Please enjoy this blog authored by Brendan Miller, Former AmLaw 100 Partner, Turned Legal Innovation Leader.
You’ve seen it play out before:
• a team member offers heavy—and vocal—resistance to a proposed new technology rollout, concerned that the team will see her future contributions as less valuable once it is implemented;
• a senior law firm partner initially blocks rollout of an AI research assistant, citing concerns about accuracy and risks to her reputation (“too many hallucinations”);
• a junior associate worries that drafting automation will reduce billable opportunities and the development of his skills.
Critics to change show up in these and many other ways. And our initial instinct may be to see them as bumps in the road or even outright roadblocks to progress.
But, maybe we’ve gotten it wrong. Maybe these critics have gotten a bad rap. Maybe these critics are key to successfully implementing change in our organizations.
CRITICS AS CHAMPIONS
Consider these analogies for how critics can actually be champions for change:
• “Stress-Testing a Bridge Before it Opens”
Strong critics are like engineers who load-test a bridge before it carries traffic. Their job is to push it, question it, and find weaknesses. If the structure holds, and especially if they help reinforce it, everyone else crosses with confidence. The Point: Credibility comes from surviving critical scrutiny, not avoiding it.
• “From Brake Pedal to Steering Wheel”
Critics often feel like they’re slowing progress, but their real value is directional. When you move them from the brake pedal to the steering wheel, they help guide the change safely forward.
The Point: Engaging critics transforms resistance into leadership.
• “Turn the Strictest Editor into your Publisher”
The editor who challenges every assumption improves the work. Once that person approves the final version, their endorsement signals quality to everyone else. The Point: Scrutiny produces stronger outcomes and stronger advocacy.
WHY IS THERE PERCEIVED (AND REAL) RESISTANCE TO CHANGE IN LEGAL?
In legal, resistance rarely comes as a result of indifference; it comes from a sense of responsibility. We’ve all heard the characterizations of how lawyers and legal professionals are more risk averse, and those characterizations have proof. Legal professionals are very adept at being critics; it is deeply seeded in their professional posture and nature.
Change resistors—critics—can fall into some common archetypes:
• The Risk Guardian: concerned with ethics, client confidentiality, and reputational risk.
• The Status-Expert: concerned with the erosion of expertise or perceived value.
• The Economic Realist: concerned with the impact on billables and ROI clarity.
• The Workflow Traditionalist: concerned with loss of efficiency and disruption to existing processes.
• The Burned Implementer: concerned that “we’ve tried tools like this before; adoption failed.”
Before we can leverage critics as champions in legal, we must understand why there is resistance in the first place. The reasons for resistance reflect a mix of both unique aspects to the professionals and the industry in which we operate and factors we hold in common with everyone else: we’re human and we have real—and, at times deeply felt—concerns.
As suggested by change resistor archetypes, some of the core reasons for change resistance include:
1. Risk Concerns: Professional Accountability and Risk Sensitivity. Lawyers and legal teams are trained to anticipate modes of failure, not assume the positive, upside. Technology and process changes raise concerns regarding client risk, ethical obligations, malpractice, reputational exposure, and damage.
2. Loss of Autonomy or Professional Identity. Legal professionals value judgement, expertise, and independence. Change can feel like standardization, automation and management control are taking the place of finely tuned craft, expertise, and autonomy.
3. Economic Pressure and Time Constraints. While the billable hour may be evolving, it is still the standard and billable hour models discourage experimentation. Learning new tools or processes can feel like lost productivity, lost revenue, and added workload.
4. Workflow Disruption: Misalignment with Real Workflows. If past tech rollouts failed because tools didn’t match how legal work actually gets done, lawyers resist. They want to avoid a system that adds friction, disrupts proven habits, and appears to prioritize technology over practice reality.
5. Trust Gap: Lack of Trust in Leadership Narratives. Messaging that focuses primarily on innovation, transformation or future readiness may miss the mark. Practitioners care most about client work, deadlines, and practical outcomes.
6. “Change Fatigue” from Past Failed Initiatives. Legal teams may have seen and experienced underused systems, abandoned platforms, and initiatives that never scaled. Their response may be justified skepticism, wait-and-see behavior, and passive resistance.
