The legal industry is undergoing a transformative shift with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). As in-house legal teams explore the potential of AI, it becomes crucial to understand the key considerations that can drive successful and safe implementation and adoption. To explore this topic in more detail, check out the full webinar recording of, “Exploring AI use in legal functions” here. With thanks to Bugra Ozer, Data Science and AI Governance Lead, UK, Dentons, for contributing to this checklist.

1. Assess your AI maturity. Reflect on where you are on the AI maturity scale and where you want to be. Every organization and industry will have a different perspective on this.
2. Ensure access to resources and support. This will differ depending on your AI goals and ambitions. You can access helpful resources on our AI hub.
3. Take a proactive approach to AI literacy. The field is evolving so rapidly that even a single development can reshape the industry. It’s essential to be able navigate through the changes and cut through the noise.
4. Stay updated on regulations. With changing regulations, it’s important that you have access to the resources you need to stay on top of this in your organization. Task someone, or a group of people on your team, with the responsibility of keeping up to date on new developments.
5. Provide a safe environment for testing. Offer a controlled environment for testing and experimentation. Allowing your team to experiment and become familiar with these tools in a safe way supports AI literacy.
6. Should you buy, build, or partner? Having a clear understanding of your business needs/use case will help to steer you on that decision. For example, if you need a solution that is highly tailored to handle sensitive data, then a bespoke solution might be your best approach. Explore this further in the webinar here.
7. Blend the right expertise. You’ll find that having a blend of expertise across process, operations, legal, AI and data will only further contribute to your success. If you don’t have this in-house, consult with your service providers to see if they can help support.
8. Target high-value use cases. Focus on workstreams where you will see the greatest ROI and start with a 'Proof of Concept'.
9. Focus on capabilities over products. Fit the products to your needs rather than the other way around and do that in a safe and secure way.
10. Adopt a "secure and compliant by design" approach to product procurement and development. While in-house developed solutions may pose a smaller risk due to data residency controls, giving you more control, these governance principles are essential for safe and compliant product onboarding overall. You can dive into these details from the webinar here.