Why legal transformation is an ongoing journey

For years legal advice was thought to be largely immune to technological disruption. Today, however, both in-house legal departments and law firms are undergoing profound structural change.

AI and legal tech are advancing faster than most organisations can properly embed them. As a result, the biggest shift now isn’t the technology itself, but the way it is shaping roles, responsibilities and processes and how legal professionals think about their work.

Rapid technological progress also means organisations must constantly recalibrate. Research emerging from the Harvard Law School indicates that AI-driven automation is already disrupting traditional working models across the legal sector.

Legal teams are having to reassess how they drive efficiency, organise themselves and deliver their work. At the same time, growing regulatory demands are pushing organisations to regularly update their structures and processes, and to work more closely with compliance, IT and operational teams.

Expectations are shifting too. Modern legal operations require a much more strategic approach, combining smart use of technology with service-oriented process design and professional change management.

The General Counsel Report 2025 published by FTI Consulting and Relativity highlights just how quickly this is happening. According to the report, 44% of general counsel worldwide now use generative AI in their day-to-day work, up from 28% in 2024 and just 20% in 2023. These findings are based on a global survey of more than 200 general counsel across over a dozen countries.

A similar picture emerges from the MyCase Legal Industry Report 2025, which identified that 37% of law firms are actively considering introducing AI tools in the medium term to remain competitive.

However, legal transformation doesn’t happen in isolation. It is driven by clear and growing client expectations. Today’s clients want more than technically correct advice. Speed, resilient processes and transparency around scope, progress, risk and cost are now basic requirements.

Legal tech and AI are accelerating these changes. They bring greater transparency, standardisation and pace, while enabling law firms to adopt more flexible and commercially sustainable pricing and delivery models.

Critically, however, while AI may provide speed and structure, meaning and accountability remain firmly human characteristics. Judgement, strategic thinking, prioritisation and responsibility continue to sit at the heart of legal work.

The real question for the coming years is not whether legal transformation will happen – as we already know it will – but who will shape it, and how.

In this context, we must view legal transformation not simply as a one-off modernisation exercise. It’s much better understood as an ongoing, strategic way of thinking that requires legal teams to continuously adapt to technological, regulatory and organisational change.

While many transformation efforts still start life as discrete projects – such as introducing new technology or refining a particular process – experience and research consistently demonstrate that the real challenge lies in sustaining improvement over time. Anyone responsible for how legal work is delivered, scaled and governed – from general counsel and in-house legal leaders to heads of legal operations – must be mindful that legal transformation is both an ongoing opportunity and challenge.

This is important, not least because legal functions are no longer operating in a stable environment. Technology, regulation and client expectations are all evolving faster than traditional legal structures can keep up.

Treating transformation as a one-off project leaves legal teams constantly reacting, struggling to embed new tools, adjust working models or demonstrate value. Meanwhile, clients and stakeholders increasingly expect speed, transparency, predictability and insight, not just technically sound advice. Those who don’t adapt risk rising costs, slower delivery, frustrated teams and a widening gap between what the business needs and what legal advice can provide.

This involves businesses’ shifting their mindset from delivering transformation to operating in transformation. In practical terms, this requires embedding continuous improvement into legal strategy – not simply running isolated change programmes. It will also involve not just introducing new technology, but re-examining roles, processes and operating models.

AI and legal tech must also be used intentionally, with clear ownership, purpose and governance oversight. This will necessitate businesses investing in legal ops capability, including process design, data, and change management. This also requires them to partner differently with technology providers, alternative legal service providers and advisers who support long-term evolution, not just point solutions.

This article is a revised translation of an article originally published in unternehmensjurist, the member magazine of the Bundesverband der Unternehmensjuristinnen und Unternehmensjuristen (BUJ).