At CMO Series Live 2025, industry leaders from major firms came together to discuss how AI is reshaping legal marketing. 

The panel featured Jim Metzger, Chief Financial Officer at Reed Smith, Bridget McCormack, CEO of the American Arbitration Association, Jen Leonard, Principal at Creative Lawyers, and Darth Vaughn, General Counsel at Ford Motor Company. 

Together they explored how CMOs can adapt to meet client expectations, redefine messaging strategies and navigate internal resistance to make smart investments in AI-driven legal services.

Key takeaways:

Rapid Adoption and Transformation of AI in the Legal Market
There has been a rapid shift in AI adoption within the legal market, moving swiftly from an era of skepticism and persuasion to one of urgent practical implementation and integration: "Coming into law 18 months ago... it went from almost all clients saying 'no don't use it' versus now it's almost why aren't you using it?" 

On top of clients now pushing firms towards adoption, there's the continuous evolution of the technology itself which mandates constant adaptation: “Every three to six months we see an evolution with the technology where it's literally like we did not think it could do that before”, suggesting there's now no time for firms to delay action. 

Shifting Value Proposition and the Future of Legal Business Models 
The panelists explored how AI is triggering a fundamental reassessment of how legal services are valued and how they are priced. The traditional hourly billing model for "production of content" is under pressure, while high-value advice and counsel remain crucial.

“We are reassessing what it is we can do ourselves and what it is we are required for, and when it makes more sense to outsource and where the value proposition is”. 

Untapped Opportunities for Growth
Beyond cost reduction, AI is seen as a "superpower" for productivity, opening up vast, underserved segments of the legal market and enabling firms to scale in unprecedented ways, which could simultaneously improve access to justice and increase profitability.

"I think there's an opportunity here to not just increase access to justice but also increase the bottom line by changing your strategy and starting to scale to parts of the market that you haven't touched before".