AI in legal: How law firms are moving from AI experimentation to real business impact

Artificial intelligence is shaping how law firms win clients, deliver work, and operate their businesses. Yet as adoption accelerates, firms are finding that successful legal AI implementation isn’t about tools alone.

Insights from a recent legal AI webinar Verbit hosted featuring Nicole Bradick, Global Head of Innovation at Factor, Richard Tromans, Founder of Artificial Lawyer, and JP Son, Chief Legal Officer of Verbit, reveal where firms are succeeding, where they’re struggling, and what practical steps legal teams should take next. The webinar, From Hype to Help: Making AI Truly Useful for Practicing Lawyers, delved into how its really about starting with radical honestly. Firms should begin by defining the real goal of using legal AI.

Read below for key takeaways from the panel featuring these three legal experts, or watch the full video on-demand here.

How Law Firms Should Define Their Goals for Legal AI Adoption

One of the most important and often overlooked steps in legal AI adoption is being honest about why AI is being implemented.

As Nicole Bradick explained, not every law firm is pursuing AI for the same reasons. Some want to improve productivity, others want to deliver a differentiated client experience, and some simply want to reassure clients that they are using modern legal technology.

“I’ve always encouraged firms to be super honest about what their goals are, and then you can determine your ROI metrics from there. And it can be — you just want to be able to tell clients, ‘we’re using things,’ or — that could be a goal, just be honest about it.”
— Nicole Bradick, Global Head of Innovation at Factor

All of these are valid objectives, but they require very different ROI metrics. A firm focused on client perception may measure success through responsiveness or client confidence, while a firm focused on efficiency may track time savings or increased matter capacity.

Legal AI ROI is not universal — it is goal-dependent.

Why Client Expectations Are Driving Legal AI Adoption

Client pressure is now one of the strongest forces accelerating AI adoption in law firms.

“People are getting comfortable… policies that say you can’t put confidential data into an LLM — that’s gone out the window. You can’t put confidential info into an email? Same thing.”
— JP Son, CLO at Verbit

As Richard Tromans noted, clients increasingly expect faster turnaround times, greater transparency, and clear evidence that their legal partners are technologically capable. Even when AI tools primarily deliver internal benefits, the external signaling effect matters.

Law firms that ignore this shift risk being perceived as slow or outdated, regardless of the quality of their legal work. Firms that acknowledge and plan for this reality are better positioned to maintain trust and win new business.

Why Legal AI Fails Without Clear Law Firm Workflows

A recurring reason legal AI initiatives stall is simple: tools are deployed before workflows are understood.

JP Son emphasized that firms must examine how work is actually done today, and not just how it should work in theory. AI performs best when applied to clearly defined processes with known friction points.

Billing models also play a major role:

• Billable-hour firms often focus on reducing non-billable administrative tasks
• Fixed-fee and contingency firms benefit from efficiency gains across the entire matter lifecycle

Without workflow clarity, even powerful legal AI tools struggle to deliver value.

Maximizing Efficiency: How AI Transforms Legal Workflows

“Even if you’re on an hourly system, using AI might make you more money. You can now take on more work, get through it faster, and focus on higher-value matters. AI doesn’t replace lawyers — it amplifies what they can achieve.”
— Richard Tromans, Founder of Artificial Lawyer

AI is transforming the way law firms and corporate legal teams manage their workloads. By automating routine tasks like document review, deposition summaries, and transcription, legal professionals can focus on high-value activities that require critical thinking and strategic judgment. This not only reduces administrative burden but also enables firms to take on more cases, improve client responsiveness, and maintain profitability.

Solutions like Verbit’s Legal Visor and Legal Capture integrate AI seamlessly into legal workflows, providing accurate real-time transcription and actionable insights that give attorneys competitive edge. These tools help teams streamline operations, improve efficiency, and maintain high-quality outputs across practice areas.

How Small and Mid-Sized Law Firms Can Use AI on a Budget

AI adoption is no longer limited to large law firms with enterprise-level budgets.

While some legal AI platforms are expensive, many smaller firms can achieve meaningful results by being honest about budget constraints and focusing on practical use cases. In many cases, success comes from flexible, targeted solutions rather than large, complex platforms.

