Law firms believe in the power of AI—so why aren’t many using it?  

79% of law firms surveyed believe that AI will hold a “high or transformational impact” on their work over the next five years, according to survey data from Thomson Reuters. But surprisingly, only 31% of lawyers and 21% of firms are using generative AI today—and adoption rates tend to be lowest at small to mid-sized law firms.  

According to ILTA’s most recent Technology Survey, resistance to change among users and lack of technical skill or understanding of new technologies were tied as the top two reasons for lack of adoption at law firms. The next leading reason is that law firms find it difficult to set aside time to learn new technologies.  

Despite these objections, many small and mid-sized law firms are interested in using AI to stay up to speed with the changing legal industry and keep pace with competitors. In order to overcome the barriers to entry, your law firm may want to start with AI features built into programs you’re already using.  

A simple entry to AI: Using what you have and know 

As with any new skill, it’s easiest to build knowledge on top of what you have and know today.  

By starting your AI journey with tools you already have access to, or can easily weave into your existing programs, your law firm can eliminate risk, tackle challenges, and make AI usage easier. The benefits of this approach include: 

• Approaching AI in a familiar landscape allows you to explore this technology in a tailored way, meeting you where you are and how you work today  

• Reducing security the risks of choosing a new vendor for AI tools.  

• Starting with an understanding of your existing solution, rather than from scratch. 

• Increasing adoption rate by making it easier for existing users to access and explore AI tools.   

• Reduce cost by bundling with existing services or taking advantage of existing access.  

• And more 

In many cases, the AI tools listed below are already available within your existing tech stack, or take only a simple upgrade and installation to gain access to. That means you can most likely begin using AI  with a fast time to value, no extensive technology projects, and little to no downtime at all.  

 Here are some of the top AI features you can use within your existing legal apps.  

#1 Copilot from Microsoft  

Microsoft dominates the legal world, meaning that most law firms across the country already have access to their AI tool, Copilot.  

Similar to ChatGPT (and trained from the same model), Copilot is a conversational chatbot that can provide users with: 

• Research assistance (“Find me a class action lawsuit similar to...”)  

• Productivity help (“Write me a workday schedule that includes...”)  

• Data processing (“Summarize this article...”)  

• Content generation (“Write an email to my client about...” or “Create a birthday card from our law firm to John Doe...”)  

• Image search (“Show me something similar to this photo...” or “Find the name of this product...”)  

• And so much more 

Users can also try out Copilot Daily, a podcast-style summary of weather, news, and more sourced from reputable publications such as Reuters and Financial Times.  

Copilot can be accessed across a variety of your existing programs and devices—it's integrated within Teams, Edge, Outlook, and Microsoft devices such as Surface laptops. You can even pinadd the app to your toolbar for quick and simple access.  

Get CoPilot Help from a Microsoft Partner

We're proud Microsoft Partners, helping law firms implement, manage, and explore solutions including CoPilot. Get help with Microsoft for law firms-- just click the button below. 

Get Microsoft Help

#2 Ask iManage  

IManage has entered the world of generative AI assistance with Ask iManage, a platform-native feature similar to other popular generative tools. The difference? You can ask questions right within your documents—no need to copy, paste, or switch tabs.  

Ask iManage can scan and interpret the information within your document seamlessly. It uses that information to assist you with tasks like, as listed on the iManage website:  

• Document Summarization – Instantly generate concise or detailed summaries that highlight key points. 

• Entity & Clause Identification – Extract key people, organizations, clauses, or legal references such as material breaches. 

• Cause of Action Analysis – Identify and list legal arguments or causes of action within documents. 

• Intelligent Question Routing – Automatically selects the best retrieval or full-document analysis method for your query. 

• Flexible Answer Formatting – Responses can be tailored in text, numbers, dates, tables, bullet points, or structured clauses for seamless integration into your workflow. 

• Multilingual Support – Ask questions in over 50 languages and receive answers in your preferred language, even if the document is in a different one. 

• Reusable Question Lists – Save and apply frequently used questions across multiple documents, eliminating repetitive tasks.  
  (via iManage) 

This is a dynamic tool for busy law firms looking to maximize their time, and it also reduces some inherent AI risks—by utilizing this tool within a pre-approved, trusted platform, law firms avoid exposing sensitive client information to other, potentially less secure AI tools.  

Want to try Ask iManage?

As iManage partners, we help law firms like yours make the most of iManage with implementation, management, support, and more. We can help you understand and implement Ask iManage.

Get iManage Help

#3: NetDocuments ndMAX AI suite 

Among the first to launch an AI app and a frontrunner in the move to cloud computing, NetDocuments has long championed the emerging legal technology market. NetDocuments users have access to a suite of AI-powered features via ndMAX AI, a platform-native AI collection featuring highlights like:  

• Legal AI Assistant for conversational, generative AI help right within your documents  

• An AI App Builder, PatternBuilder, that allows users to create custom legal AI apps  

• A collection of additional ready-made AI apps in the ndMAX Studio, including:  

• Contract Risk Analysis 

• Deposition Prep  

• LPA Abstract 

• Playbook Generator 

• And more 

NetDocuments has truly leaned into the needs of legal professionals, offering a wide variety of options for experimenting with AI’s next-gen capabilities. It’s one of the most robust in-platform legal AI offerings on the market today, and all tools are subject to the trusted guardrails of the highly secure platform they already use. NetDocuments offers training materials and guides to help users of varying experience make the most of their AI usage.  

Ask Us About ndMAX

We're NetDocuments partners helping law firms make the most of the platform, and we can help you explore ndMAX. Just click the button below for help.

Get NetDocs Help

Smarter, Safer AI: How to roll out legal AI with confidence 

AI is undoubtedly changing the way legal professionals work. Administrators, lawyers, partners, IT professionals, and many other law firm team members are searching for productive possibilities with AI, or planning to do so soon.  

In order to make the most of your investment in AI tools, you need to feel confident in how you use them and reduce the inherent risk that introducing a new technology can bring about. A trusted IT partner can help.  

An IT partner can offer support with AI, helping law firms:  

• Roll out AI quickly and effectively to increase adoption and reduce wait times for new features 

• Safeguard sensitive data before deploying AI solutions 

• Evaluate and reduce risk by vetting solutions, adding cybersecurity controls, and aiding with security training for users 

• Inform, prepare, and educate employees to help them use AI with confidence  

• Integrate AI Solutions with supported platforms such as Sharepoint, iManage, and others. 

• Advocate for the best pricing and/or terms on product upgrades and licensing  

• Gain insider knowledge and escalate issues with ease 

• Monitor the firms AI engagement and protect your clients and data from unapproved AI usage. 

We’re helping law firms achieve more and stay safe with AI  

Strategic Technology Solutions is an experienced legal IT partner helping small and mid-sized law firms achieve their goals with strategy, security, and productivity in mind. We’re helping law firms like yours find the best AI tools, integrate them seamlessly, and reduce the risk surrounding these new technologies.  

If you’re looking to integrate AI into your legal tech stack, we can help. Click the button below to contact an expert for help with legal AI.