A few weeks ago, I attended the Legal Tech Hub (LTH) conference - and I’m still processing what I observed. Not because it was overwhelming, but because it revealed a quiet tension that says a lot about where legal innovation stands today.
The energy in the room was contagious, as the topics below illustrate. Innovation leaders shared stories of successful pilots, clever GenAI applications, and firm-wide excitement about what’s possible. It felt like the future of legal work had already arrived.
But when I talk with COOs and managing partners, the conversation feels like it’s happening in a different world.
It took me a while to reconcile how both can be true. The conversations with COOs aren’t about the 5% who “get it” - they’re about the 80% who don’t: the attorneys who remain hesitant, skeptical, or simply too busy to engage.
Both perspectives make sense. The innovators are proving what’s possible. The executives are asking what’s scalable. And that’s where the real work begins - turning enthusiasm into engagement, and engagement into measurable results.
From Policy to Participation
Nearly every firm at LTH had a GenAI policy in place. That’s progress - but it’s also not the point. Policies define limits; they don’t change behavior.
The question now isn’t, “Do we have a policy?” It’s, “How do we get people to use the technology safely and effectively?”
The next phase of legal tech adoption is about compliance and participation. Firms need to move beyond announcing what’s allowed toward enabling what’s possible.
Because policies may check a governance box, but participation is what drives ROI.
The Real Market Momentum
The market for GenAI in law isn’t hypothetical anymore. Lexis+ AI, CoCounsel, Harvey, and Legora are no longer pilots - they’re reshaping daily workflows for those early adopters.
But while the market proves that AI works, firm leaders still wrestle with how to make it scale. How do you move from isolated successes to organization-wide results?
That’s the defining challenge of AI adoption in law firms today. The firms that can bridge the participation gap - moving from 5% experimentation to >50% active use - will be the ones that capture the real value of AI investments.
Learning by Doing: The New Rule of Adoption
One of the most persistent myths in legal tech was that firms needed to “clean their data first.” That assumption is now being replaced by something far more practical: you learn by doing.
New capabilities in tools like iManage and NetDocuments show that getting started helps you discover what matters most - which data, which processes, and which people to prioritize.
Momentum creates learning. Learning creates value. And that’s the path to measurable ROI.
Firms that wait for perfection risk being left behind; those that start, learn, and iterate will move fastest toward transformation.
Engagement Is the New ROI
The firms succeeding with legal tech adoption today aren’t the ones with the most policies or pilots. They’re the ones where people actually use the tools.
Adoption isn’t about training - it’s about trust. People need to believe that using GenAI will make their work easier, not expose them to risk or replace their value.
That’s why closing the AI participation gap matters so much. The question isn’t whether AI can improve productivity - it already does. The question is whether your people feel empowered and confident enough to make these tools part of how they work every day.
A Shift in Value
AI is changing what it means to deliver value as an attorney.
Before, value came from finding information and presenting options.
Now, the real value lies in judgment - in applying that information, understanding client context, and making clear recommendations.
As technology handles more of the research, attorneys must shift from what’s possible to what’s best. This is where AI complements, not competes with, professional expertise - and where firms can unlock the real return on their technology investments.
From Enthusiasm to Impact
The excitement at LTH was refreshing - a glimpse of what’s possible when innovation thrives. But the next revolution won’t happen in conference halls.
It will happen when the >50% start participating.
That’s when legal tech adoption becomes more than a talking point.
That’s when GenAI stops being a cost and starts delivering measurable returns - not just in efficiency, but in engagement, confidence, and client value.
Because in the end, enthusiasm doesn’t create ROI. Commitment to change does.