AI-ready outside counsel guidelines become the new GC control surface

Conventus Law argues that outside counsel guidelines need to move beyond billing, resourcing, expenses and reporting to govern how firms use AI for research, drafting, review and analysis. The practical update is a dedicated AI supplement covering disclosure, lawyer review obligations, data handling and audit rights, with records showing how AI was used, what outputs were reviewed and who reviewed them. For law firms, this is a client-intelligence issue: the firms easiest to buy from will be those that can make AI use visible, supervised and auditable without slowing the work.