This is the first part of a three-part blog series on the recent Amplify Local Connect events held by Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions for legal operations professionals in Toronto, New York, and Chicago.
Across our Amplify Local Connect events, one theme came through loud and clear in every single room: legal ops has moved past the AI hype cycle.
Nobody's asking whether to adopt AI anymore. Instead, the question I heard again and again was a lot more pragmatic, and honestly, a lot harder: How do we actually make this work?
What I'm seeing is a real shift in mindset. AI isn't some standalone innovation anymore. It's being judged now on its ability to drive real outcomes in the day-to-day work of the legal department.
And that's exactly where the challenge lives.
Why AI expectations in legal ops have permanently changed
AI expectations in legal ops have shifted from marginal gains to fundamental change. Teams no longer want AI that simply processes more invoices or runs reports faster; they want AI that reduces the amount of work that needs to happen in the first place.
And we're seeing this play out in practical ways, from invoice review automation to matter creation triggered by an email. The common thread is clear: AI is being judged on its ability to do, not just to tell.
Where AI is delivering today
There are clear areas where AI is already delivering meaningful value in legal ops. The use cases that work best share a few traits. They're data-rich, well-defined, and operationally repeatable. Invoice-related workflows really stood out:
- Invoice summarization is gaining traction because the data already exists and is relatively structured
- Invoice review automation helps teams enforce billing guidelines more consistently
- Flagging and adjustment recommendations are reducing manual review time
These are important wins. Not because they're flashy, but because they're practical. They tackle real pain points and show what's possible when you apply AI in the right context.
But even here, success isn't guaranteed. Adoption is still uneven. Many teams are piloting these capabilities but haven't fully operationalized them across their organizations. In some cases, the tools are sitting right there, underused. In others, the surrounding processes aren't mature enough to support them yet. Which brings me to the heart of it.
The execution gap: AI isn't the hard part
If there's one insight I'd take away from Amplify Local Connect 2026, it's this: AI isn't the hard part; execution is. The barriers people described weren't technical. They were operational. Things like:
- Processes that aren't standardized enough for automation
- Data that isn't consistent enough to support reliable outputs
- A lack of training and buy-in from users who may change when they don’t have enough information
- Dependencies on outside counsel that make change harder to enforce
In so many of these conversations, AI quickly stopped being the focus at all. Instead, teams found themselves talking about:
- Data governance
- Change management
- Workflow design
- Ownership and accountability
In other words, AI initiatives were exposing deeper operational gaps. That's a critical shift that means success with AI isn't just about implementing new tools. It's about rethinking how the work actually gets done.
A different way to think about AI in legal operations
What I found most encouraging across these sessions is that legal ops leaders aren't discouraged by all this. They're adapting. There's growing recognition that AI isn't a plug-and-play solution. It's an amplifier of the systems, processes, and data you already have.
So, the path forward looks something like this:
- Identify where the work is repetitive and rules-based
- Align your processes so they can support automation
- Make sure the underlying data is actually usable
- Then apply AI to remove or streamline the task
When those pieces come together, the impact is real. But when they don't, AI becomes just another layer of complexity.
From experimentation to execution
Legal ops is entering a more mature phase of AI adoption. The excitement hasn't gone anywhere, but now it's paired with a much deeper understanding of what it takes to deliver value. The teams that will see the biggest gains are those that can connect the dots between technology, data, process, and people.
Because at the end of the day, AI isn't the key to success. Execution is.
Watch for part 2 of this series, where we’ll dive deeper into the topics of data quality and governance. And in part 3, we’ll put it all together and explore how legal ops evolves into a more strategic function once these foundations are in place.
And we won’t stop there. We’ll continue this conversation at our 2026 ELM Amplify conference in November in Scottsdale, AZ. Join us!