Balancing Legal AI Adoption with Caution In-house

Note: This article is just one of 60+ sections from our full report titled: The 2024 Legal AI Retrospective - Key Lessons from the Past Year. Please download the full report to check any citations.

Balancing Adoption with Caution

Despite these challenges, many in-house legal departments are moving forward with AI adoption:

Over 60% of large law firms and a third of small firms were exploring the potential of new generative AI systems as of late 2023.[104]

The legal industry is cautiously adopting AI, with about one-quarter of law firm and corporate legal department respondents having used public AI tools like ChatGPT.[105]

In-house legal teams are often more willing to accept certain risks in exchange for efficiency gains, but they must do so thoughtfully and with appropriate safeguards in place.

By carefully considering these concerns and implementing best practices for AI adoption, in-house legal teams can harness the benefits of AI while mitigating its potential drawbacks. The key lies in responsible implementation, ongoing oversight, and a commitment to maintaining the highest standards of legal practice in the AI era.

"We are bang in the middle of an era of opportunity, before appetite for AI investment gets dampened by rising regulatory costs and overwhelming competition. The time to take risks is now."

Kimia Pezeshki, Lawyer (Data Privacy)