It has been a long time since a topic has so quickly, and lastingly, swept the business world and the legal field quite like AI. By now, on some level, generative AI beckons legal professionals everywhere. It represents both an inevitable horizon and a (maybe) murky path we are already walking—though some of us didn’t quite mean to be on it in the first place.
And it’s exciting: here is a tool promising to transform the way we work and, in turn, revolutionize the legal field in ways that could affect substantial, positive change. What’s perhaps most intoxicating about AI is how it is already—and quickly—delivering on its promises.
Still, legal organizations are wisely cognizant of risk, and legal professionals are working diligently to balance the promise of AI with the uncertainty of Anything New.
So how do you navigate a winding, complex web for which you don’t have a roadmap? The starting point is simple: you don’t lose touch with your roots. You center yourself and your strategy around the human element that inspires and informs the innovation in the first place.
And next? It helps to have a powerhouse of human experts helming the charge.
The Human League
Last month, Relativity announced the 2025 cohort of AI Visionaries, an annual list recognizing innovators, pioneers, and legal professionals trailblazing how we wield AI in legal. These 24 industry leaders are charting the future of legal AI through meticulous study, visionary curiosity, and the elbow grease required to turn notepad scrawls into tangible transformation.
But how is AI solving legal problems anyway? AI Visionary Ashley Picker Dubin, counsel at Day Pitney, points to AI as a tidy solution for the well-known and persistent legal data volume problem.
“I believe generative AI is a game changer in litigation because it fundamentally transforms how we manage and analyze the vast amounts of data that modern cases generate.” – Ashley Picker Dubin
Plus, even a rudimentary AI strategy means critical time savings for legal professionals—with critical results.
“AI frees up our time from routine tasks,” Ashley says, “allowing us to focus on complex legal challenges and provide personalized guidance to our clients.”
From Automation to Innovation
Automation isn’t the only trick up AI’s sleeve. AI Visionary Dr. Klara Weiand, partner and head of Analytics & Innovation Forensic Technology at Deloitte, says, “AI is powerful, but its true impact comes from solving meaningful problems. The best solutions begin with, ‘How can this serve people better?’ rather than, ‘What can we automate?’”
Real innovation creates meaningful impact, and in an industry like legal, impact means everything: from time to money to human lives themselves. And these human lives must be treated with the thoughtful consideration and delicate care only other humans can provide.
“While AI is transformative,” Ashley says, “it simply can’t replicate the nuanced judgment, ethical considerations, and strategic thinking that are the hallmarks of effective legal practice.”
Dr. Weiand agrees:
“Over my career, I’ve witnessed AI grow from a niche research topic into a genuine game-changer. Through it all, I’ve held one constant belief: technology should act as a catalyst for human expertise, amplifying our ability to solve complex problems and make responsible decisions.” – Dr. Klara Weiand
The message is clear: AI supplements, inspires, and propels human expertise, but it cannot and should not replace it.
Do As People Do
So how are the AI Visionaries leading the tech curve and mastering this delicate balance? AI Visionary Jeremy Pickens, managing director of applied science at Elevate Law, suggests starting with the root problem and working in any direction that yields a viable, sustainable solution.
“My advice: Don't adopt AI, adopt outcomes. Don't think of AI as AI. Don’t think of it as a plug-in to solve your problems. Your goal is to solve your problems using anything that gets you there in an effective manner. The key is being able and willing to measure what is effective. When you do that, both the AI and proper way of using AI will fall naturally into place,” he says.
But with so many available AI solutions and myriad ways in which to use them, how do you determine what’s effective and what's just noise? How do you know, on a path uncharted, that you’re actually moving toward that aspirational horizon and not just trudging in circles?
According to Jeremy, the answer is simple: let lawyers do what they do best.
“Lawyers are very good at applying critical thought—not just accepting arguments at face value, but questioning the underlying assumptions, looking at alternatives, weighing different explanations for why something is the way it is. They raise objections. They're trained to tear that argument apart. I want them to tear AI apart in the same way, because doing so creates understanding and therefore acceptance.” – Jeremy Pickens
It’s Human Nature
This is what makes a visionary: the innate and insatiable curiosity to pull at threads until the solution is clear, strong, and defensible. Find use cases for how AI can work for you, your clients, and your organization specifically. Take time to understand the nuance of where it falls short or deviates too far, and extrapolate small successes to tackle big, persistent problems with now-trusted methodologies.
Using this approach, you can more readily shift perspectives from the granular to the macroscopic—from the present to the future and back again. Along the way, you measure impact and sentiment, figure out your ideals and your favorite workflows, and make it all repeatable.
Ultimately, it’s just problem-solving like a human—like you would when faced with any new challenge.
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