The 3 Questions Every Law Firm Must Answer Before Any AI Project

You have seen the headlines. AI will change everything. Law firms must adapt. The truth is simpler. Most small firms waste money on tools they do not need, or build systems the team never uses.

Why does this happen? Teams skip the one step that matters: asking the right questions before they ever touch software.

I build practical AI systems for small legal teams. In every audit, I start with three questions that cut through hype and prevent expensive mistakes.

A simple checklist to prevent waste and compliance issues

Question 1: Where are we leaking time that is not billable

Before chasing tools, map your time. Not total hours, but where you lose hours that cannot be billed.

• Paralegals retyping intake forms from PDFs

• Partners hunting for version 38 of a contract

• Admins renaming scanned documents

These are invisible drains. They rarely show up in reports, but they steal 20 plus hours a month from small teams.

This matters, because most firms try to automate complex legal reasoning first. The fastest ROI usually comes from low level admin. Work that is repetitive, rule based, and does not require legal judgment.

What you should do next is sit down with your team for one week. Track every task that is repetitive, rule based, and not client facing. That list becomes your goldmine for automation. AI becomes simple once you know exactly where you need help.

Question 2: What are we already paying for that we do not fully use

I have seen firms about to spend 40,000 building a custom intake system. Then we find their practice management tool already supports 90 percent of what they need. They just never turned the features on.

Some common examples include:

• CRMs no one updates

• Workflow tools that were never finished

• Document automation used at 10 percent of potential

Why this matters? AI does not always mean new software. Often it means unlocking what you already have, or stitching existing tools together in a smarter way.

What you can do is run a 30 minute feature review. List every tool you pay for. Write down the features you actually use. Then ask a single question: if we add one missing piece here, could this work better. You will be surprised how often the answer is yes.

Question 3: Who owns follow through and compliance

This is the silent killer of most AI projects in small legal teams. Not bad tech. Not lack of ideas. The nobody owns it problem.

You sign up for a tool. You test it once. The team forgets about it. Three months later, it gathers dust and the same manual tasks return. There is also real risk. Uploading client data into public AI tools may breach confidentiality or data protection rules.

AI is not magic. It is a workflow shift. Someone must own the outcome, including training, adoption, and fit with your real process. Someone must also own compliance so sensitive data never ends up in the wrong place.

Before any AI project, ask two questions:

• Who will make sure this is used in real matters, by real people, every week

• Who will make sure we are not putting sensitive client data where it doesn't belong

If no one has time or clarity, you need external help, or a much simpler solution.

A Simple Start That Works in Small Firms

Here is how to start in three weeks without risk or disruption.

Week 1: Map and select

• Identify one high volume, low risk workflow such as intake parsing or template population

• Capture 10 to 20 recent examples and define one success metric

• Confirm data handling, access control, and retention

Week 2: Build and evaluate

• Implement the smallest slice in parallel to your current process

• Use structured outputs with validation and log every decision

• Measure accuracy and time saved against your baseline

Week 3: Ship and adopt

• Train the team on the new path and document exceptions routing

• Turn off the old steps for the pilot slice once adoption is stable

• Decide to expand, refine, or stop

Why fragile AI creates risk and where safer value comes from

Conclusion

If you answer these three questions clearly, you are already ahead of most firms exploring AI in 2025. You avoid wasted spend, tool sprawl, and compliance headaches.
Start with nonbillable time. Unlock tools you already pay for. Assign real ownership for follow through and compliance. Then ship one small workflow that proves value in weeks, not months.