AI Enhances the Human Art of In-House Counsel Leadership

The reality of artificial intelligence is less dramatic, and far more human, than the competing views rooted in 1970s visions of a utopia of flying-cars versus overlords ruling from the Death Star. In legal departments, it holds great promise in enhancing efficiency for essential but supporting tasks—fostering rather than replacing legal judgment.

This efficiency gives general counsel and chief legal officers more capacity for strategic thinking and practical problem-solving. In this way, AI liberates general counsel to focus on the most human aspects of their leadership roles and the inherent—and enduring—art of legal practice.

Enhancing Legal Ops

Even in its most dazzling new features, we can detect an echo of past legal tech innovations in AI. I began practicing law at the crossroads of analog legal research and the emergence of electronic databases. Analog research relied on physical volumes of case law and a painstaking key-number system that charted labyrinthine connections among cases.

Transactional lawyers stored prized forms in file drawers or consulted the law library’s bound volumes of forms. The arrival of databases revolutionized access to precedent, enabling faster and broader access to legal resources.

There is little nostalgia for the labor-intensive methods of the past and no argument that some arcane legal skill was lost in the transition. What we gained was increased capacity to focus on higher-order skills and more sophisticated, value-driven legal work. AI offers a similar leap, automating repetitive or foundational tasks to free lawyers for more sophisticated work.

In essence, we automated the extraction of marble blocks and made it more accessible to the legal sculptor who chisels and polishes it into analysis, advice, and argument. The nature of the art didn’t change, but the artist’s ability to create was enhanced.

The key to successful AI adoption is ensuring it augments rather than replaces legal expertise. Automation jump-starts legal processes by providing a foundation for further refinement. Yet, trained professionals—and the coaching and mentoring of emerging talent—remain essential as the ultimate quality-control mechanism.

Technology advances the tools of our craft, but the heart of legal work—analysis, intuition, and creativity—remains resolutely human.

Enhancing GC Role

AI aligns with the evolving role of general counsel, still firmly rooted in cost management, while also ascending to still higher planes of strategic advice.

E-billing and matter management tools are reshaping the approach to legal spend. Outside counsel guidelines—often met with the feigned compliance of a “turn off your cell phone” announcement—have become more enforceable and effective standards. These tools streamline billing review and acclimate outside counsel to key strictures, enabling both strategic and cost-efficient management of legal spend.

AI is invaluable in assisting with contract negotiations by leveraging our bank of forms. It acts as a force-multiplier, applying drafting expertise from outside counsel while expanding the application of our own best practices and past deal experiences. The result is cost-efficiency, greater consistency, and improved contract risk management.

AI’s ability to analyze data and evaluate probabilities enhances a GC’s capacity for weighted-impact risk assessments. Predictive analytics, for example, can assess litigation outcomes, empowering legal teams to craft smarter strategies. By marrying quantitative analysis with the considered judgment of a seasoned legal leader, AI enables deeper, data-driven insights into complex risks.

Beyond its direct applications, AI’s efficiencies also free GCs to focus on broader strategic issues and apply their hard-earned, inherently human judgment to practical solutions. In these ways, AI streamlines operations and amplifies the uniquely human qualities that define effective counsel.

Balancing Efficiency, Judgment

The adoption of legal AI tools will inevitably reshape roles, potentially reducing outside counsel reliance and in-house headcount.

These shifts may be tectonic, redefining careers and transforming the profession itself. But my perspective draws on a career that began in a warehouse stacked with boxes for document review—with the only reprieve being a dinner break at the Applebee’s across the parking lot. That is a world unrecognizable to those who today remotely access data sites from home.

I have witnessed, adapted to, and benefited from the constancy of change in our profession. But I have also found another constant to be the enduring and essential value of human judgment and engagement.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky may likely describe the role of AI in legal practice when he wrote, “It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.” For in-house teams, AI must remain a purposeful tool skillfully harnessed by legal professionals. As a fellow general counsel aptly put it, “I’m not afraid of being replaced by AI; I’m afraid of being replaced by a GC who knows how to use AI.”

Technology has consistently enhanced legal practice, making resources more accessible while preserving the essential nature of the lawyer’s art. The future lies not in replacing the artist, but in empowering us to create with new tools that amplify judgment, skill—and our art.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax, or its owners.

Author Information

Eric Dodson Greenberg is executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of Cox Media Group.

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