4 Ways AI Can Accelerate Your Legal Career–and Why Your Colleagues Are Already Experimenting
How widespread do you think AI adoption is in the legal world? Some scattered early adopters? A handful of tech-forward firms?
Try 69% of legal professionals already using AI tools for their work, according to the 2025 State of AI in Legal Report, an independent survey of 800+ in-house and law firm legal professionals.
If you’re not among that majority, what might you be missing by staying on the sidelines? While AI won’t magically solve every career challenge, 64% believe it could provide meaningful advantages for those willing to thoughtfully experiment with it.
AI literacy as a competitive edge
The legal industry faces budget pressures unlike anything we’ve seen in recent years. Corporate legal departments must demonstrate business value with constrained resources. Law firms compete on efficiency alongside expertise. In this environment, AI fluency may soon shift from nice-to-have to table stakes.
Consider the hiring manager evaluating two equally qualified candidates. One has streamlined contract review processes using AI tools, consistently delivers work faster without sacrificing quality, and speaks confidently about legal technology trends. The other relies exclusively on traditional methods. Which candidate has the edge?
The data supports this shift: job dissatisfaction among legal professionals has increased 18% year over year, yet 46% of AI users believe the technology could create more career opportunities. Meanwhile, the 26-point adoption gap between in-house teams (81%) and law firms (55%) suggests some professionals are building advantages while others lag behind.
Early AI adopters may find themselves viewed as forward-thinking problem solvers who can help their organizations adapt to changing market demands. This perception alone could open doors to leadership opportunities and strategic projects. But what other concrete steps can you start to take?
1) Position yourself as the efficiency expert
Stop thinking about AI as a way to do the same work faster. Instead, use it to fundamentally change what kind of work you do. When AI handles routine tasks, you can focus on higher-value activities that showcase your strategic thinking.
Start with one specific task that consumes at least 3 hours weekly. If you have a contract management platform, look for built-in automation or AI capabilities you might not have leveraged yet. Many other legal technology tools outside contract management also have capabilities built in, but if you don’t have anything, the market is bursting at the seams with free tools. Pick one, or several, time yourself completing five similar tasks the traditional way, then five with AI assistance, and see how you fare.
Here’s the key: don’t just pocket that extra time. If AI helps you complete contract reviews 40% faster, redirect those saved hours toward business strategy discussions, process improvement projects, or client relationship building. Track this shift with a simple spreadsheet: column A shows routine tasks completed, column B shows strategic hours gained, column C lists strategic projects you contributed to that week.
The numbers back this approach: 65% of AI users report saving time, and 57% say this enables more strategic work. When performance review time comes, you’ll have concrete data showing your evolution from task-executor to strategic contributor.
Career implication: Professionals who master this time-leverage approach often find themselves considered for roles with broader scope and responsibility. When you can demonstrate measurable improvements in both efficiency and strategic output, you’re proving you understand business operations and can drive meaningful change.
2) Become the research powerhouse
AI’s research capabilities could transform how colleagues and clients perceive your expertise. Instead of spending hours manually searching for precedents, you can quickly identify relevant information and spend more time on sophisticated analysis.
Start tracking your research metrics before implementing AI. For two weeks, log how long each research project takes and how many sources you typically review. Then introduce AI research tools like Westlaw’s Quick Check for case law verification or Harvey AI for regulatory analysis. After another two weeks, compare your numbers.
Create a simple research quality scorecard: sources reviewed per hour, breadth of jurisdictions covered, and client satisfaction with thoroughness. Many AI tools provide usage analytics showing how much ground you can cover compared to traditional methods.
With 60% of AI users reporting better research capabilities, those who master this approach may find themselves becoming the go-to resource for challenging questions. When colleagues consistently see you delivering thorough, well-sourced analysis faster than traditional methods allow, your professional reputation shifts from “reliable” to “exceptional.”
Career implication: Lawyers known for exceptional research and analysis often become trusted advisors rather than just service providers. When you can demonstrate measurable improvements in research quality and speed, you’re proving your value in terms that both legal and business leadership understand.
3) Master strategic communication
Legal professionals spend substantial time communicating with stakeholders, but traditional legal writing often falls short of business needs. AI tools could help you adapt your communication style for different audiences, making you more effective across all professional relationships.
Try tools like Grammarly Business for tone adjustment or Claude/ChatGPT with specific prompts: “Rewrite this legal analysis for a CFO audience” or “Summarize this contract dispute for our board presentation.” Track response metrics: email reply rates, meeting follow-up questions, and stakeholder feedback scores.
Create a communication effectiveness log. Before AI: How many follow-up questions do stakeholders typically ask after your explanations? How often do legal summaries lead to quick business decisions? After implementing AI assistance: measure the same metrics. Tools like Microsoft Viva Insights can help track email engagement rates and meeting outcomes.
