Editor’s Note: The panelists quoted in this article shared their personal views, which do not represent the views of their firms.
The stakes for the people involved in pro bono matters are staggeringly high. But timelines are tight, and the match between available resources and the scope of the work is … often lacking.
It's little surprise, then, that AI, with its glowing promises of speed and thoroughness, has captured the attention of the legal professionals doing that work.
But let’s look back at those stakes for a second and remember: AI is no easy button. The promise is real, but the risks can be, too. How do you earn an attorney's trust in a new tool? How do you match the right tool to the right task? And how do you hold every matter to the same professional standards when even errant technology tends to sound so sure of itself?
At Relativity Fest 2026, a panel of discovery practitioners took on those questions in a session called "Justice Disrupted, Access Delivered: Using AI to Empower Pro Bono Attorneys at Scale." Speakers included:
- Josh Zylbershlag, Director of e-Discovery Services, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
- Martha Louks, Managing Director, Discovery Technology Services, McDermott Will & Schulte
- Dan Degener, AI Discovery Consultant, Akerman LLP
- Jaclyn Sattler, Senior Manager, Strategic Initiatives, Relativity (moderator)
Their experience offers practical guidance for anyone supporting pro bono work, and for anyone bringing AI into legal work at all.
Earning Trust Through Demonstration
"Pro bono work is often a gateway to using more AI," Jaclyn observed. The panelists agreed that the way in starts with showing attorneys what the tools can do for the hard-pressed matter in front of them.
Dan's approach with a new attorney or case team is to sit down with them, understand what they need to accomplish, and walk through how the available tools can help.
"People are looking for more resources – and many are used to having access to more, on other matters – with timelines that push them to move. So showing them what the tools do and how quickly helps build confidence," he said.
Josh described a similar philosophy. "For years, even before generative AI, we focused on making sure our pro bono matters benefit from the same tools our commercial matters do when it comes to data intelligence. We walk our attorneys through these tools, too, to establish trust," he said. "You have to do as good a job for every client on every matter."
Dan added that pro bono attorneys often have plenty to learn already. "Sometimes lawyers working on pro bono are tackling areas of law they aren't as familiar with, because that's where they're needed. Hopefully learning the tool is just a small part of that learning curve so they can focus on the work and mastering that instead."
Matching the Tool to the Task
If one phrase echoed through the session, it was "right tool."
"The phrase 'right tool' is key. We are focused on making sure lawyers have training on what tool is right for each job," Josh said. "AI can be very beguiling, giving you answers and sounding very sure of itself, and it's tempting to just take that and be done. But we emphasize how generative AI is non-deterministic, and sometimes you get a different answer depending on what time of the day you ask. So we talk through those things, the risk factors, and what's appropriate to use for what task."
Dan named the underlying challenge: "Gen AI speaks well. It's giving us a new problem in that way. It will write me a beautiful explanation for why X or Y is correct, but it isn't always. It's a bit of a skill – we need to build skilled skepticism. Pro bono teams need the acceleration these tools offer, but we need to help them understand this part of that process," he said.
One key to building that skill is remembering that newer doesn't always mean better. "Sometimes there are much simpler solutions in tech that's been around for 20 years," Josh pointed out. And the size of a matter shouldn't make the decision on its own.
"We like to really dig into what we need to do and then match the tool to that, rather than simply the scale of the case," Dan said.
"And also, let's remember that your brain is the most important tool you'll need on any case," Martha added.
Process, Defensibility, and Professional Judgment
Martha stressed that technologists and legal teams share the work of making sure results can be defended down the line, and the panelists were united on where final responsibility sits.
Dan applied that logic to the much-discussed, much-feared problem of hallucinations.
"I love and hate the word 'hallucination.' If you're responsibly doing the job, you shouldn't have the problem," he said. "It's the same challenge we've had all along, which is to rely on bedrock facts no matter what. You don't have to worry as much about hallucinations if you've actually seen the documents."
And when the work is done, a real, actual person has got to stand behind it. "In the end, the lawyer is signing off on these things; the tools are merely helping us more effectively get to that end. But you have to have that judgment and be ready to sign your name on the line to say it's been done correctly," Dan said.
Martha wished the broader AI conversation gave this part of the picture more attention.
"A lot of the discourse about AI is missing that this is a profession that requires rigor. There are procedures, best practices, and tools we use for good reasons, and AI, while it can save time and make you more effective, still needs to be used thoughtfully. It's not a license to be lazy," she said. "We have permission in e-discovery to be less than perfect. But in a pleading, where there's a duty of candor to the court, there's not that permission – there's an expectation of accuracy."
Creativity, Capacity, and What Comes Next
For all the emphasis on rigor, the panelists described pro bono work as a source of creativity, energy, and fulfillment.
"Using and mixing and matching all the tools in a platform creatively, it's kind of fun – like a puzzle," Martha said. She also shared a technique: "You can use AI to flip and reverse your evidence, and role-play from the other direction, so you can anticipate what the other side might ask. It's a competitive advantage, and it can also make a big difference for the people and their liberties affected by many of these pro bono cases."
The sense of purpose was warmly felt around the room during this session (despite the rainy day outside).
"Sometimes it feels nice to be doing something that's demonstrably helping people who don't have an advantage. Often, working in big law or an adjacent provider, we're servicing businesses with big pockets and the ability to hire people to advocate for them. We don't always get the opportunity to make a difference, so I think it's energizing to get this kind of work," Martha said.
The practical payoff of AI helps in more ways than one, according to all of the panelists.
"These tools are going to create more bandwidth in law firms so they can take on more pro bono matters," Josh said.
Of course, those choices don’t happen on their own. People across firms and service organizations need to choose it – to fill in some of the openings created by AI with pro bono work instead of only paid projects.
Fortunately, investing in pro bono work is a win-win – for people who need greater access to justice, and for the people doing the work itself.
"Pro bono work, aside from the obvious of doing good in the world, which is the most important thing, is a great opportunity to teach lawyers how to use these tools with rigor. It's a skill they'll be able to use across matters, and it's a way to build trust with them that they will take along for their entire careers," Josh said.
"Build the skilled skepticism muscle: use a tool, feel like it gets meaningful results, but don't rely on what it says all the time. If people use that skill on a smaller corpus or different stakes, they'll be able to use it on bigger ones," Dan said.
Pro bono teams are well placed to practice that muscle, and the habits they build travel well to every matter that follows.
If your organization is interested in doing more pro bono work, Justice for Change is a great place to start. The program offers organizations doing pro bono legal work in support of social justice free access to Relativity aiR, along with support from partners across our community. You can contact our team with questions. We're happy to help.
Graphics for this article were created by Kael Rose.
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