Do you think that my dad—jack-of-all-trades, who never once hired a plumber, carpenter, electrician, or anything of the like in my childhood—would have maintained his renovation relevance if he was still relying on a hand saw from the 80s?
Don’t be silly. Replacing an outlet? That’s why Dad’s got a 14-in-1 adjustable screwdriver. New trim around the front door? Dad’s got a 20-volt cordless miter saw for that. He’s kept quite the collection of tools over his years as our unofficial maintenance man, upgrading as the technology does.
If the countless conversations around AI in the legal realm can be boiled down to one point, it’s that our tools are upgrading. Technology is making consistent, massive leaps—from hand saw to power tool. The question is, are we willing to follow suit? To grow our collections? To get familiar with the newest models?
Understanding the Scope
When we talk about AI, we’re talking about more than just generative AI. AI is an ever-growing toolkit of techniques, and generative AI is just one of them. We gravely limit ourselves if we think the capabilities of AI can be summed up by the most topical tool. In other words, generative AI is the tip of a truly massive iceberg.
In recent discussions of “to adopt or not to adopt,” artificial intelligence continues to provoke apprehension. Software with a mind of its own? Aliens! And while there’s validity in the skepticism and questioning, it’s undeniable that AI reeeeally isn’t going anywhere. It’s integrating into our work and our lives (becoming a real household name). Frankly, it’s clear that if you care about your career, you should care about AI.
Take it from our recent cohort of 2024 AI Visionaries who, having started out as early advocates for AI, have now been named industry trailblazers. This class of visionaries provides convincing arguments for AI adoption and its benefits to professional development.
Let’s dive into the insights of three visionaries—Ana Orantes, Alma Asay, and Nikki Shaver—who, like my father, have committed to following technology’s lead.
“I loved being a lawyer and my career in innovation first came out of finding more efficient ways to do the parts of my job that didn’t require a lawyer brain. I want that for more lawyers; that’s why I do what I do.”
– Alma Asay, 2024 AI Visionary
Step 1: Adoption and Investment
Harnessing Its Capabilities for Your Benefit
For many of our AI Visionaries, the decision to invest in AI was born of creativity: problem solving, oiling the hinges of the team, making room for more of what they love.
AI Visionary Alma Asay tells us, “I loved being a lawyer and my career in innovation first came out of finding more efficient ways to do the parts of my job that didn’t require a lawyer brain. I want that for more lawyers; that’s why I do what I do.”
Or look at AI Visionary Ana Orantes, who leans on AI to strike a balance between efficiency and humanity: “My aim is to identify opportunities where implementing the right technology can help our teams become more efficient and deliver cost-effective solutions to our clients while preserving the invaluable human insights our lawyers bring.”
“My aim is to identify opportunities where implementing the right technology can help our teams become more efficient and deliver cost-effective solutions to our clients while preserving the invaluable human insights our lawyers bring.”
– Ana Orantes, 2024 AI Visionary
Both Alma and Ana began harnessing innovation to tackle small, specific challenges—and in the wake of their exploration, have opened doors for their careers. Alma (chief innovation and value officer at Crowell & Moring LLP) and Ana (legal tech product manager in AI and document review at CMS) are examples of how an openness to AI can propel you forward.
They’re walking proof that early investment in new tech can position you for opportunities to excel by outpacing your competition and setting the tone for transformation in your organization—transformation that you can be qualified to lead.
How can you begin jumping into AI to accomplish the same feat? Easy.
“Use it!” Alma advises. “There are so many ways to experiment with generative AI today, and one use case inspires another use case.”
Quick! Get on AI’s Good Side
If there are benefits to jumping on board, what about the detriment of not? Nikki Shaver, CEO and cofounder of Legaltech Hub, warns that to be hesitant about AI in general, or to ban its use across an organization, is problematic.
She explains, “For those worried about adopting generative AI or large language model technology specifically, I would say that they can choose to prepare themselves for what is coming and be educated and knowledgeable and ahead of the curve, or they can wait until this is thrust upon them. But in the next year, most organizations will inevitably be using this type of AI when it is built into all Microsoft products, every search engine, all legal research platforms, and so on.”
