The six key areas of alignment for AI Confidence™

Your law firm or legal department could reap huge benefits from AI. But before you can move with confidence, you need alignment. 

So how can you align with confidence?

Broad Perspective

We surveyed both law firm professionals and in-house legal departments to capture the full picture of AI adoption.

Clear Insights

Our research provides a quantitative view of the shifting dynamics in legal service delivery and the areas where alignment is most needed.

Confident Progress

With alignment, law firms and legal departments can chart their path to AI Confidence™—built on secure foundations and practical use cases.

The 6 Areas for AI Confidence

Service Innovation

Obstacles

Tech Impact

Priorities

Tech Innovation

AI Readiness

How much service innovation do you need?

Clients are also driving the demand for innovation. They're aware of the progress that's being made with technical innovations and are increasingly pushing for modernized legal services such as value-based pricing models to replace traditional hourly billing and rate inflation. As a law firm or in-house legal department, it's vital that you're aligned on how you'll pass the benefits of technical innovation on to clients and the level of business model innovation you're going to undertake.

Key report findings:
  • Our report found that more in-house departments (36%) would like to see fixed or project-based pricing when compared to law firm professionals (23%).
  • In fact 26% of law firm respondents view hourly billing as the best pricing model compared with just 5% of in-house legal departments.
  • However, there's agreement around the benefits of blended models (a mix of Alternative Fee Arrangements and hourly fixed rates). 27% of in-house legal departments and 33% of law firm professionals see these blended models as the best way forward.

What are the biggest obstacles to innovation?

Improving knowledge sharing and collaboration should be a goal of any technical innovation in the legal space. But to improve it, you need to be aligned on where the problem lies. Get a clear idea of where your teams experience roadblocks and the concerns that are holding them back.

Key report findings:
  • Both in-house legal departments (31%) and law firm professionals (39%) viewed siloed teams and a lack of collaboration as a major issue.
  • However, 45% of the in-house respondents said time constraints and lack of resources were the biggest issues compared to just 30% of legal firms.
  • 25% of law firms felt concerns over confidentiality and security were also a pressing issue compared with just 12% of in-house respondents.

What are the most impactful technologies?

Before you rush to implement a technology solution because you ‘think’ it’s what your teams will find useful, it’s vital you get a clear idea of what they’re currently using and what’s working. Understand what your teams have tried, about their frustrations, and about their non-negotiables. This will help you see through the fog of AI marketing and find solutions matched to real business use cases. 

Key report findings: 
  • Document management tools are having the greatest impact according to both law firm professionals (50%) and in-house legal departments (40%).
  • With AI, 20% of in-house respondents identified AI-powered drafting tools as the most impactful compared with 16% of law firm professionals.
  • However, 26% of law firm respondents focused on AI-powered legal research compared to just 19% of in-house legal departments. 

What are your key priorities for innovation initiatives?

Innovation initiatives that fail to address strategic priorities will not only frustrate teams, they will also erode confidence in “change” overall. To avoid this, get a clear idea of the pain points your teams face, which of those pain points are a good fit for technology innovation, and what the key outcomes should be. You don’t want to improve productivity only to discover security is your biggest pain point.

Key report findings:
  • Technology integration and efficiency are top priorities for both in-house legal departments and law firms when it comes to innovation.
  • There was also a clear need for seamless compatibility with widely used platforms like Microsoft 365, better case management systems, and secure collaboration tools that don’t compromise compliance or create barriers.
  • In-house teams are particularly frustrated by fragmented systems, redundant workflows, and slow adoption of modern tech by law firms. 
     

How prepared are you for tech innovation?

Your best innovation moves depend on your starting point so it’s vital you’re aligned on your team’s readiness for tech innovation. Have you undertaken multiple digital transformation processes already and this about going to the next level? Or is this the beginning of the journey? Getting aligned on where you are will help ensure you have the foundations in place to make the most of new solutions.

Key report findings:
  • More than half (51%) of in-house professionals report that their teams are not equipped with the latest technology versus 23% of law firm respondents.
  • Adoption of a DMS (Document Management System) could be driving this disparity. Law firms had an adoption rate of 48% compared to just 5% for in-house counsel. 
  • For preparedness both in-house legal and law firms overwhelmingly agree (99%) they can work securely from anywhere; when sharing securely, it’s agreed by 80% of law firm respondents and 72% from in-house counsel.

How prepared you are for AI

Nowhere is the need for alignment greater than on your preparedness for AI. The speed of change with AI can cause organizations to rush ahead and skip vital steps. Get to know where and how AI is being used in your organization already and how strong your data governance structures are. Remember, a solid data foundation is crucial to extract the most value from legal AI and ensure compliance.

