Adopting GenAI For Practical Use In Your Legal Department

As a client recently told me, "If you are not using GenAI in your legal department, you are behind the game." That's true.

At this point, every legal department should at least be exploring GenAI to help manage their workflows. But how do you determine which programs are right for your needs? And how can you ensure the results you get are fit for purpose and will not expose you to more risk?

Based on experiences with my clients and my relationship with Joe Borstein (who is a thought leader in GenAI legal tech and founder of legal tech accelerator LexFusion), below is a step-by-step guide on how to identify, adopt, and use GenAI.

• Identify the Problem

If there is a problem in your legal department, it's a safe bet someone is building or has built a GenAI solution to address it.

In fact, there are so many legal tech programs using GenAI that it's simply impossible and inefficient to try all of them. Instead, start by identifying challenges in your department.

For example, do you need help managing employee-related complaints? Have you had issues with consistency in your client contracts? Do you need assistance managing outside counsel or their billing practices?

• Identify the Right GenAI Legal Tech Program

Now that you know the problem, you can get to work finding and testing solutions. But where to start?

If your company has the bandwidth, consider forming an AI working group, where members can test GenAI programs and give recommendations. If that is not a possibility, consult trusted outside counsel; if they don't have recommendations, they likely have a Chief Information (or Innovation) Officer who does.

Your outside counsel should be monitoring the GenAI legal landscape and can likely make recommendations or introduce you to a legal tech consultant like LexFusion.

Because of the efficiencies created by GenAI in the legal industry, I and many other lawyers at BSF stay up to speed on the best GenAI tools and maintain relationships with innovators and entrepreneurs in the field. When I come across a program that could be useful to one of my clients, I connect them to that company, including arranging learning sessions.

• Learn How to Use the Program

Progress and learning take work. You must regularly use the program and get familiar with this new technology. Unlike other waves of technology that have hit the legal economy, GenAI is not only incredibly powerful but also incredibly weird.

While many companies in legal tech have tamed much of the weirdness, to be really comfortable with GenAI, you should make it part of your daily workflow.

If the tool is not creating the outputs you need, reach out to the provider to figure out why. Sign up at least a few users on your team and set expectations for them to use the program on a daily basis. Schedule weekly meetings to assess the program's utility and gain input to determine whether to license the program.

• Create a Governance Framework

Safety is very important, but doing nothing is not a "safe" choice when your competitors are already using GenAI to streamline their legal operations.

To protect your company, establish written internal policies that define acceptable uses, outline review processes, and ensure outputs are verified by members of your team. Ensure that confidential information is only inputted into "closed universe" programs and explain what that means to your team. Many such policies have already been drafted, so you need not reinvent the wheel completely.

Before rolling out any program to your team, set up a mandatory meeting to go over your GenAI policies and invite members to ask questions.

There are also many tools (that use GenAI) that can help monitor usage and ensure that your employees are largely complying with the policy (which is the best that anyone can do, including GenAI.)

• Train Staff

Set up a two- to three-day "learning sprint" so that your staff can explore the program together, in real time. Do not leave it to your staff to learn how to use the program on their own, as it will likely drop to the bottom of their "to-do" list.

• Monitor, Iterate, and Scale

Continually monitor performance, gather user feedback, and share it with the vendor. GenAI programs are so new that providers actually use user feedback to shape improvements.

Remember: This is the worst GenAI will ever be. Realize that you are on a journey that will never end, and enjoy the process!