The legal industry is at an inflection point. AI promises transformative impact, but without a foundation of disciplined, standardised processes, that promise remains theoretical.

For many legal departments in 2026, the top strategic priority is to scale AI, followed closely by cost reduction. But in the near term, these goals often work against each other, leaving in-house attorneys squeezed for time and resources, with no clear path to reducing their effort.

As we saw last year from Klarna and Salesforce, rushing to implement AI (and removing people) without proper planning can backfire hugely, exposing the business to very real risks.

Process and operational improvements need a different approach to personal AI use. You can’t jump in and play around with the capability, hoping you get the right result. Real transformation requires planning and structure: document the workflow, test it, refine it, and test again. And it should go without saying, but it is critical that those beta testers are end users, who know, understand, and care about the processes. That is how AI transforms from a novelty idea to a game-changing catalyst for real progress.

This type of operational transformation isn’t easy. It takes expertise, process knowledge, and, critically, time that most attorneys don’t have. It’s less exciting and it’s slower, but it’s the foundation you need to achieve full process automation.

Our Three-Step Approach

Elevate’s legal managed services help customers deliver automated AI-supported workflows through the following three-step approach:

Step 1: Document and refine

Shift routine, process-heavy work away from lawyers and into a centralised, standardised workflow that reduces internal pressure, and external spend, without disrupting strategic legal work. Create a documented, standardised process that reduces internal pressure and external spend.

Step 2: Test

Run the process end-to-end, measure what matters and refine the process over time, focusing on pivotal points where effort is wasted.

Step 3: Automate

Integrate AI into SOPs, reference guides, matter intake and setup, work assignment, automated document collection, and dashboards to measure and track meaningful insights to drive business decisions.

Where to Begin?

High-Volume Litigation

Litigation is high volume and high impact, and lawyers are overwhelmed, overstretched, and ready to delegate.

Take the initial steps of a litigation matter, including intake, triage and evidence collection. These can be handled in entirely different ways depending on who receives the notice of claim, whether it is an in-house lawyer, paralegal, or secondee. This results in a lack of a clear process, significant inefficiencies, and increased risk of errors or oversight. By centralising this process and creating standardised playbooks and operating procedures, everyone knows what to expect, and your lawyers don’t need to get involved until all information is available.

Similarly, the final steps in the litigation process, settlement administration and payment processing, are rule-based and operational, so they don’t need to be handled by lawyers. Allow the process experts to administer settlements and collaborate with internal and external teams to obtain the necessary signatures, documents, and ensure the business complies with the terms of the settlement agreement.

Workplace Investigations

Similar to litigation, there is a wealth of sub-processes that don’t require a lawyer and are ripe for automation.

Intake, triage, investigation, timetabling and planning, document and data collection, and even interview scheduling, can all be handled by process experts. Investigators should take over only at the point where they are able to add value by making a fully informed assessment.

The Bottom Line

Managed services are not a tactical fix; they are a strategic lever that empowers legal departments to shift from reactive to proactive by embedding process rigour and governance, creating scalability for technology adoption without disrupting core legal work. By transforming operational processes first, legal departments unlock capacity, reduce spend, and create a clear, achievable automation roadmap.

Ready to turn strategy into results? Start with the tasks that drain time but add no legal value. Elevate will help you design, test, and automate workflows that free your legal team for greater efficiency.