Why Big Law Needs AI That Solves Everyday Problems
When most people hear about artificial intelligence (AI) in the legal market, they imagine robots writing briefs or algorithms replacing attorneys. That’s the hype, but the reality is much more practical. The real value of AI for Big Law lies in removing the routine burdens that slow lawyers down.
The profession is starting to recognize this shift. Industry discussions increasingly focus on pragmatic tools that make legal work smoother, faster, and more human, rather than futuristic replacements for legal judgment. As one industry leader put it, the legal profession faces the biggest disruption in its history from AI, making practical adoption more critical than ever.
The Real Pain Points: Email, Meetings, and Admin
Behind the billable hours and high-stakes litigation, modern practice is dominated by routine tasks. Overflowing inboxes, endless meetings, and repetitive manual work take a heavy toll on productivity.
That’s where AI already makes a difference. Smart tools summarize email threads, highlight urgent messages, and suggest quick responses. AI transcription and summarization capture meeting discussions, decisions, and action items automatically. Workflow automation handles invoicing, data entry, and document prep, freeing lawyers for strategic work. Drafting aids and summarization tools help lawyers produce content quickly and review documents with less effort.
These capabilities exist today, and they target the friction points every lawyer knows. By taking on the chores, AI creates space for higher-value work like analysis, client counseling, and business development. The adoption curve is steep: AI adoption jumped from 19% to 79% in one year, with 95% of legal professionals expect AI to become central to their workflows within five years.
Productivity vs. the Billable Hour
If AI can make lawyers dramatically more efficient, what does that mean for firms that still depend on the billable hour?
Recent studies show the tension clearly. Firms piloting AI have reported 100x productivity gains in specific tasks, with one-third of firms expect 16% savings in billable hours. Yet, because more than 80% of revenue still relies on hourly billing, efficiency can feel like a threat.
The likely outcome isn’t fewer lawyers but different work. Lateral hiring increased 21% at large firms, while firms are also adding new roles like data scientists. Alternative fee arrangements are slowly gaining ground, but the billable hour isn’t disappearing overnight. Instead, AI is pushing firms to reconsider pricing models while giving lawyers more time for client-facing and strategic tasks. Meanwhile, 83% of legal departments face rising demand, suggesting the need for legal services continues to grow alongside technological capabilities.
Governance and Data Security Are Non-Negotiable
Clients are rightly cautious about how their information is used in AI tools. Confidentiality, accuracy, and reliability remain top concerns.
That means adoption isn’t just about efficiency but governance. The firms leading the way are the ones embedding AI inside their secure environments, setting guardrails to prevent errors, and aligning tools with firm policies. The question is no longer “should we use AI?” but “how do we do it without compromising trust?”
Corporate legal departments are already seeing results from structured approaches, with documented 284% ROI for corporate legal departments using properly governed AI implementations.
Practical AI in Action
Practical AI isn’t about replacing lawyers but embedding intelligence where it matters most: inside the systems lawyers already use every day.
For example, Infodash‘s AI Studio lets firms create secure, custom AI assistants called DashBots within their Microsoft 365 environment. Because the bots live inside the firm’s tenant, data never leaves the firm or gets used to train public models. DashBots can be tailored for specific use cases like HR policies, regulatory compliance monitoring, or matter insights while governance dashboards track usage and performance.
The principle is simple: make AI helpful, make it safe, and make it fit naturally into existing workflows. Microsoft’s Copilot scenario library for legal professionals provides additional examples of how AI can integrate seamlessly with familiar tools and processes.
Focus on Everyday Impact, Not Hype
AI’s real value in Big Law isn’t in writing entire briefs from scratch or replacing attorneys but in eliminating the daily friction that slows lawyers down and consumes billable time. Firms that adopt AI thoughtfully are already seeing extraordinary gains, from reducing drafting time to freeing hundreds of hours per lawyer each year.
The future of legal work won’t be defined by whether AI replaces people. It will be defined by whether firms embrace AI to remove the obstacles that stand in their way. Legal Design Lab research shows that human-centered approaches to legal technology adoption create more sustainable and effective implementations.
The path forward is clear: solve everyday problems, govern AI rigorously, and integrate it into the systems lawyers already know.
Do that, and AI stops being a buzzword and becomes what it should have been all along: a competitive advantage for firms and a better experience for clients.