From hype to impact: Can AI prove its worth in the legal world?

“May you live in interesting times.” Blessing or curse? Let’s explore.

Welcome to the AI era — and yes, it’s real this time

For the legal profession, that old adage feels more like a daily reality. With artificial intelligence entering the spotlight, we’re living through the biggest technological disruption since the typewriter. The question isn’t if AI will shape legal work — but how much, and how soon.

At iManage, we work closely with legal professionals navigating this shift. As a lawyer who’s transitioned from the world of risk and compliance into the tech space, I’ve seen both the promise and the pitfalls of AI up close. And here’s the truth: AI’s value lies not in hype, but in impact. However, impact is realised when there is trust: trust in the accuracy and veracity of the results, trust in the preservation and maintenance of confidentiality, and trust that AI is being deployed and used appropriately.

So why should lawyers care about AI now?

Because it’s finally delivering.

AI is no longer a fringe idea. Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, the legal sector has been rapidly shifting. Scepticism gave way to curiosity, and now — productivity. By 2024, firms were setting up AI committees. In 2025, IT and innovation teams are driving buying decisions.

The brief is clear: AI will be transformational, galvanizing, and a powerful efficiency gain to the legal industry at large. In short, absolutely worth the investment.

The shift: from automation to acceleration

AI isn’t here to replace lawyers. It’s here to eliminate the drudgery and repetitive tasks, so lawyers can get back to being, well ... lawyers.

• Email filing? Automate it.
• Document review? Speed it up.
• Contract drafting? Make it smarter.

With AI doing the heavy lifting, legal professionals can focus on strategy, judgment, and the actual “thinking” part of legal thinking. It will allow true innovation to occur; by easing the monotony and grunt work from a lawyer’s day they can (finally) explore the improbable and previously undiscovered. This could open the door to new legal discoveries or legal reasonings that will be truly efficacious. 

The 3 categories of AI that matter to law firms

At iManage, we break down legal AI into three practical buckets:

1. Institutional AI    

2. Practice AI   

3. Frictionless AI 

What lawyers want vs. What they actually need

Here’s the balancing act:

🧠 What lawyers want:

• Efficiency
• Insightful data
• Reputation for innovation

🛠 What they need:

• AccuracyTransparency
• Easy integration
• Sustained confidentiality
• Flexibility

⚠️What they don’t want:

• Hallucinations
• To become prompt engineers
• Inability to verify results or critically evaluate outputs
• Drafting chaos
• De-skilling the next generation of lawyers

Lawyers want tools that work. Not tools that make them learn a new language or guess where the answers came from. The efficiency gains can only be achieved when there is underlying trust in the technology. 

Why trust is non-negotiable

Legal professionals are guardians of confidential and highly sensitive data. Any technology advancements — especially AI — needs to honour that. And trust? It starts with data.

Bad data = bad outputs. No AI system is smarter than the information you give to it. So before you chase AI dreams, get your data house in order. Clean. Structured. Contextual. That’s the fuel AI needs to deliver real impact. 

Bottom Line

We’re at a tipping point. The Luddites didn’t stop the Industrial Revolution, and we’re not stopping AI. The firms that adapt will thrive. The ones that don’t? They'll still be formatting documents when everyone else is winning new business.

Let’s move from hype to impact — together.

This article is a recap of Madeleine Porter's talk at the Legal Innovation & Tech Fest in Sydney.