And, as further encouragement: “For the first time, there is a technology breakthrough that has lawyers excited about using AI. This is a great time to work at the intersection of technology and the law.”
“For the first time, there is a technology breakthrough that has lawyers excited about using AI. This is a great time to work at the intersection of technology and the law.”
– Nikki Shaver, 2024 AI Visionary
This means stakeholder buy-in is going to be high, so it’s a great time to ride the wave of enthusiasm, start exploring AI, and see what it can do for your team and career.
Step 2: Experimentation and Learning
A Little Faith, and a Lot of Patience
Maybe you’re open to AI, but you’re thinking, What does it look like to say yes—or even more—How do I integrate it? Start by taking Alma’s advice on moving toward an AI-enabled future: use it. Play around with it. She suggests having a lot of patience with technology in its infancy. I try to remember this when my Instagram explore page gets the algorithm wrong. (I don’t want to see any more capybara content!)
Alma also admits that she made a lot of leaps of faith in getting where she is now—leaps that maybe didn’t make objective sense at the time. This ability to trust her gut, make decisions, and follow through on them has been a driving force in her success.
She encourages leaders to take agency and “make deliberate choices before choices are made for you. AI will be adopted in some form(s) and the question is whether your organization is implementing the right guardrails, including education, to ensure it happens responsibly.”
“Make deliberate choices before choices are made for you. AI will be adopted in some form(s) and the question is whether your organization is implementing the right guardrails, including education, to ensure it happens responsibly.”
– Alma Asay, 2024 AI Visionary
Stay Curious
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it could save you. Ana attributes her flourishing career to her eagerness to explore opportunities for meaningful impact and innovation. Like Alma, Ana also suggests experimenting with AI: “Start on a small task today. Don’t be afraid to fail fast and iterate as you discover what works and what does not work.” A small ask with a big reward. Perhaps this willingness to try, to risk, and to even fail, will set you apart—or even above.
Nikki echoes this advice, suggesting we make experimentation a part of our daily routines. (Brush teeth, eat apple, fiddle around with Copilot.) There are plenty of AI tools out and about.
Nikki says, “Find ways to experiment with them yourself, so that you understand the differences between them and learn to optimize your use of them. You can skill yourself up easily, and doing so will put you in a better position to adopt this technology in your workplace and to be a digital citizen as the world evolves.”
Step 3: Professional Development
“Instead of talking about AI replacing roles, I think we should be preparing for a future where lawyers work in a team with other professionals like data scientists and data analysts, and in which all of those professionals are equally valued for their contributions.”
– Nikki Shaver, 2024 AI Visionary
In Addition to, Not Instead of
It’s simple, really: Get work done faster, and you can do more work. Eliminate drudge work, and you can spend that time on what matters. Nikki believes that if clients self-serve lower value work, it may mean the value of more specialized legal work is increased.
Ana adds her perspective, sharing her excitement for the strategic value AI enables lawyers to create for clients—it’s not just improving efficiency. In other words, the latest AI developments unlock the potential to support clients with work that was not possible before.
To the question, ‘Will AI someday replace human roles in your industry?’ Nikki labels it incendiary.
“Instead of talking about AI replacing roles, I think we should be preparing for a future where lawyers work in a team with other professionals like data scientists and data analysts, and in which all of those professionals are equally valued for their contributions,” she counters. Tell that to your friends and family asking if AI will take your job.
Ana seconds this: “AI will certainly transform aspects of legal work but cannot substitute lawyers.”
“AI will certainly transform aspects of legal work but cannot substitute lawyers.”
– Ana Orantes, 2024 AI Visionary
Keep it Light
Integrating AI into our work takes commitment, ambition, and decompression. To decompress, Alma says that she gets as silly as she can with her three-year-old daughter: “There’s nothing like a kid to force you out of your very serious headspace.” It’s refreshing to have a gust of humanity amidst the drive toward success.
Hit the Ground Running
You want to be a part of the future of legal? Grow your toolbox. Collect new skills. Let technology help you. As Ana, Alma, and Nikki have demonstrated, your very willingness is an investment in your professional development. The AI renaissance—tidal wave that it is—waits for no one. You’ll be glad that you stayed ahead.
Celia O’Brien is a member of the marketing team at Relativity where she serves as a copywriter.
