A Law Society Gazette roundtable discussion earlier this year brought together representatives of mid-size firms and other industry participants to discuss AI adoption, governance, and its impact on training and talent, amongst other things. The discussion covered how firms are moving from AI experimentation to implementation, the risks around data governance and client trust, and the opportunities and pressures facing mid-market firms over the next two to three years.
What AI Tools Are Mid-Size Firms Using?
Firms at the roundtable described being at different stages of AI adoption. Victoria Hodges, real estate partner at Teacher Stern, said “There’s nervousness about making a wrong move and choosing a product that is then superseded”, adding that AI represents both a financial and a time investment.
Microsoft Copilot was described as a common starting point, with Wedlake Bell and SA Law among firms that have completed firm-wide rollouts. David Hymers, Wedlake Bell’s IT director, said “Copilot’s a pretty safe bet because a lot of firms run predominantly on Microsoft technology”, and said the firm may eventually need to introduce another tool, although potentially not across the whole firm, while avoiding “lots of different tools”.
Hymers referred to a new development in the market, noting that Orbital, a real estate AI platform used by Wedlake Bell, “has just launched its own conveyancing firm”.
Christel Aguila, partner and IT director at Winckworth Sherwood, said the firm’s AI journey “has gone from experimentation to embedded adoption via our document management system”, adding that SME firms “don’t have the same resources that big firms have… to play around with expensive AI tools”. Clare Murray, founder and managing partner of CM Murray, said the firm uses Copilot and is trialling Legora, while weighing whether to wait for a legal version of Claude before committing further spend.
What Risks Are Firms Managing Around Confidentiality And Client Use Of AI?
Simon Walsh said building an AI policy is “a big stumbling block because it’s a lot of work, and involves a lot of thinking about what you allow people to do”. Aguila said Winckworth Sherwood monitors usage across AI tools, including prompts, and displays a warning banner when staff use tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Copilot, reminding them not to upload client or personal data.
Peter De Maria said clients are using AI inappropriately in legal matters, citing an example of “an individual using AI to raise a grievance, and their manager using AI to respond”. CM Murray has added a warning on its website and in its engagement letters advising clients not to upload information into publicly available AI tools because of the risk to confidentiality and privilege.
Victoria Hodges said Teacher Stern was an early adopter of a real estate AI tool and users became “disillusioned when the output wasn’t 100% accurate”, and noted that clients are now sending AI-drafted documents for lawyers to check, without appreciating that this can be harder than starting from scratch.
What Challenges Do Mid-Size Firms Expect Over The Next Two To Three Years?
Participants identified continuing challenges around governance, pricing, and billing, with AI pushing some firms towards fixed-fee models. Christel Aguila said participating firms were increasingly using the same core tools, including Copilot, Harvey, and Legora, and said the challenge for SME firms is having the right talent to extract value from them.
David Hymers said choosing the right tools remains difficult given how quickly some AI products may become outdated, and said he is currently assessing an AI tool for conflict checks.
Peter De Maria described billing as “a massive challenge”, and said that despite AI adoption, human expertise, experience, and judgement remain important. Rachel Coburn, compliance and HR manager at Hickman & Rose, said long-standing guidance to staff about not writing things they would not want read out in court is complicated by tools such as Copilot, which can feel like “a safe space… until a DSAR comes through”, referring to a data subject access request.
Clare Murray said she is concerned about the erosion of core legal skills if lawyers outsource too much thinking to AI, saying “I want to instruct a lawyer who’s read the papers”, while also describing the workflow opportunities created by AI as “incredible”.
Ursula Bosworth said the speed of change in AI is the biggest challenge for business operations, describing a continuum of “speeding up and slowing down” and the need to choose the right technology and relationships to invest in. Yulia Barnes said recruitment is affected because younger staff accustomed to using AI can sometimes stop analysing or challenging the information it produces, while also suggesting that people using AI will create more work for lawyers.
Victoria Hodges said the defining issue is “the speed of change, how quickly we’ve got to where we are now and how quickly things will develop in the next two or three years… it’s about not wanting to be left behind”, adding that relationships with clients remain something she does not see AI replacing.
Simon Walsh said the challenge for SA Law is “keeping pace with what AI can deliver, and making sure that we’re using it to the firms’ and the clients’ best advantage”. Ronnie Gurion said the legal sector is likely to see “a bifurcation… between firms that really embrace AI and transform their operations, and the rest”, and said firms need the right infrastructure, training, and mindset to make the most of AI tools.
Final words
The roundtable suggests that, for many mid-size firms, AI is increasingly being treated as a governance and risk-management issue as well as an operational tool. Participants discussed AI policies, monitoring of AI usage, concerns about confidentiality and legal privilege, and the importance of understanding how AI-generated outputs are produced and verified. Firms also described taking different approaches to client-facing AI use and legal research, reflecting the practical challenges of balancing innovation, client trust, and professional judgement when adopting AI technologies.
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