The Future of AI in Legal Practice: What Managing Partners Need to Know

The Future of AI in Legal Practice: What Managing Partners Need to Know

Artificial intelligence has become an unavoidable force in the legal profession, but its successful adoption depends on moving beyond hype and toward practical understanding. In an article on the Relativity blog, Sam Bock emphasized that law firm leaders must invest in building trust, knowledge, and familiarity with AI to translate curiosity into real impact.

Central to this effort are ethical considerations. Lawyers must scrutinize whether AI applications can be responsibly deployed while safeguarding client confidentiality, data privacy, and access to justice. Alongside ethics, defensibility in document review remains a pressing issue. Though some teams hesitate to use AI with sensitive data, validation methods such as precision, recall, and elusion testing provide established mechanisms to ensure reliable outcomes.

Privilege protection is another key concern. Inadvertent waiver risks increase when employees experiment with AI, but Bock notes that properly designed tools can assist in flagging privileged materials more accurately than manual review. At the same time, keeping pace with evolving case law and regulatory developments is critical, as courts and policymakers continue to refine the standards for acceptable AI use in litigation and compliance.

The future of AI is not a distant prospect but a current leadership imperative. Firms that take ownership of ethical risk, implement validation practices, safeguard privilege, and stay ahead of legal developments will be better positioned to serve clients and compete effectively. The message is clear: now is the time to engage with AI thoughtfully, strategically, and with a focus on long-term professional resilience.