AI for corporate lawyers: A 2025 guide for legal departments

The state of AI in legal departments

AI is gaining significant traction within legal departments, but its adoption is not uniform. According to the 2024 Wolters Kluwer Future Ready Lawyer report, while many teams are exploring AI, fewer have fully integrated it into their core processes. This mirrors findings in The 2025 Legisway Benchmark for Legal Departments, which also indicates a gap between AI interest and adoption.

A closer look at the data reveals a telling split:

• 56% of legal departments are using general-purpose generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Gemini. This suggests there is interest in exploring the capabilities of AI for day-to-day tasks.
• However, only 14% have implemented specialised AI solutions, such as AI-powered contract management tools.
• A substantial 40% of legal departments report using no AI at all, highlighting a major opportunity for growth and transformation.

This gap between experimentation and integration indicates that while many see the potential of legal AI, they are hesitant to implement more advanced, specialised systems.

Key barriers hindering AI adoption

Despite the clear benefits, several roadblocks are slowing the widespread adoption of AI in legal departments. Understanding these challenges is the first step toward overcoming them. According to the Future Ready Lawyer report, the primary barriers include:

• Integration with existing systems (42%): Many legal departments struggle to integrate new AI tools with their current technology stack. A lack of interoperability can create disjointed workflows and hinder productivity, making teams reluctant to invest.
• Trust and reliability concerns (37%): There is persistent scepticism regarding the accuracy and reliability of AI-generated results. Legal work demands precision, and any perceived risk of error is a major deterrent.
• Ethical and data privacy concerns: The use of AI raises valid questions about data confidentiality and security. Legal departments handle sensitive information, and they must be confident that any AI solution complies with strict privacy standards.
• Lack of training (30%): A significant number of legal departments—30% to be exact—don’t offer training on AI tools. Without proper guidance, legal professionals cannot be expected to use these technologies effectively or confidently.

These challenges are not insurmountable. They do, however, require a strategic approach that prioritises secure integration, builds trust through proven results, and invests in comprehensive team training.

The value of AI in contract management

Contracts are the lifeblood of any business, but managing them is often a complex and time-consuming process. Inefficiencies in the contract lifecycle can lead to significant risks and even lost business opportunities—a reality cited by 50% of organisations in a 2022 EY survey. AI-powered contract management tools offer a powerful solution to these challenges.

The same survey found that while 54% of legal departments identify contract management as an urgent area for improvement, only 33% prioritise investing in AI to optimise these processes. This is a missed opportunity.

Specialised legal AI tools can transform contract management by:

• Automating data extraction and review: AI can quickly and accurately pull key data from thousands of contracts, freeing up lawyers from tedious manual work.
• Improving obligation management: With the help of AI, you can manage contract obligations across as many as 10,000 contracts simultaneously, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks and reducing compliance risk.
• Enhancing collaboration: With streamlined workflows and centralised data, AI improves collaboration not just within the legal department, but also between legal and other business units.

By automating routine tasks and providing deep, actionable insights, AI empowers legal teams to focus on high-value strategic work.

Charting the path forward

The future of legal work is undeniably intertwined with AI. According to the Future Ready Lawyer report, a striking 73% of corporate legal departments plan to significantly increase their investment in AI over the next three years. To stay competitive, it's no longer a question of if your department should adopt AI, but how.

The right approach involves selecting tools that are designed specifically for the legal department, secure, and trusted.

Here are some steps to get started:

1. Audit your technology maturity: Assess your department's current digital capabilities and identify the most pressing needs and opportunities for AI integration. → Take our digital maturity assessment
2. Centralise your data: Before implementing AI, ensure your contracts and other legal data are organised and accessible. A centralised repository is crucial for any AI tool to function effectively.
3. Invest in integrated solutions: Look for platforms that can automate tedious tasks like contract analysis while integrating smoothly with your existing systems. → Discover Legisway

Legal teams need more than just tools; they need the right tools to reduce costs, optimize the delivery of legal services, and minimize risks.

Your next move

The adoption of AI in the legal sector is accelerating. While challenges remain, the benefits in efficiency, accuracy, and strategic value are too significant to ignore. Legal departments that proactively embrace this transformation will not only streamline their operations but also solidify their role as strategic partners within their organisations.