Law firms have little to gain from racing to build or buy the latest artificial intelligence tools, as the real challenge is getting their own lawyers to use them, a panel of law firm leaders told the IBA Annual Conference in Copenhagen.
The discussion, part of the Legal Practice Division Showcase, followed a keynote speech by Professor Richard Susskind on the longer-term implications of AI for the legal profession.
Speaking at the session on Tuesday, Alan Mason, global managing partner at Magic Circle law firm Freshfields, explained that developing new AI systems or workflows in-house has little lasting advantage if competitors can quickly match them.
“The key thing we are absolutely focused on is adoption,” he said. “For every day we develop a new skill or a workflow, another firm or another tech company is going to be out there developing the same thing.”
There would, he said, always be “something better to address the same underlying issue or objective that we have.”
Mason continued: “This is all about strategy, not AI, and then adoption, not about tools or skills. If we’re already starting to tap into the potential of what is in front of us today, that will make a difference today, but that will also help drive where the industry heads in the future.”
The panel, which also included leaders from White & Case, WongPartnership and Mallesons, emphasised the need for firms to fold AI into their strategy, highlighting that AI adoption is no longer merely a technological product rollout but a fundamental aspect of how law firms operate.
Wai King Ng, chairman and senior partner at WongPartnership, said his firm’s approach to AI is driven from the top down, making sure that partners understand its role in delivering legal services.
Rather than developing a tool in-house, the firm made a “conscious decision” to buy one off the shelf.
“It is very hard for us to try and compete and to do something, where Harvey, Legora, Google and Anthropic will be able to do so much better than we can do as a small firm,” he added.
Isabel Parker, chief innovation officer at White & Case, flagged the transition from chatbots to AI agents, and the shift this brings for law firms in terms of deliverable value.
The agentic era introduces a new set of challenges, Parker noted, as agents are only as good as the context you give them.
“The context you want to give them actually is the brain of your brightest and your best in the organisation,” she said. “How do you get that? It’s very difficult to get your partners to sit there in an hour-long workflow mapping session with a bunch of post-its. They’re just not going to do it. They’re too busy.”
To tackle this issue, the firm created context files using a combination of internal firm knowledge and transcribed interviews with its top lawyers, alongside horizon scanning. This approach can be deployed for processes like IPOs, and helps preserve human judgement where it matters, Parker said.
Clients have come to expect AI savvy, Ng remarked, compared to just a year ago when some, particularly financial institutions, were still hesitant to allow it at all.
Renae Lattey, chief executive partner at Mallesons, said some Australian clients still won’t let the firm use AI, though their number is “diminishing”.
“The more interesting [clients] that I’m enjoying working with are the ones that are saying, ‘Let’s partner together to truly transform the way that legal services are provided’,” she said.
In closing, Mason urged firm leaders to “be bold”, adding: “Don’t wait for the answers.”
Meanwhile, Parker told delegates not to waste time “obsessing about what other law firms are doing”.
“You have to work out what’s best for your clients,” she said. “You’ve got to act now.”
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