they use, the departments they collaborate with, and more. When you skip this step, you risk selecting an AI tool that does not align with how your team currently works. This often lowers user adoption and fails to achieve desired efficiencies.

What Not to Do #5: Overlook the need for change management.

It is tempting – but perilous – to assume that AI’s novelty will naturally drive user adoption. There are no guarantees that will happen. Some of your law department colleagues are presently sceptical of AI (a stance that is not necessarily unwarranted!). Others are satisfied with their current ways of working and do not feel a compelling need to change or incorporate another tool or process. These and other common situations make change management critical. The odds of success rise when you bring end users into the AI selection and implementation process, make them part of the change, and help them gain a deeper understanding of how the AI can benefit them. Engaging the team and addressing their concerns are crucial to successful implementation and user adoption.

Before You Do, Remember: Don’t!

As with many things, with AI, it is wise to remember that ‘less haste makes for more speed.’ Thorough preparation and strategic planning are prerequisites to successful implementation. Meaningful and measurable outcomes result when your AI selection and implementation process determines the needs of both the business and the law department, defines the law department’s current technology and ways of working, and incorporates change management. Otherwise, your AI implementation can become a costly experiment with little to no return on investment.