But these sources of resistance can be converted into support and used to fuel change through intentional efforts:
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Root Cause of Resistance
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How to Convert into Support for Change
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Risk Concerns
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Governance and guardrails shaped by critics
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Loss of Autonomy
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Positioning change as augmentation
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Economic Pressure
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Demonstrated efficiency and ROI
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Workflow Disruption
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Co-design with practitioners
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Trust Gap
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Peer advocacy
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Change Fatigue
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Visible difference in approach, and real stories of success
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STRATEGIES TO LEVERAGE YOUR “CRITICS” AS CHAMPIONS
We can’t avoid engaging our critics in change efforts. And, more to the point, we shouldn’t avoid engaging them. Those skeptics serve as early risk identifiers and champions of professional credibility. They are representatives of real-world workflows. Experience has shown that adoption of change improves when that change is designed around real user needs and workflows, and early stakeholder involvement in implementation improves the likelihood of success. Put simply, if our critics trust it, others will too.
There is no magic wand available to turn critics into champions. Proven strategies are grounded in good change management approaches. Below are some common methodologies that have consistently shown success:
1. Start with Listening, not Persuasion.
• Conduct listening tours, structured interviews, shadowing, informal coffee chats. Map the underlying concerns identified from this dialogue.
2. Engage Early and Visibly.
• Bring critics into pilot design, governance committees, vendor evaluations.
3. Translate Change into Practice Outcomes.
• Shift messaging from “new tech” to “fewer repetitive tasks/ reduced risk/ better client services…”. Technology must align with business goals and workflows.
4. Co-Design Workflows.
• Critics can help refine use cases, identify edge cases, and design appropriate guardrails.
5. Provide Role-Specific Support.
• Practical, tailored training and ongoing feedback loops geared to relevant users/ user groups improve adoption.
6. Allow Controlled Exceptions.
• Believe it or not, not all change must be universal. Let teams adopt at different speeds where risk-appropriate. Showing flexibility can help these groups feel heard and respected.
7. Elevate Converted Critics.
• Be intentional about identifying roles for critics, such as pilot leaders, peer trainers, and internal storytellers.
Diagnostic Checklist: “Are We Turning Critics into Champions?”
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Resistance Mapping
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· Have we identified who is resisting, not just that resistance exists?
· Do we understand their specific concerns (risk, workflow, autonomy, economics)?
· Are these individuals influential within their practice group or team?
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Engagement Strategy
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· Have skeptics been invited into planning, not just informed after decisions?
· Are they participating in pilots, vendor selection, or governance?
· Have we asked them to define success and failure conditions?
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Workflow Alignment
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· Does the change map clearly to real legal workflows?
· Have practitioners pressure-tested it using real matters or scenarios?
· Are edge cases and exceptions accounted for?
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Professional Identify and Incentives
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· Have we positioned the change as augmenting expertise, not replacing it?
· Are we addressing billables, productivity, or workload impacts directly?
· Do early adopters gain recognition or influence?
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Trust and Credibility
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· Are peer voices involved in communicating value, not just leadership?
· Have we acknowledged past failed initiatives openly?
· Are we transparent about limitations and risks?
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Evidence and Outcomes
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· Are we showing tangible wins (time saved, risk reduced, client impact)?
· Are skeptics helping interpret and communicate those results?
· Are lessons from pilots feeding back into rollout?
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Conversion Signal: Critics à Champions
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One of the strongest indicators of successful change is when skeptics begin to:
· Recommend the tool/process to peers.
· Help train others.
· Defend the initiative in internal conversations.
· Propose enhancements instead of objections.
If these signals are absent, the initiative is likely still in “adoption risk” territory.
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CREDIBILITY AS THE CURRENCY OF CHANGE
Resistance is not a problem to solve for once; it’s a signal to interpret continuously. But that resistance, in fact, can be the very pressure, energy, and force that fuels success and long-term impact for our organizations. Cultural adoption of change determines the ultimate ROI of initiatives more so than technical success.
Our change critics are ambassadors of credibility; when they say, “it works,” others listen, and change has better opportunity for lasting effect. Be encouraged to treat skeptics as data sources, co-designers, and ultimately validators and champions for change that works.
Brendan W. Miller, J.D. is a legal innovator: a curious, seasoned litigator and corporate attorney, technologist, strategist, and change agent. To Brendan, legal innovation is about continually being relevant for clients by making the business and practice of law easier, better, and more valuable.
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