How to Introduce AI Into Your Law Firm’s Workflow (The Right Way)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping the legal industry—boosting efficiency, cutting costs, and improving client experiences while reducing manual work for legal professionals. But it’s not magic.

Just as installing a high-tech engine on a car with flat tires won’t get you far (and probably isn’t the safest choice), simply adding AI to outdated systems won’t drive sustainable success for your law firm.

If your law firm is new to AI, it’s a good idea to start by ensuring that you have fundamental processes in place before implementation. A strong foundation will enable your firm to maximize the benefits of AI technology.

But don’t let that intimidate you. While it requires some planning and effort, the right infrastructure and strategic AI tools can work together to amplify your firm’s efficiency, growth, and competitiveness. 

Ready to get started? This step-by-step guide will walk you through how to introduce AI into your law firm’s tech stack.

Of course, if you want to enhance your legal practice as soon as possible, Clio Duo is a secure, AI-powered solution built into Clio Manage that works seamlessly inside of case management workflows. Book your demo today.

Step 1: Assess your firm’s tech infrastructure

Firms with outdated or disconnected tools will struggle to see the full benefits of AI in law

That’s why you need to start by pinpointing inefficiencies in your current workflows and evaluating your tech setup to ensure it can support AI-powered tools.

To thoroughly assess your firm’s tech infrastructure and uncover potential gaps, consider these key questions:

• Are your case files, documents, client communications, and billing records easily accessible across systems?
• Do your current tools integrate seamlessly—or do you rely on manual data entry between platforms?
• Are there any challenges or concerns to consider—such as security and compliance—that might make adopting AI difficult at your firm?

While it may be tempting to skip this step, ensuring you have a bankable tech infrastructure in place will help you make the most of AI’s potential at your firm. 

For example, by adopting legal automation tools to modernize key workflows—such as Clio’s document management, time tracking, and client intake software—you can streamline your operations to help ensure your firm is AI-ready.

Step 2: Fix your processes first, then layer in AI

AI is only as effective as the systems it’s built on. By using tools to automate repetitive tasks first, firms can create standardized, efficient workflows that AI can then enhance.  

For example, law firms can benefit from automation in the following key areas:

1. Client intake and communication

AI can enhance client intake and case management by analyzing inquiries to identify key details, categorizing cases by urgency, and predicting case complexity. With these insights, law firms can prioritize cases more effectively, allocate resources efficiently, and deliver more personalized client service.

However, AI relies on structured, organized client data to provide meaningful insights. When firms use scattered spreadsheets and outdated CRM tools, workflow bottlenecks and data silos limit AI’s effectiveness—making collaboration harder and increasing the risk of manual errors.

Client intake and CRM software, such as Clio Grow, streamlines processes by automating tasks like collecting client information, scheduling, and email follow-ups. By creating a structured, centralized system, firms lay the groundwork for AI to further optimize workflows and decision-making.

2. Document and workflow automation

AI can streamline legal document drafting and reviewing by assisting with summarization, clause analysis, and identifying issues like missing clauses or conflicts—saving time and reducing errors.

However, AI is most effective when built on a strong foundation of structured, standardized documents. Without consistent information and reliable templates, AI lacks the necessary data to provide accurate insights and enhancements.

Legal document automation software, like Clio Draft, enables legal professionals to create standardized templates and automatically generate contracts, agreements, and other legal documents using client information. By implementing a structured system, firms can maximize efficiency while setting the stage for AI to save firms more time.

3. Time tracking and billing

AI can help improve billing accuracy by tracking lawyer work patterns, case activities, and communications to flag missing or incorrect billable hours—ensuring no billable time is overlooked.

However, disorganized tracking methods limit AI’s effectiveness in this area. Without a structured time-tracking system, AI lacks reliable data to analyze trends and provide effective suggestions.

A well-organized time-tracking system provides the foundation that AI needs to work effectively. For example, Clio’s legal timekeeping software makes it simple to track time from anywhere—adding time entries straight from calendar events, tasks, communications logs, notes, and documents. 

Step 3: Choose AI tools that work with, not against, your firm’s tech

When you’re ready to integrate AI into your law firm, selecting AI tools that align with your legal tech stack is crucial. While many AI tools claim to automate legal work, not all are designed for the unique needs of law firms—and choosing the wrong tools can lead to integration challenges, inefficiencies, and security risks (more on this in the next step). 

Generic and non-legal-specific AI tools can be useful for law firms in certain instances, such as brainstorming legal marketing ideas or creating first drafts. But they may lack the security and compliance features needed when working in a legal context.

In contrast, legal AI solutions are built for the needs of law firms—making the implementation process smoother, improving accuracy, streamlining legal workflows, and ensuring compliance with legal standards.

Key legal-specific AI features to look for include:

1. AI-powered time tracking

AI time-tracking tools for lawyers like Clio Duo can automatically scan your work—such as notes, logs, and tasks that don’t have times associated with them—and suggest time entries. This helps your firm capture billable work that might otherwise go unbilled, without manual entry.

3. AI-driven document features

AI-powered tools like Clio Duo transform your legal documents into precise, accessible information. For example, Clio Duo can summarize your complex documents for you, while Clio Duo’s Document Analyzer helps you extract key information directly from your documents.

3. AI-driven insights

Legal-specific AI tools can analyze law firm workflows to provide actionable recommendations in areas such as:

• Case progress insights, where AI can flag potential delays in matters
• Workload-balancing insights, where AI can suggest redistributing tasks to improve firm efficiency
• Process optimization insights, where AI can identify firm workflow bottlenecks

Here, choosing an AI-ready legal platform that integrates automation and AI into a single, secure system allows you to maximize the benefits of AI while simplifying the process of integrating AI into your law firm. 

