[author: Scott Cohen]
As generative AI in the legal industry rapidly evolves, law firms are feeling pressure to adopt, but also significant hesitation. From partners to associates and administrative staff, legal professionals are still expressing concerns about AI’s reliability, risk, and utility. Despite this, clients, competitors, and legal tech vendors are racing ahead. In this environment, how do firms bridge the gap between innovation and adoption? The answer isn’t just in the tools—it’s in change management.
Historically, lawyers have been slow adopters of emerging technologies, and with good reason. Legal work is high stakes, deeply rooted in precedent, and built on individual judgment. AI, especially the new generation of agentic AI (systems that not only generate output but initiate tasks, make decisions, and operate semi-autonomously), represents a fundamental shift in how legal work gets done. This shift naturally leads to caution as it challenges long-held assumptions about lawyer workflows and several aspects of their role in the legal process.
The path forward is not to push harder or faster, but smarter. Firms need to take a structured approach that builds trust through transparency, context, training, and measurement of success. This article provides a five-part playbook for law firm leaders navigating AI change management, especially in environments where skepticism is high and reputational risk is even higher.
1. Start with Practice-Aligned Use Cases
As I noted in a previous article, the most common mistake in AI rollouts is starting with the product instead of the problem. AI may be impressive in a vendor demo, but if it doesn’t align with the way lawyers actually work, adoption will stall. Instead, firms should begin with a use-case-first approach. This means working closely with lawyers to identify areas of pain or inefficiency where AI can deliver value without disrupting core workflows. Common examples include:
- First-pass contract review and risk identification
- Drafting routine provisions or correspondence
- Generating case law summaries or timelines
- Early-stage privilege or issue spotting in eDiscovery
It is critical that use cases are grounded in real, billable work, not just administrative processes. When lawyers see AI performing helpful functions within their day-to-day practice, trust begins to build.
For agentic AI, which operates with greater autonomy (e.g., suggesting next steps, identifying unexpected risks, or executing document assembly with minimal input), clarity is critical. The boundaries of the system must be transparent. Lawyers need to know what can the AI initiate on its own, what requires human approval, and when/how do they stay in the loop? This clarity of scope is the first step toward lawyer confidence.
2. Use Staged Rollouts to Build Confidence
Lawyers don’t need to be convinced of AI’s potential, they need to see it perform safely and reliably in context of their work. This is where a staged rollout strategy becomes invaluable. Begin with low-risk, high-reward pilots. Select enthusiastic practice groups for early experimentation and engage a mix of senior and junior lawyers, as well as professional staff, to gather a wide range of feedback.
Stages might look like:
- Stage 1: AI as assistant – providing suggestions only and no autonomous action
- Stage 2: AI in workflow – integrated into drafting or review workflows, but with all decisions routed through human validation
- Stage 3: Agentic AI in controlled autonomy – limited self-initiated actions (e.g., targeted research followed by brief or memo drafting), again, subject to post-action human validation
Each stage should include well-defined use cases, success metrics, and a formal feedback collection methodology. Importantly, early adopters should be supported by both technical trainers and adoption specialists who can capture insights and resolve issues quickly. If successful, they often become AI evangelists who help drive broader adoption by sharing positive experiences, mentoring peers, and advocating for continuous improvement. When lawyers see peers using AI successfully, and retaining control, they’re more likely to engage themselves.
3. Invest in AI Literacy and Continuous Training
Even the most intuitive AI tools can fall flat if lawyers don’t understand how they work or what to expect from them. Yet far too many firms treat training as an afterthought. Effective AI training must be ongoing, practical, and role-specific. One-size-fits-all training sessions rarely resonate with busy lawyers. Instead, firms should offer:
- Interactive workshops using real documents and workflows
- Small-group labs led by product champions and peer mentors
- Video-on-demand tutorials covering basic, intermediate, and advanced AI tasks
- AI specialists to whom lawyers can direct questions or test scenarios
Firms introducing agentic AI should offer scenario-based training that demonstrates the tool’s behavior at each stage. For example, in the case of a contract review and revision agent, illustrate the following: “Here’s what happens when the AI drafts a provision without being prompted”; “Here’s how it makes decisions about document priority”; “Here’s how to override it.” Additionally, every firm should establish clear acceptable use guidelines, ideally delivered through onboarding, regular training, and timely reminders. These should cover confidentiality, data security, risk mitigation, and human oversight requirements. Trust grows when users know not just how to use the tool, but how to use it safely.
4. Build Trust Through Governance and Guardrails
Skeptical lawyers often raise ethical, regulatory, and reputational concerns, and they’re right to do so. The most effective firms don’t dismiss these concerns. They address them proactively and transparently. That starts with governance. Every law firm deploying generative or agentic AI should have:
- An AI Governance Committee (a cross-functional team representing practitioners, IT, risk, knowledge, and security)
- A clear AI Acceptable Use Policy aligned with the firm’s professional responsibilities
- Documented evaluation criteria for all AI tools, including data management practices, decision transparency, and auditability
- A model approval process (e.g.,who reviews and certifies outputs before delivery to client?)
- Ongoing risk assessments to identify potential bias, hallucination, or misuse
These frameworks create internal accountability, and public credibility. They also provide a strong foundation for client conversations about how the firm uses AI responsibly.
With agentic AI, guardrails are especially critical. Firms must be clear on:
- What decisions the AI can make without human assistance
- How to log, audit, and reverse AI actions
- What data is stored, shared, or retained during autonomous operation
When lawyers know there’s a system watching the system, they’re more likely to engage.
5. Use Storytelling and Metrics to Normalize Success
Change management doesn’t stop once a tool goes live, it just shifts into a different mode. This is the phase where internal storytelling and outcome visibility drive momentum. Share success stories, both frequently and publicly. Highlight lawyers who saved hours drafting a motion, reduced review time by X%, or used AI to prep for a client meeting more effectively. Make these stories relatable, realistic, and focused on results, not features. Additionally, accompany success stories with quantitative metrics, such as:
- Time saved per matter
- Speed of document review or research
- Reduction in administrative workload
- Accuracy comparisons (AI vs. manual)
These indicators help reinforce the idea that AI isn’t just nice to have, it’s a strategic enabler. Importantly, avoid framing AI success as an IT department win. These are legal team wins, made possible through collaboration. That framing helps keep lawyers invested.
Final Thoughts: From Disruption to Empowerment
Generative AI, and especially agentic AI, represents one of the biggest changes in legal work in decades. It challenges assumptions about who does the work, how it’s done, and what value looks like. No wonder lawyers are skeptical! However, skepticism isn’t the enemy of progress. It’s the beginning of it. When firms listen carefully to concerns, align solutions with practice realities, and build trust step-by-step, they create a foundation for sustainable, ethical, and profitable AI adoption. Ultimately, the firms that will win in this new era are those that understand AI not as just another tech tool, but as a strategic advantage that amplifies legal talent rather than replaces it. Change management is the bridge between possibility and performance. With the right playbook, that bridge becomes not just crossable, but transformational.
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