When AI Is the Wrong Answer: Rethinking Legal Technology Strategy

AI is rapidly becoming part of everyday legal practice, but successful adoption starts with identifying the right problem—not simply choosing a tool. This practical, vendor-neutral session introduces a design thinking framework for evaluating legal technology based on real practice needs, user impact, efficiency, quality, risk, and trust.

Participants will explore how the framework can be applied to common legal AI use cases, including document review, client intake, drafting, knowledge management, and triage. The session also considers how AI adoption intersects with professional obligations such as competence, supervision, confidentiality, and duties to the court. Rather than promoting specific products, the program equips practitioners with a structured approach to asking better questions, evaluating solutions, and implementing AI more safely and effectively across different areas of legal practice.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Identifying the underlying practice problem before selecting AI tools
• Design thinking and user-centred approaches to legal technology adoption
• Evaluating efficiency, quality, access, risk, and trust
• AI applications in document review, drafting, intake, knowledge management, and triage
• Professional obligations when using AI in legal practice
• Competence, supervision, confidentiality, and duties to the court
• Assessing vendors and evaluating AI solutions without product bias
• Identifying risks and implementation challenges
• Building structured and defensible AI adoption strategies
• Applying AI evaluation frameworks across different areas of legal practice