"AI is already replacing my job without firing me (for now). Legal executives expect the work of in-house legal teams to start and end with AI tools. This expectation makes sense given that a key role of legal executives is to use legal costs efficiently, and AI tools have the most appealing potential to reduce time and costs on research, contract drafting, case management, providing guidance, and other projects."
"The problem is that in-house lawyers do not need legal executives to remind them that AI tools exist. We need legal executives to do what they are best at, removing hurdles to any solution that can streamline our work, whether AI-based or not. Doing so will free up energy for lawyers to work on tasks that truly require an AI tool."
"Legal executives going "What about AI?" to every problem risks fostering an environment where teams feel pressured to center AI in every solution. My colleagues and I have seen firsthand how amazing solutions sit on the backburner as legal executives pivot to AI. This overreliancecouldhinderlawyers'abilitytothinkcritically about what parts of a team's work should be changed. We don't need ChatGPT to perform math a calculator can accomplish. The same logic should apply to legal practice."
AI is replacing in-house legal jobs by reducing headcount, driving layoffs, and shifting resources and priorities. Legal executives often expect in-house legal work to start and end with AI tools because AI can cut time and costs on research, contract drafting, case management, guidance, and projects. In-house lawyers need executives to remove implementation hurdles for any efficiency solution, AI or non-AI, so lawyers can focus on tasks that truly require legal judgment. Overemphasizing AI risks sidelining simpler, faster non-AI solutions and undermining critical thinking about which processes should change. Non-AI tools like fillable forms, guidance, and precedent repositories can often streamline workflows effectively.
Read at Above the Law
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