Law firm partners and IT lead working through an AI adoption roadmap with Carton & Co

AI Adoption for Law Firms

Agreed strategy, engaged people, the right tools to capture and use your lawyers' knowledge - from prompt guides and precedents to playbooks and legal AI skills

Updated 1 October 2026

AI does not create competitive advantage on its own. That comes from the legal knowledge, judgement and ways of working that your firm enables AI to apply.

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Lawyers are already using AI, whether the firm has planned for it or not. The tools are already here. The hard part is deciding where AI should be used and where it should not, what lawyers must check, how client confidentiality is protected, who is responsible and how a successful experiment becomes everyday practice.

Most UK law firms have accepted that AI matters. The question now is how to adopt it in a way that improves the firm's work, protects clients, supports lawyers and the people running the firm to deliver better value. That requires an AI strategy agreed and led by management, AI governance and an AI policy people understand, use cases the lawyers and managers have chosen and a practical view of the legal AI tools on offer, Microsoft 365 Copilot and the specialist legal AI platforms among them. Partners can see opportunities.

Everyone can see the risks that need to be catered for. The IT team has to focus on the technology and can't be expected to know the lawyers' work, and lawyers have to focus on the legal work and can't be expected to understand the technology fully. All very understandable. Meanwhile individual lawyers are experimenting. The challenge is turning those different perspectives into an AI adoption roadmap the wider firm can adopt with confidence.

The firms that benefit most from AI will define how their work should be done, turn that into prompt guides, playbooks and legal AI skills their people and tools can follow, drawing on the firm's own precedents and know-how to apply it safely and consistently at scale, whatever their budget. Carton & Co helps law firms do that through a practical route from experimentation to consistent, supervised use of AI.

Why law firm AI projects stall

Many law firms are experimenting with AI. Far fewer are turning it into everyday practice.

The technology itself is rarely the obstacle. Most firms can access AI tools without difficulty. The challenge comes when the conversation moves from technology to the work itself.

The same issues come up repeatedly:

Lawyers and IT teams see different parts of the problem. Lawyers understand the work, the client and the legal judgement involved. IT understands systems, security and data. Both perspectives are essential, but they are not always brought together effectively.

Good practice is often informal. Much of a firm's knowledge is learned through experience, supervision and precedent and has never been written down or agreed across the team.

Different people do similar work in different ways. That makes consistent standards, training and oversight harder.

Technology is chosen before the work is defined. Firms can become focused on tools before deciding where AI can genuinely add value or what success should look like.

Lessons learned in pilots are not shared. An individual lawyer or team achieves good results, but the wider firm lacks the confidence, governance or practical framework needed to build on it.

The firms making the most progress bring lawyers, management and IT together around a shared understanding of the work. One of our roles is to act as the catalyst between them.

Our approach: foundations, priorities, develop, test and extend

We help firms move from individual experimentation to a firm-wide approach that people can trust. That means deciding where AI is worth using, testing it against real work and capturing the lessons in a form the wider firm can adopt.

1. Establish foundations

Start with why the firm wants AI. What do you want to achieve from using it?

Lawyers and IT have different parts to play and need to work as one team from the start: lawyers on the work, the client and the judgement involved, IT on systems, security, data and governance, but also finance, HR and business development where AI can bring benefits too. With that group in place, draft, discuss and agree the firm's AI Adoption Roadmap, a framework each firm adapts.

What the roadmap covers, the four levels of review and much more you want to cover are explained in Keeping control as AI does more . Getting the technology in a fit state for AI to work on is a challenge for your IT team with the tech in the background becoming more complex and changing quickly. They have to get a firm grip on where the firm's documents and data sit and who can see them, how the practice or case management system and Microsoft 365 are set up, which tools are licensed and approved. For most small and medium-sized law firms that's likely to involve Microsoft 365 Copilot one way or another in their practice or case management system, with specialist legal AI platforms where a use case justifies one.

