In the never-ending race to do more with less, corporate lawyers are finding an ally in generative artificial intelligence tools. The question isn’t whether in-house counsel will encounter AI in their work but a matter of how quickly and its scope.

“You don’t want the transformation of your profession to happen to you, you need to participate,” said Heath Harris, digital transformation leader at Ernst & Young Law, the service firm’s legal unit.

As this transformation unfolds, lawyers experienced in working with GenAI platforms will become more valuable, he said. More than 90% of in-house legal talent “expect basic AI training will be mandatory within five years,” according to a Thomson Reuters survey of professionals last year, and more than a quarter expect this training to be required by the end of 2024.

Amid this global GenAI exploration and adoption by legal departments, the software maker Docusign and Ernst & Young co-hosted a webinar on how to make AI an ally in agreement management. 

Legal Dive culled the following AI adoption tips from the Aug. 14 discussion between EY’s Harris and Jennifer Nguyen, Docusign’s deputy GC.

Is senior leadership on board?

Nearly every organization is evaluating gen AI tools, with many prepared to spend well into the eight figures to gain the advantages, according to multiple surveys across many industries. Moreover, 42% of general counsel believe Gen AI will have a “transformational impact” on the legal profession, and another 32% said its impact will be high, according to the 2024 State of the Corporate Law Department report by Thomson Reuters.

“It’s easy to see (AI’s) utility,” Harris said Thursday in an interview with Legal Dive. “And now the C-suite really understands that,” with management moving toward “more directives, less optionality” on AI implementation, he said.

However, it’s critical to ensure CLOs and others leading a legal department share that enthusiasm for adopting AI and the subsequent transition.

AI transition is a team sport

For many lawyers, current GenAI and the more advanced AI tools of the future will represent a new way of working across multiple tasks. Patience is key; the early days of AI adoption will require lawyers’ time. 

“How do we make time to bring it on because it’s disruptive?” Harris said. “There’s a change-management hurdle there [because] you’re taking time away from people doing their work to work in a different way.”

It’s also important to recognize that most lawyers are amenable, if not fully eager, to embrace this change in how they’ll work. Over time, experience working with AI is likely to become an issue of recruiting and keeping talented lawyers, Harris said.

Meet people where they work

Generally, in legal operations, AI tools work best when integrated with existing software and other platforms. Most lawyers, for example, “work in Microsoft Word, they live in Word,” as it's a core platform for their documents, Harris said. 

Plug-ins that are adapted to existing technologies legal departments use are critical for helping lawyers experiment with AI and expand its scope within their work. This is where legal operations and technology teams must work closely to align the current work-AI experience with lawyers’ needs.

“When I see any friction point, I just shut down,” Nguyen said of working with new tools or technology, resisting additional steps for a particular process or one that creates more work.

The transition to AI represents “a real opportunity to shape your own work and how your colleagues work,” Harris said. “Start with the coalition of the willing. Meet people where they are and give them time back. You’re creating space for people to go on a journey with you.”

What’s the time-to-value for this AI investment?

The billions in technology investments companies are making for AI systems are driven by the bottom line: These tools are expected to boost efficiency, including in legal departments. In many legal departments, this time is becoming measured in months, not years, Harris said.

One critical question for senior managers: How quickly will a team come up to speed and realize productivity gains? Not every use case is similar. For example, lawyers working on contract drafts and redlining may find the value derived from Gen AI emerges at a different pace than those using AI in patent or other IP work.

“How fast can I go from having something in my hand to understanding it and then advising my clients or advising my business?” Harris said. Or, as Nguyen put it: “Who cares unless AI is actually solving problems?”

Understand data privacy/security risk implications

Harris suggests legal executives reviewing a particular company or potential vendor ask who founded the company and whether they worked in law or technology previously.

Large language models underlying GenAI function from the enormous quantities of data they digest — a potentially perilous situation for a legal department and the source of multiple questions for AI vendors. Among them:

• How do you consume my data? 
• How is my data processed to generate an output? 
• Does my data stay with your company to improve your model? 
• Does content from my company inform the platform and could show up in other material for other companies?

One possible solution Harris and Nguyen suggested is that your data need not persist within the platform after a particular work task is completed. Lawyers also have a “duty of understanding” how their AI tools are performing and monitoring work output, Harris said.