MPL Legal Tech Advisors: The Legal AI Brief

Thursday, 25 September 2025 - 3rd Edition​​​​

This Week’s Theme

Partner at a top global firm. Co-founder of a legal tech VC fund. Law firm tech committees. Every conversation this week circled back to the same question: why does AI adoption feel so hard? The answer wasn’t “lack of tools.”

It was identity.

Many lawyers still see themselves as artisans, proud of their careful, manual process. And they should be.

The problem? When your day is swallowed by inbox rules, folders, and retyping data, the work stops feeling like lawyering.

The question we ask ourselves this week is how to protect your craft in the AI era, so you stay the master, not the bottleneck.

Insight of the Week: The Craftsman's Dilemma

The last generation of lawyers literally redlined by hand.

Today, document comparison software is just part of the craft.

We’re at the next transition point.

The lawyers who still print emails and dictate to paralegals are retiring. The question issn't whether to use tech, it’s how to use it without losing what makes your work yours.

Here are 3 pillars for protecting your craft in the AI era:

1. Define what is truly craft

Not every step of your process needs your full intellectual weight. Standardize what’s repeatable so your expertise is applied where it matters most.

2. Build your apprentice

Use workflow + AI to take the grunt work off your plate, and teach it your style.

3. Stay in control

You stay the final check. The system does the preparation, you deliver the verdict.

Firms that do this are building digital apprenticeships, freeing up their lawyers for strategy. The rest are still stuck retyping data while the world moves on.

Legal AI in Action

Stop AI Hallucinations Before They Happen

Real cases, scientific causes, and 4 safeguards to keep your name off a sanctions order.

Case Study: Hoorntje Legal

Watch the full before/after workflow mapping + the 5 pillars we used to create a clean, safe AI foundation.

This Week’s Big Risk Signal

One firm we spoke to this week gave every lawyer access to AI tools, but never trained them!

The result?

Associates tried them once, got bad results, and abandoned them. Meanwhile, partners have no idea what data is being shared or which matters are touched.

Rolling out tools without process or training isn’t making you innovative, it’s gambling with privilege.

What The Legal AI Frontlines Are Saying

Conversations with partners, tech committees, and legal tech founders this week point to three shifts:

1. Craft is at risk

Lawyers want to keep control, but inbox rules, folders, and manual retyping eat their day, leaving no time for the real work.

2. Processes before platforms

When the workflow is scattered, adding AI just accelerates the chaos.

3. Training unlocks adoption

Lawyers compare AI to their final product. Training reframes it as an apprentice that needs guidance, not a rival to reject.

Looking Ahead

🎙 Airing this Saturday!

Tomorrow at 2 PM CET: Episode 2 of Legal AI Conversations. Luka Jakopović, founder of Mikai Legal Tech, shares why his team builds tools as “Mike, not Harvey”, helping lawyers stay in control while getting the grunt work done.

👩‍⚖️ Coming next week!

Jolein Mees, managing partner of Hoorntje Legal, joins me to share how MPL Legal Tech Advisors mapped their workflows, triaged risk, and built confidence in small, strategic steps.