The National Law Review published a critical commentary (August 3) arguing that ABA Formal Opinion 512 and Mississippi Bar guidance are giving lawyers flawed AI guidance. The critique: the guidance implies that legal-specific AI tools may justify lower verification standards than general AI tools. The National Law Review's position is that this is incorrect. The correct formulation: even legal-spe
Reuters (July 23) published analysis arguing that law firm leaders are systematically under-communicating on AI — staying vague or silent — because they feel they cannot say anything definitive while the technology and market are shifting. The practical solution proposed: adopt a principles-based framework for AI communications, modeled on how regulators approach evolving domains. Rather than anno
Law.com (July 28) published analysis by Donald Silver arguing that AI chatbots and agent-driven answer engines are becoming the first point of contact for clients seeking legal advice — shifting the BD and visibility problem from search engine optimization (SEO) to answer engine optimization (AEO). AEO is described as "the practice of strengthening the signals that AI platforms use to determine wh
Deloitte Legal's The AI Imperative report this week attracted specific attention from legal pricing publications for the force of its client-expectations data: 78% of senior legal leaders say cost reduction is the leading benefit they want from outside counsel's AI use, 57% want improved quality of legal services, and 55% want increased innovative pricing. The external legal spend reduction the re
In-house AI adoption has crossed 87% according to the FTI Consulting and Relativity 2026 General Counsel Report, while only half of law firms have deployed AI at scale — and 54% of law firms provide no AI training. The gap is driving a structural shift in how in-house teams are managing outside counsel relationships. According to Checkbox's July 2026 analysis, major corporate legal departments are