For example, Clio Duo’s legal AI functionality uses your data within Clio Manage’s practice management platform to generate smart matter and activity recommendations, which can help you prioritize the matters that need your attention. 

Step 4: Check if the AI tool meets security and compliance guidelines

With AI tools becoming more accessible, security has never been more critical for law firms, especially as the risk of data breaches, unauthorized access, and cyber threats continue to rise. Because lawyers handle sensitive client data and confidential case details, firms must adopt technology with a heightened awareness of the security risks related to AI. 

For example, firms must ensure that they are not unintentionally exposing sensitive information and that they comply with data privacy laws and ethical obligations while using AI.  

Today, most modern cloud-based legal platforms come equipped with AI capabilities while also offering advanced security measures to mitigate risk. They are safer than outdated on-premise systems and off-the-shelf AI tools, which often lack the necessary security and compliance safeguards for legal professionals.

Solutions like Clio provide industry-leading protection with SOC2 compliance, encryption, and secure client portals—ensuring AI-powered features are both effective and built for the highest standards of legal security.

However, AI tools also inherently introduce unique ethical considerations and legal issues that lawyers must proactively address. Unlike traditional systems, some AI models can inadvertently train on client data that’s used during prompting. If the information provided to these AI tools is not properly safeguarded or anonymized, you could be putting your client’s confidentiality at risk. 

On the flip side, cybercriminals and hackers are using AI to develop more sophisticated attacks, which raises concerns about AI tools’ vulnerabilities and the potential exposure of sensitive legal information.

While it’s important to familiarize yourself with current guidelines for AI use for lawyers in your jurisdiction, the following best practices can help:

• Maintain human oversight: AI should assist—not replace—human legal judgment. While AI can provide useful insights and streamline workflows, it can also introduce bias, generate inaccuracies like AI hallucinations, and lack the nuanced reasoning, ethical judgment, and context-awareness of human lawyers. This makes human oversight essential.
• Prioritize client data protection: Only use AI platforms that are secure, ethical, and designed to protect sensitive legal information. Some AI tools may train on the data inputted into them, which can create privacy risks. To ensure confidentiality, law firms should choose AI tools that do not use client data for model training and that comply with applicable legal industry security and compliance standards such as SOC 2, the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, state bar ethics options, HIPAA, and GDPR.

Note: Clio Duo, is built directly into Clio Manage, empowering law firms with AI while ensuring firm and client data remain secure—plus no AI models are trained on your data.

• Set clear AI ethical guidelines: Law firm staff must be trained on where AI can and cannot be used. For example, using AI tools to summarize case law may be acceptable at your firm, but using AI to draft confidential filings may violate ethical rules. 

Adopting a clear law firm AI policy outlining your firm’s ethical and security policies when integrating AI can help govern how your firm will ethically, responsibly, and safely use AI.

Step 5: Implement gradually and measure ROI

The use of AI in the legal industry is accelerating, but that doesn’t mean that law firms should feel pressured to implement multiple AI tools all at once. On the contrary, a strategic, methodical approach is key. 

A gradual, step-by-step AI adoption strategy helps mitigate risk, maximize return on investment (ROI), and ensure smoother implementation—avoiding the potential disruption of a complete workflow overhaul. The goal is for AI to boost efficiency without complicating your day-to-day.

With Clio Duo, for example, law firms can begin leveraging AI built directly within Clio Manage. This provides a secure, compliant, and seamless place for firms to start with AI without needing complex integrations.

Our free guide, The Legal AI Buyer’s Guide: A Checklist for Legal Professionals, can also help provide key questions to consider when evaluating potential AI tools for your law firm.

Consider the following practical tips for gradually integrating AI into your law firm:

• Clarify your goals: Before adopting AI, make sure you’re clear on what you want to achieve with it—whether that’s improved efficiency, optimized case management, or enhanced client service.
• Make sure your existing firm technology works well: As outlined in Step 1, optimizing your firm’s tech infrastructure ensures AI enhances workflows rather than adding complexity.
• Test AI-driven email and intake automation: Improve client interactions with automated responses, appointment scheduling, and a streamlined intake process.
• Use AI-powered billing insights: Turn to AI to analyze billable hours, payment trends, and revenue opportunities.
• Measure efficiency gains from automated document creation: Track the time saved through AI-assisted legal drafting to help quantify AI’s impact on your workflows.

Just as you would monitor the ROI of your firm’s marketing efforts, it’s important to track the ROI of your investment in AI. This kind of data-driven approach allows you to review and refine your AI usage based on measurable results.

AI should help law firms work smarter, not harder—but that’s only possible with the right tech infrastructure in place. After all, AI works best when it’s built on a strong legal tech foundation.

Conclusion

AI is not a quick fix, nor is it a standalone solution for lawyers. To be truly effective, it must be fully connected to your firm’s legal operating system. Firms relying on outdated or disjointed tools will struggle with AI adoption, as it will only add another layer of inefficiency.

Instead, take a strategic approach when getting started with AI. Evaluate your legal tech stack first, automate where possible, and then choose legal-specific AI tools that are secure and integrate seamlessly into your workflows. A modern legal tech platform—like Clio—provides the right foundation for AI to enhance workflows, efficiency, and productivity. 

Want to see how Clio Duo, working within Clio Manage, can set your firm up for AI-driven success? Schedule a demo today.

How to get started using AI at my law firm?

When getting started with AI at your law firm, first assess your current tech stack and optimize it where needed. Automate any repetitive workflows to enhance efficiency, then look for legal-specific AI tools that are secure and fit seamlessly into your existing processes. Gradually adopt these AI tools and measure their return on investment so you can make any necessary adjustments along the way.

We published this blog post in March 2025. Last updated: March 13, 2025.

Categorized in: Technology