2. Identify and prioritise use cases

Map the process for priority areas of work (business and legal) with the people who do it: how it flows, where decisions are made, where and what legal and management judgement is applied. The lawyers and managers choose and prioritise the use cases on six questions a partner can answer without IT: how often the work arises, how widely it's done, the benefit if it's done well every time, whether there are enough precedents and examples, whether it follows the same pattern each time and whether the process is defined or could be mapped. Each use case is given its level of review and goes on the register.

3. Develop & Test

The aim is to focus effort on the use cases most likely to improve client service, quality, consistency, supervision or efficiency, in the legal work and in running the firm. They might include triage of new enquiries, allocation of work, a first pass on instructions gathered from a client, matter summaries, chronologies, witness statement first drafts, Form E analysis, document review, client onboarding administration, grievance investigations, complaints handling or responses to tenders and questionnaires.

For each use case agree what success looks like, what the lawyer or manager must review, how quality is assessed and who remains accountable. Choose the right tool for the work and build it with the people who do the work: a prompt guide, the firm's own precedents and templates set up for AI to draw on, a playbook or a legal AI skill. Then supervised use on real work, with results recorded, so the firm builds a clearer understanding of where AI adds value and where professional and management judgement remains essential.

4. Extend across the practice

Standardise what works and write the good practice down. Train by role, for fee earners and for the people running the firm. Take the approach into other departments and business functions, with champions in each team and teams collaborating on the playbooks they share (client onboarding, complaints, billing queries and recruitment run across the firm). Assess the next use cases and the next level of review.

Your lawyers' knowledge is the key asset

Law firms own knowledge: how their lawyers do the work, what they check, where they exercise judgement and what a good result looks like. Turning that knowledge into something AI can use takes different forms, depending on the nature of the legal work. It's horses for courses.

Prompt guides. Tested prompts and guidance for everyday tasks such as drafting, summarising and first-pass research, where a full playbook would be more than the work needs.

Precedents, templates, clause banks, past advice and how legal projects are structured too. All organised, with appropriate permissions applied, so AI can draw on what it needs and work from the firm's own material.

Playbooks. The firm's written definition of what good looks like for one piece of repeatable work, such as triage of new enquiries. A playbook captures how the work is done, where decisions are made, where legal judgement is applied, what must be checked, what should be escalated and what a good outcome looks like. It's written by the people who do the work, built by department and developed around a common approach across the firm.

Legal AI "skills". A short set of plain-English instructions, with any templates, checklists or reference notes it needs, that an approved AI tool picks up when a task calls for it. A skill can apply one of the firm’s playbooks the same way every time or handle a recurring task such as checking citations. The same skill can run in Claude, Copilot Cowork and ChatGPT with little or no change. Each skill is tested before use, with named people accountable for how it’s built and used.

Agents. AI that works through several steps on its own, using one or more skills along the way. For example, an agent could pick up a new enquiry, run the triage skill, gather the missing details and draft a reply, with a lawyer signing off anything that reaches a client. Agents come once the skills have proved themselves under supervision.

Whichever tool is used, the roadmap sets how closely a lawyer reviews the output before anything reaches a client.

The value extends well beyond AI. All of this helps firms train people more quickly, supervise work more consistently and retain knowledge that might otherwise leave with individuals. It creates a common understanding of what good looks like and makes expertise easier to share across the business.

It works at every level of the firm. Trainees and fee earners have a clear way of doing the work, partners have something to supervise against and approved AI tools have the right material to work from. The technology will keep changing, but your firm's expertise stays with you. The firms that capture it and put it to good use will get most from AI.

Developing the next generation of lawyers

AI raises an issue many firms haven't fully worked through yet. As AI takes on more of the routine work that trainees used to learn from, they need another way to build the practical and legal know-how and judgement of an experienced lawyer. Playing a role in developing, using and managing playbooks, prompt guides and precedents helps them absorb how the firm approaches the work, what gets checked and why, so they keep developing into the lawyers the practice needs.

