Generative artificial intelligence has become unequivocally one of the most disruptive developments to sweep the legal profession. While staying power, total impact and practical use cases are yet to be determined, lawyers are embracing the cutting edge of what they can do with the technology. A variety of studies and surveys continue to illustrate increasing use of generative AI tools, planning for future use cases, along with ongoing tensions between readiness and caution.

The disparity between current or impending adoption and perceived preparedness for generative AI revives one of the legal profession’s most enduring challenges: how to simultaneously leverage the benefits of technology, support innovation and mitigate new risks brought on by change. There will be countless risks for law firms to consider, both on behalf of their clients and when implementing AI solutions within their own firms.