What Legal Teams Need to Know to Leverage Generative AI

Corporate legal departments must focus on strategic priorities to leverage generative AI and successfully harness its potential. In an International Legal Technology Association blog post, Doug Austin, founder of eDiscovery Today, describes the best practices for meeting genAI’s compliance, governance, security, and ethical challenges. 

First, Austin states that it is essential to ensure that any genAI initiative aligns with organizational objectives and complies with laws and regulations. Legal departments must remain vigilant about regulatory compliance, and legal ops needs to ensure that robust governance frameworks and audit and traceability systems are in place. 

While safeguarding sensitive information is crucial to prevent misuse, establishing data management practices can ensure data integrity and confidentiality. Security is another top priority, as breaches could compromise sensitive legal data. Organizations must enforce strict access controls, encrypt data, and continuously monitor for unusual activities.

Additionally, workflows should be designed to support data reusability for continuous improvement and future projects, and structured processes for annotating and cleaning data need to be implemented. 

To ensure alignment across the organization, the successful adoption of generative AI requires workforce readiness and collaboration across other departments, such as IT and compliance. A change management plan with onboarding, user feedback loops, and iterative improvements should be implemented to facilitate smooth integration and encourage widespread acceptance of AI tools. 

Legal teams must be educated on genAI’s capabilities, limitations, and ethical considerations. However, human oversight is still essential, particularly in tasks that require judgment and empathy. Balancing automation with human input helps maintain ethical standards and build trust. 

Clear metrics and key performance indicators must be defined to measure the success of leveraging generative AI. Gathering quantitative and qualitative data also allows legal teams to continuously refine their use of AI tools. Feedback loops identify usability issues and workflow improvements, supporting continuous improvement.