The data shows 64% of AI users report better stakeholder communication, but the career impact depends on measuring effectiveness. Are your legal summaries leading to faster business decisions? Do stakeholders ask fewer clarifying questions? Are you getting invited to more strategic discussions?
Career implication: Lawyers with exceptional communication skills often advance faster than their technically superior but less articulate peers. When you can demonstrate measurable improvements in stakeholder satisfaction and business impact through better communication, you’re proving your value in terms that directly translate to career advancement opportunities.
4) Build your reputation as a technology leader
Rather than viewing AI adoption as just a productivity tool, position yourself as a thoughtful technology advocate within your organization. This reputation could become a significant career differentiator.
Start by becoming genuinely knowledgeable about specific AI applications, playing around within your existing legal tech stack, leveraging free LLM tools, and doing some thorough reading. Create a simple evaluation framework for whatever task you pick to test with: ease of use (1-10), time savings (percentage), accuracy improvements (error reduction), and security features (compliance checklist).
Then you can start tracking adoption metrics within your team: how many colleagues try tools you recommend, efficiency improvements across the group, and cost savings from automated processes. Use your CLM’s data analysis capabilities to create simple dashboards showing before-and-after metrics for key processes. When tracking, start thinking about document specific ROI calculations: if AI reduces contract review from 2 hours to 45 minutes, multiply that time savings by your hourly rate across all contracts reviewed monthly. If your team reviews 50 contracts monthly and saves 1.25 hours each, that’s 62.5 hours saved. At $300/hour, that’s $18,750 monthly value.
The survey shows that 58% of legal teams now allow AI use within published guidelines, suggesting organizations need people who can navigate this space thoughtfully and measure business impact.
Career implication: Technology leadership skills are increasingly valuable across all legal roles, but the ability to measure and communicate ROI elevates you from user to strategic advisor. Being known as someone who can bridge legal expertise with technological innovation—and prove its business value—could open unexpected doors to roles involving legal operations, business development, or organizational leadership.
Why contract technology is your strategic starting point
If you’re ready to begin building AI familiarity, contract-related work offers the most practical entry point with clear career benefits. The data supports this focus: 28% of legal professionals cite contract review as their most impactful AI use case.
Start with platforms designed specifically for legal workflows that include appropriate safeguards for professional use and provide clear metrics on time savings and accuracy improvements, like contract lifecycle management platforms. The more comprehensive, the better! You can then use them to measure things like average review time per agreement type, number of revisions required, time from signature to execution, and compliance issue detection rates. Create a monthly dashboard showing contract volume processed, average cycle time, and business stakeholder satisfaction scores.
Contract technology expertise positions you as someone who understands both legal substance and business operations. Experience with these tools translates across industries and practice areas, making this expertise valuable for career mobility.
Career implication: Contract technology expertise often leads to roles with broader responsibility, whether that’s legal operations, business development, or general management. As more organizations adopt these platforms, familiarity becomes increasingly valuable for career advancement.
Your next 30 days: Building AI advantage
Ready to start building your AI capabilities? Focus on these concrete steps:
Week 1-2: Choose your experiment. Pick one repetitive task consuming 3+ hours weekly. Try one specific AI tool and track time before and after for 10 similar tasks.
Week 3: Measure and document Create a simple spreadsheet tracking: task completion time, quality metrics (errors caught, sources reviewed, stakeholder satisfaction), and strategic time gained. Calculate your hourly savings and multiply by your rate to show dollar value.
Week 4: Share your results Present your findings to your manager or team. Use specific numbers: “AI reduced contract review time by 35%, saving 4 hours weekly. I redirected this time to three strategic projects that supported our Q4 business objectives.”
Career implication: Professionals who take initiative on emerging challenges often find themselves considered for stretch assignments and leadership opportunities. Your willingness to experiment thoughtfully with AI—and measure the results—demonstrates exactly the kind of forward-thinking approach that drives career advancement.
The competitive reality
Your colleagues are already experimenting with AI tools, and some are likely gaining advantages you haven’t recognized yet. The question isn’t whether AI will impact legal careers—it’s whether you’ll be among those who shape that impact or those who react to it.
The legal profession has always rewarded those who can deliver better outcomes more efficiently. AI tools may simply be the latest evolution in that competitive dynamic. Those who master these capabilities early—and can measure and communicate their value—could find themselves with sustainable advantages as the technology becomes more widespread.
What’s stopping you from starting your own careful experimentation today?
Ironclad is not a law firm, and this post does not constitute or contain legal advice. To evaluate the accuracy, sufficiency, or reliability of the ideas and guidance reflected here, or the applicability of these materials to your business, you should consult with a licensed attorney. Use of and access to any of the resources contained within Ironclad’s site do not create an attorney-client relationship between the user and Ironclad.
