My second to last panel of the 1st day of Legal Tech Talk was all around the maturity and adoption of AI at law firms.  George Hannah (Founder, Best Practice) moderated a panel consisting of Emma Dowden (COO, Burges Salmon), Philippa Von Seth ( Head Of Knowledge Management, Setterwalls) Andrei Salajan (Director of legal tech and innovation, Schoenherr Attorneys) and David Bartolone (VP Strategic Partnerships, Wolters Kluwer).

The first topic for discussion was around strategies for engagement.

Emma Dowden- Firstly adoption and then in a meaningful way.  We have digital champions who work closely with the project team.  We use league tables and gamification elements but it all comes down to having a safe space to try things.

Would you do anything differently?

Andrei Salajan- Yes, the narrative has changed.  We originally started testing Ai products in 2023 when things were different but we had a lot of time to change peoples thoughts and outlook.  We are progressing at the same pace as the tech.

What does a good rollout look like?

David Bartolone- Don't focus on the tech but instead the problem that you are trying to solve. This will lead to more engagement which is always an issue.

Philippa Von Seth- Teams should work in partnerships with technology and the lawyers.

Everyone has access to AI but where can you be competitive?

Philippa Von Seth- It is how you incorporate AI and use technology better.  We also have to focus on the human side.  It comes down to judgement now with and AI query on top.

Emma Dowden- You have to address the organisational structure through the client lens.  This will drive competitive advantage.

Andrei Salajan- We understand that we are doing well on the baseline but what is next?

Philippa Von Seth- We must integrate systems better so that we have structure.  This will lead to institutional adoption.

David Bartolone- Outcomes are a better metric to use as opposed to usage.

Andrei Salajan- it can be tricky for lawyers to validate the output of agents and so we must understand agents a lot better.

Emma Dowden- There isn't the law firm pyramid anymore.  Where doe the agent sit in the org structure?

Philippa Von Seth-  Generational intelligence should be used and not underestimated in law firms.  it is a huge asset.

The panel concluded that a lot of the billing structures don't fit with actual compensation models and so it makes it hard for junior lawyers to actually adopt AI.  If it makes their job quicker then there is often a question of- what should i fill my time with?

It helps if AI directives are set firm wide.