How I think about — AI Workflows
AI strategy starts with the workflow.
AI is changing pieces of legal work quickly. The harder question is what happens around the tool: the workflow, the supervision, the pricing model, and the client promise.
Principle
AI is most interesting when it changes the workflow, not just the tool stack.
The tension
Legal AI can make pieces of work faster, but speed alone does not answer the harder commercial question. If the work changes, the staffing, supervision, pricing, and client conversation may need to change with it.
Where I lean
Toward using AI to clarify the actual problem before designing the solution. Sometimes the issue is not that a task is slow. It is that the process is unclear, the handoffs are messy, or no one has decided what 'better' should mean.
Where I hesitate
Around AI language that focuses only on efficiency. Efficiency matters, but in legal services the more important question is often what the efficiency makes possible: a different fee, a better client experience, a cleaner workflow, or a more scalable way to deliver the work.
Working note
AI does not automatically create value. The value shows up when the workflow, the economics, and the client promise start to move together.
§ ReferencesWhere this thinking comes from
- Thomson Reuters InstituteFuture of Professionals Report 2025
- ClioLegal Trends Report 2025
- Altman WeilLaw Firms in Transition
Synthesised from publicly available reports and commentary. All views my own.