Additionally, it’s important to design workflows that promote data reusability for continuous improvement and future projects. This involves creating structured processes for annotating or cleaning data, enabling GenAI solutions to learn and evolve over time. Leveraging reusable data assets not only enhances the efficiency and adaptability of AI applications but also ensures that legal teams can scale their use of GenAI to address evolving organizational needs.
4. Keeping Risks Managed is Job 1
When integrating generative AI into corporate legal workflows, your team must consider risk management first and foremost, just as it does with anything else. Given the tendency for GenAI models to hallucinate, establishing robust validation mechanisms which incorporate human oversight is key to ensure the accuracy and reliability of those AI-generated outputs. It’s also important to develop clear policies to address potential legal liabilities associated with GenAI, defining accountability for errors and mitigating risks proactively. Because things still go wrong sometimes (despite your best efforts).
That’s not just your job, it’s your vendor’s job too. When using third-party GenAI solutions, legal teams should conduct thorough vendor assessments to evaluate their security protocols, transparency in algorithms, and commitment to responsible AI practices to ensure that external partners meet the organization’s standards for risk management. If not, they may not be the vendor for you.
5. Security is More Important Than Ever
In addition to preventive measures, ongoing monitoring and alert systems should be applied to detect any anomalous activities or potential breaches involving GenAI tools. Your organization has those already, right? They’re a “must have” in today’s cyber climate. Proactive monitoring enables legal teams to respond swiftly to security threats and minimize their impact. Combining robust access controls, encryption, and continuous surveillance enables your team to build a secure environment for utilizing GenAI effectively and responsibly.
6. Knowledge is Power, Shared Knowledge is Even More Power
For the successful adoption of generative AI, your team must focus on workforce readiness and cross-functional collaboration. Educating legal teams on the capabilities, limitations, and ethical considerations of GenAI is essential to build confidence and understanding. Collaboration with IT, compliance, and other departments ensures alignment and holistic support for AI initiatives. A change management plan, including onboarding, user feedback loops, and iterative improvements, can facilitate smooth integration and encourage widespread acceptance of AI tools within the organization.
7. Humans Are Still in the Loop
When integrating generative AI, your team must also address ethical and social implications to maintain trust and accountability. Transparency is important, ensuring stakeholders understand when and how AI contributes to outputs. Balancing automation with human oversight is important, particularly in areas requiring judgment, empathy, or creativity, to uphold ethical standards. Anticipating and addressing potential concerns from clients, regulators, and the public about AI's role in legal processes can further reinforce trust and demonstrate the organization's commitment to responsible AI use. We’re doing this for us humans, after all – the robot overlords haven’t taken over (yet).
8. Define What Success Looks Like
Measuring the success of generative AI initiatives requires clearly defined metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with organizational goals. Your team should assess the impact of AI on efficiency, cost savings, and error reduction to quantify its value. Metrics such as time saved in contract review, accuracy in compliance monitoring, or the speed of eDiscovery processes can provide actionable insights into the effectiveness of AI applications. By establishing clear benchmarks, your team can evaluate the tangible benefits of GenAI and identify areas for improvement.
In addition to quantitative metrics, incorporating qualitative feedback from users is vital to refine AI tools and ensure they meet the needs of legal professionals. Feedback loops help identify usability challenges and opportunities for enhancing workflows, enabling continuous improvement over time. The happiness of your users is the best barometer of success you can get!
Conclusion
The prospect of incorporating generative AI into the workflows of your legal team is exciting and scary at the same time! The time is now for applying GenAI, but it’s not a “Staples-easy button” – you still must apply the above best practices to define the use cases for it, implement it and use and maintain it to maximize success and minimize risk. Just like you’ve done with every other technology you’ve used. You know the drill.