AI Readiness: Reflections on 20 Years of Unbundling Legal Work
There is a huge amount of legal work AI could be applied to. The legal teams that will truly win are those that know what not to automate, and who understand that real innovation lies in process design, not technology alone.
For 20 years, I’ve been unpicking legal work and rebuilding it so it can be delivered differently - by people plus technology. The balance between the two has shifted over time, but the principle has stayed the same. It has been fun, occasionally difficult, and always instructive. I have the battle scars, but they’ve made me an expert in helping clients navigate and integrate AI into legal work effectively.
Across my 17 years at Carillion plc and Clifford Chance, I’ve analysed hundreds of legal processes to understand what could be unbundled, redesigned and delivered more efficiently via trained and supported paralegals plus technology. At Carillion, one year of process analysis enabled us to shift 15% of all in-house and panel work into a people-plus-tech model - a figure that grew annually and drove significant reductions in legal spend. At Clifford Chance, my team supported every practice area, embedding new delivery models across corporate, litigation, banking/finance, real estate and employment matters.
Over time, I’ve developed a deep understanding of the types of work suitable for alternative delivery - and just as importantly, the guardrails needed to maintain high-quality outcomes.
What Makes a Legal Process Suitable for AI
When identifying AI opportunities, we assess both obvious and more nuanced criteria. Our high-level framework includes:
Repeatability – Is the task done the same way every time, are inputs structured and are outputs predictable?
Risk Profile – What is the consequence of error? Is the task regulated?
Judgement vs Rules – Is emotional intelligence or context required?
Commercial Viability – Is the volume high enough? Will automation materially improve margin or speed?
Interdependencies – Does the process cross multiple teams? Who actually owns it?
And the processes that aren’t suitable?
Work requiring sensitivity or human intuition - AI can present options but cannot navigate political, commercial or interpersonal nuance.
Processes without documented steps or playbooks - without the groundwork, AI simply has nothing reliable to follow.
Inefficient or broken processes - AI will only amplify the dysfunction.
Cross-functional processes with no clear ownership.
Processes lacking historic data or information to train the AI effectively.
My Advice for Integrating AI into Legal Work
Define Your Vision
Before changing how you work, you need to ask a fundamental question: What am I trying to achieve? Being clear on this from the outset is essential.
I’ve worked with many legal teams who have a strong, well-defined vision and simply need support to implement it. But most teams aren’t quite there yet. They often have a general idea of what they want, but need help refining it into a clear and actionable direction. I love working with those teams - challenging assumptions, testing their thinking, ensuring they’re focused on the right things, and working with them to develop a plan that will actually work.
If you don’t yet have a clear vision, bring in people who’ve done this before. They know what good looks like and can steer you in the right direction. It’s not just about documenting processes or “AI‑enabling” tasks - it’s about redefining how you operate. Time spent getting this right at the start ensures the changes you roll out will have real, lasting impact.
The “Human Wrapper” Matters
Very few AI tools work straight out-of-the-box. The real value comes from people who can use those tools but also understand:
AI
The law
Your business and risk appetite
This combination allows teams to translate legal expertise into workflows, guardrails, prompts and decisions that AI can follow. Increasingly, the value is not in the tool itself but in the integration.
One project illustrates this perfectly. We knew document automation was the best option for a high‑value matter, but the lawyer, new to the tool, didn’t trust it on its own.
My team built a quality assurance layer into the process and produced sample outputs for him to verify, and over time we built his confidence in the tool and my team. He would never have trusted the tool alone - but the combined model of technology and people worked andthe project was a major success.
You Don’t Need to Automate the Whole Process
Some processes contain only pockets of automation opportunity — and that’s fine.
Take KYC: it can’t be automated end‑to‑end, but rule-based tasks can be unbundled and automated. Lawyers still make the judgement call, but they receive organised, complete information without the repetitive admin.
Small efficiencies compound into major gains.
Don’t Do Too Much Too Quickly — People Need to See It to Believe It
The key is breaking processes down and starting with a few discrete tasks.
I once worked with an M&A lawyer sceptical about alternative delivery. We began with closing tasks and signing preparation — once she saw the model worked, we expanded to KYC, due diligence and NDA reviews. Her team ultimately scaled their entire practice using people-plus-technology workflows and she regularly took me along to client pitches to highlight the value we added.
Trust is built through understanding how people work, what matters to them, and adapting solutions to their (or their clients’) expectations. These things take time, and there are no shortcuts.
Final Thoughts
I’m energised by the growing appetite for change in legal services, driven by AI. We have long known that large swathes of legal work can be delivered differently - AI simply accelerates the opportunity.
Lawyers provide immense strategic value. When integrated thoughtfully, AI enables them to amplify that, not replace it.
If you focus on:
Identifying the right problems
Selecting the right use cases
Building an AI‑augmented delivery model led by people who understand AI, the law and your business
…you will be set up for success.
In the age of AI, proving the value of the legal team has never been more important - and lawyers have never been more valuable.
If you’d like to explore this further, NuCAS can help you navigate it with our AI readiness diagnostic. Get in touch.