What success looks like

A successful AI programme is measured by what changes in everyday practice.

Everyone across the practice using AI within clear boundaries.
Consistent quality standards across the firm.
Better supervision and oversight.
Faster adoption of proven use cases.
Less uncertainty about risk and compliance.
Practical productivity gains and better client service.
A framework that adapts as the technology changes.

How we help

We act as a catalyst and translator between law and tech. Having practised law and worked in technology selection and adoption in law firms since 1992, we can translate both ways. We help lawyers explain what the legal work looks like, help IT teams understand what the lawyers need and help management turn both into practical outputs.

Firms engage us in different ways. Some want an AI adoption review. Some want help identifying and prioritising use cases. Some need process maps and playbooks developed with their lawyers. Some want governance and policy support. Others need an independent view on Microsoft Copilot and specialist legal AI products. We adapt the engagement to the firm's objectives, resources and stage of adoption.

We help firms:

Agree why they want AI. Then draft, discuss and agree the roadmap with partners and a focused working group.

Decide where AI should and should not be used.

Identify the practical use cases worth testing, chosen by the lawyers and managers.

Create prompt guides, playbooks and legal AI skills that capture their expertise in a form people and AI can follow, drawing on the firm's own precedents and know-how.

Put proportionate governance and oversight in place, with lawyers, IT and business functions as one team.

Evaluate AI suppliers and technologies independently, Microsoft 365 Copilot and the specialist legal platforms among them.

Turn successful pilots into everyday practice across the firm.

As ever with technology in law firms, this is as much about people as it is about technology. Lawyers, management teams and IT specialists each bring different perspectives and successful adoption depends on bringing them together around a shared understanding of the work.

Wherever your firm is on its AI journey, we help you establish the foundations, identify and prioritise the use cases, develop and test them and extend what works across the practice. To support that, we bring process maps, use-case prioritisation, governance frameworks, implementation checklists, a playbook structure, prompt guides and the first playbooks and legal AI skills, developed alongside your teams.

Our focus is always on helping firms capture expertise, apply it consistently and build confidence through practical use at a pace that matches their resources, priorities and readiness.

Who we work with

Managing partners, senior management teams, COLPs, heads of department, innovation leads and IT and operations directors, mostly in small and medium-sized firms that want to move beyond informal experimentation to a structured approach.

Not sure where your firm stands?

Most firms already have lawyers and others across the business using AI. The question is whether the firm knows where, how and with what safeguards and whether it is adopting AI deliberately or letting adoption happen by accident.

Our AI adoption review is often the starting point, but firms also engage us for playbook development, use-case prioritisation, governance support and independent advice on AI technologies. It gives you:

A clear picture of current AI use across the firm.
The governance and policy gaps.
The priority opportunities.
Practical next steps.

Some firms use the review as a standalone assessment. Others use it as the starting point for process mapping, playbook development, governance work or implementation support.

The Carton & Co Team

Allan Carton: qualified solicitor with an MBA (Alliance Manchester Business School). Advising law firms on business development and client relationships since 1990 and on technology selection and adoption since 1992, bridging legal practice and commercial reality.

Frank Manning: technology specialist for professional practices, providing technical implementation expertise. Frank advises on technology selection, integration with existing systems, data security protocols and technical governance requirements.

Dr Lee Williams: expertise in process improvement and change management, helping firms navigate the organisational and cultural shifts required for successful AI adoption.

Between us we cover the strategy, the operational change and the technology, from the roadmap through to firm-wide implementation.

Getting Started

AI is already in use somewhere in most firms, authorised or not. The firms that get the most from it will take deliberate steps now to make it work.

Start with an initial AI adoption review. Together we identify current AI activity across the firm, governance and policy gaps, the priority opportunities and the practical next steps. It stands on its own if you go no further and gives the partners a clear picture to decide from.