Key report findings:
  • Both law firms and in-house legal departments expressed similar preparedness for both 'leveraging AI' and 'trialing AI'.
  • However, less than half of respondents in either group say that their firm or legal department is actually leveraging AI at the moment.
  • This may soon change: two-thirds of law firm respondents and almost 60% of in-house respondents report that their firms or departments are currently exploring AI solutions.

The six keys areas of alignment for AI Confidence™

1. Service Innovation

Nowhere is the need for alignment greater than on your preparedness for AI. The speed of change with AI can cause organizations to rush ahead and skip vital steps. Get to know where and how AI is being used in your organization already and how strong your data governance structures are. Remember, a solid data foundation is crucial to extract the most value from legal AI and ensure compliance.

Key report findings:
  • Both law firms and in-house legal departments expressed similar preparedness for both ‘leveraging AI’ and ‘trialing AI’.
  • However, less than half of respondents in either group say that their firm or legal department is actually leveraging AI at the moment. 
  • This may soon change: two-thirds of law firm respondents and almost 60% of in-house respondents report that their firms or departments are currently exploring AI solutions.

Improving knowledge sharing and collaboration should be a goal of any technical innovation in the legal space. But to improve it, you need to be aligned on where the problem lies. Get a clear idea of where your teams experience roadblocksand about the concerns that are holding them back.

Key report findings:
  • Both in-house legal departments (31%) and law firm professionals (39%) viewed siloed teams and a lack of collaboration as a major issue.
  • However, 45% of the in-house respondents said time constraints and lack of resources were the biggest issues compared to just 30% of legal firms. 
  • 25% of law firms felt concerns over confidentiality and security were also a pressing issue compared with just 12% of in-house respondents.

Before you rush to implement a technology solution because you ‘think’ it’s what your teams will find useful, it’s vital you get a clear idea of what they’re currently using and what’s working. Understand what your teams have tried, about their frustrations, and about their non-negotiabables. This will help you see through the fog of AI marketing and find solutions matched to real business use cases.

Innovation initiatives that fail to address strategic priorities will not only frustrate teams, they will also erode confidence in “change” overall. To avoid this, get a clear idea of the pain points your teams face, which of those pain points are a good fit for technology innovation, and what the key outcomes should be. You don't want to improve productivity only to discover security is your biggest pain point.

Key report findings:
  • Technology integration and efficiency are top priorities for both in-house legal departments and law firms when it comes to innovation. 
  • There was also a clear need for seamless compatibility with widely used platforms like Microsoft 365, better case management systems, and secure collaboration tools that don't compromise compliance or create barriers.
  • In-house teams are particularly frustrated by fragmented systems, redundant workflows, and slow adoption of modern tech by law firms.

Clients are also driving the demand for innovation. They’re aware of the progress that’s being made with technical innovations and are increasingly pushing for modernized legal services such as value-based pricing models to replace traditional hourly billing and rate inflation. As a law firm or in-house legal department, it’s vital that you’re aligned on how you'll pass the benefits of technical innovation on to clients and the level of business model innovation you’re going to undertake.  

Key report findings:
  • Document management tools are having the greatest impact according to both law firm professionals (50%) in and in-house legal departments (40%).
  • With AI, 20% of in-house respondents identified AI-powered drafting tools as the most impactful compared with 16% of law firm professionals. 
  • However, 26% of law firm respondents focused on AI-powered legal research compared to just 19% of in-house legal departments.

Nowhere is the need for alignment greater than on your preparedness for AI. The speed of change with AI can cause organizations to rush ahead and skip vital steps. Get to know where and how AI is being used in your organization already and how strong your data governance structures are. Remember, a solid data foundation is crucial to extract the most value from legal AI and ensure compliance.

Key report findings:
  • Both law firms and in-house legal departments expressed similar preparedness for both ‘leveraging AI’ and ‘trialing AI’.
  • However, less than half of respondents in either group say that their firm or legal department is actually leveraging AI at the moment. 
  • This may soon change: two-thirds of law firm respondents and almost 60% of in-house respondents report that their firms or departments are currently exploring AI solutions.

And there you have it

Remember, AI Confidence™ isn’t about trusting a single product or technical innovation.

It's about trusting your own decisions and those of your teams. Knowing you have built a solid foundation. And having the reassurance that any solutions you’re using are tied to a tangible use case that removes friction from the workflows you perform every day.

Want to start your journey to AI Confidence?

 

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