The key is aligning AI investments with real operational needs rather than perceived industry pressure.

Why Legal Transcription Is Foundational to Legal AI Success

One of the most consistent sources of immediate ROI for law firms is legal transcription.

Depositions, hearings, internal meetings, and client calls generate critical information. Capturing that information accurately is essential for downstream AI workflows. Verbit’s Legal Capture was mentioned as one consideration for its secure, high-accuracy transcription designed specifically for legal environments. It enables law firms to reduce manual note-taking, create searchable legal records, and support advanced AI applications with reliable data.

Without high-quality capture, legal AI tools lack the clean inputs they need to perform effectively.

How AI Turns Legal Transcripts Into Actionable Insight

Capturing legal content is only the first step. Increasingly, firms want AI to help them analyze and extract value from that information.

Legal Visor is Verbit’s answer to this common need. Legal Visor applies AI to legal transcripts and proceedings in real time to surface key moments, uncover inconsistencies, identify themes, and accelerate review. Rather than replacing legal judgment, it supports faster, more informed decision-making on-the-spot, helping attorneys handle high-volume or time-sensitive matters.

This shift from documentation to real-time insight is one of the most practical applications of legal AI today.

Can AI Hurt Legal Skills? Understanding Cognitive Offloading in Law Firms

While AI can significantly accelerate legal work, the panel raised an important caution: overreliance on AI can weaken core legal skills.

Nicole Bradick highlighted the risk of cognitive offloading, particularly for junior lawyers. When AI handles early drafting or analysis, lawyers may lose the mental repetition needed to build strong judgment and analytical ability.

“It is a huge issue. I started using AI for proposals that we were drafting. And then, I would find, when I would get to the pitch, I would be a lot less intelligent, right? … That mental legwork that you’re not doing is so critical to you being able to actually do something with that knowledge later.”
— Nicole Bradick, Global Head of Innovation at Factor

Firms may need to accept lower utilization for training purposes and ensure junior lawyers still complete foundational work manually at least once. Over time, firms learn where AI adds value and where it detracts from long-term performance.

How Law Firms Can Encourage AI Adoption Among Skeptics

Resistance to legal AI remains common, especially among experienced practitioners. The panel identified several effective strategies for overcoming skepticism:

1. Context-specific training focused on real legal work
2. Internal champions who demonstrate success in practice
3. Small pilot wins that build trust organically

Hands-on, practice-area-specific training consistently proves more effective than abstract demonstrations or mandates.

“Firms need to accept that junior lawyers won’t be as productive initially when learning to use AI, but investing in hands-on, context-specific training ensures they actually develop the critical skills to use AI effectively without losing their judgment or legal acumen.”
— Nicole Bradick, Global Head of Innovation at Factor

How Law Firms Should Evaluate Legal AI Before Scaling

There is no universal standard for evaluating legal AI tools.

Each law firm must define what “good” looks like based on its practice areas, risk tolerance, and client expectations. Before scaling, firms should pilot tools in controlled environments and compare outputs against internal quality benchmarks.

The goal is not perfect accuracy. It’s fitness for purpose.

From AI Pilots to Embedded Use in Law Firms

The legal industry is moving well beyond experimentation.

According to the panel, firms are shifting from running isolated pilots to building structured AI programs that include training, governance, and practice-specific workflows. Lawyers are becoming more open to change, and firms are increasingly focused on selecting the right solutions rather than testing everything.

This marks the transition from curiosity to real operational adoption.

Final Takeaway: Why Legal AI Is a Business Decision, Not Just a Technology One

Legal AI does not exist in a vacuum. To succeed at scale, law firms must consider how AI impacts workflows, staffing models, pricing, and client relationships. When implemented thoughtfully, AI enables firms to deliver work faster, handle more matters, and improve profitability, without sacrificing quality or judgment.

Purpose-built legal AI solutions such as Verbit Legal Capture and Verbit Legal Visor illustrate how domain-trained technology can support this shift by enhancing, not replacing, legal expertise. Contact us to learn how your firm can start using these legal tech tools or watch the full panel session here for more insights.