Talk to us about your plans for AI here >>

Allan Carton

Email: acarton@cartonconsultants.com

Phone: 07779 653105

Carton & Co: helping law firms modernise and grow through smarter technology, stronger client relationships and practical strategy.

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Frequently Asked Questions About AI Adoption

Q: Where should we start?

A: Agree why the firm wants AI and what it wants to achieve. Then understand current usage, identify a small number of feasible opportunities to save time or improve the work and agree how success will be measured. From there, the firm can draft and agree its roadmap, prioritise use cases, develop playbooks, establish governance and build experience through supervised use.

Q: Do we need Microsoft Copilot?

A: Not necessarily. We start with the work (legal and across the business), then the tool. Copilot may be the right answer for some firms and some use cases; specialist legal AI platforms may suit others.

Q: Do we need an AI policy?

A: In most firms, yes, and the policy works best as part of a wider roadmap. A policy sets expectations on confidentiality, oversight, approved tools and professional responsibility. The roadmap adds the objectives, the governance, the levels of review, the training and the use case register that make the policy work in practice.

Q: What is an AI playbook?

A: Your firm's written definition of what good looks like for one piece of work: the steps it goes through and where the decisions are made, your positions, what to escalate, what is checked before anything leaves the firm and who owns it. Written by the people who do the work, one per piece of work, built by department. For repeatable work it comes first, because a lawyer can apply it, it survives a change of tool and it is what any AI skill or agent works to.

Q: What is a legal AI skill?

A: A legal AI “skill” is a reusable set of plain-English instructions, with any templates, checklists or reference notes it needs, that an approved AI tool picks up when a task calls for it. The tool reads a short description of each skill and loads the full instructions only when they’re relevant. A skill can apply one of the firm’s playbooks or handle a recurring task such as checking citations. Skills use an open format supported by Claude, Microsoft’s Copilot Cowork and ChatGPT among others, so the same skill can run in each with little or no change. Each skill has an owner and a version, is tested against known examples before use and is updated when the law or a client’s requirements change.

Q: What is an AI agent?

A: AI that works through several steps of a task on its own, using one or more skills along the way, with a lawyer signing off anything that reaches a client. The sensible order is skills first, then agents once those skills have proved themselves under supervision.

Q: What is a prompt guide?

A: A short, tested set of prompts and tips for everyday tasks such as drafting, summarising and first-pass research. It suits work where the lawyer stays in control of each step and a full playbook would be more than the task needs. Like a playbook, it belongs to the firm and is kept up to date by an owner.

Q: How does AI use the firm's own precedents and documents?

A: Tools such as Microsoft 365 Copilot and the specialist legal AI platforms can draw on the firm's own precedents, templates and past work, so the output reflects how the firm does things. That depends on the documents being organised, current and permissioned correctly, which is part of getting the technology in a fit state in the foundations stage.

Q: What if our lawyers are resistant to AI?

A: Resistance usually comes from legitimate concerns about quality, confidentiality and professional responsibility. A structured approach lets those concerns be addressed in the open, with the lawyers choosing the use cases and writing the playbooks themselves.

Q: How long does AI adoption take?

A: Every firm is different. Most get further by starting with a small number of clearly defined use cases than by attempting firm-wide transformation from day one. We work at a pace that matches your resources and readiness.

Q: Will AI replace lawyers?

A: No. The successful implementations improve how legal work is delivered and keep professional judgement where it is. Lawyers remain responsible for the advice, the client relationship and professional standards.

Q: Do we need specific professional indemnity insurance for AI use?

A: Many insurers are updating policies to address AI. Documented oversight, quality assurance and human review standards help satisfy them. We recommend discussing AI use with your broker early on.

Q: How do you stop people relying on AI output without checking it?

A: It needs clear guidance from management from the start, otherwise people find their own ways of working and nobody knows what's being checked. The rule is simple: whoever uses the output is responsible for it and checks it as they would a trainee's draft. Set out in the roadmap, covered in training and reinforced by supervision. As the firm's use develops, the playbooks build the checks into the work itself.

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