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Law firms are undergoing structural change at a pace not previously seen in the profession. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are reshaping research, drafting, and knowledge work; clients are demanding increasing levels of efficiency, transparency, and innovation; and alternative legal service providers and the Big Four continue to expand, offering clients an ever-widening array of options and restricting law firms’ slice of the market. As AI becomes increasingly embedded in legal operations and practice, legal professionals and support teams find their roles evolving, moving beyond pure practice support into a more strategic function.
As profitability pressures intensify in response to technological innovation, law firms are hiring beyond the traditional associate–partner track. Roles that barely existed five years ago – such as legal engineer, head of AI, legal data scientist, or client solutions architect – are now central to firm strategy, directly impacting profitability, operational efficiency, and competitive differentiation. However, this wave of innovation has brought uncertainty and risk, and many firms stand at the precipice of an AI-enabled transformation, convinced that these newly formed roles and technologies are critical to future success but unsure of how they should be operationalized to create increased value, efficiency, and productivity. Currently, there is no comprehensive, practical guide to aid firms in navigating this unchartered territory.
Rising Roles in Law: Designing the AI-Enabled, Data-Driven Law Firm fills that gap, delving into the people and roles driving transformation and mapping the workforce architecture of the AI-enabled firm. In a first-of-its-kind guide to the AI-enabled law firm workforce, law firm leaders, innovation professionals, and technologists will explore what these newly formed roles involve, how they interact, how firms should structure them, and what this means for leadership and career pathways. With emphasis on practical insight, case studies and implementation guidance, Rising Roles in Law will equip readers with the data-driven insights and actionable strategies needed to embrace AI's potential and harness its power to shape the future of legal operations.
Price: £159.00
Pages: 200
Publisher: Globe Law and Business
Imprint: Globe Law and Business
Publication Date:
31 July 2026
Trim Size: 9.25 X 6.12 in
ISBN: 9781837232000
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
About the contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Chapter 1: The changing structure of the modern, AI-enabled law firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
By Ken Crutchfield, founder and CEO, Spring Forward Consulting
Corporate clients as catalysts for change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The new competitive landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Uber moment: The unauthorized practice of law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The emergence of new roles and operating models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
How traditional firms will adapt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Designing the AI-enabled law firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chapter 2: The legal engineer: Productizing legal work in the AI-enabled firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
By Ali Chaudhry, senior legal engineer, Simmons & Simmons
From knowledge engineer to legal engineer: How we got here . . . . . . . 14
What the role actually involves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Productizing legal services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
How legal engineers work with lawyers and IT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Skills, backgrounds, and what firms are looking for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Chapter 3: Legal data scientists and analytics leaders: The rise of legal intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
By Matthew J. Dunne, AI solutions lead, K&L Gates LLP
What is a data scientist? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Data in legal delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Foundations and governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Chapter 4: Knowledge management, prompt engineering, and the client-facing future of legal knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
By Colin S. Levy, general counsel, Malbek
Where the real value lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
What generative AI use looks like in legal practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Prompt engineering as a legal skill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
The KM team as adoption engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Practical examples: Successes and failures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
The client-facing future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Chapter 5: The legal operations leader: Designing modern legal service delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
By Katie Moon, head of legal design and operations, and Daniel Solomon, portfolio lead: client collaboration, Lewis Silkin LLP
The rise of legal operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
What is the focus of legal operations? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Who are legal operations professionals? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
What type of work do they do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
How else is AI impacting this role? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
How will the role evolve? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Chapter 6: AI governance professionals: Managing risk in the AI-enabled law firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
By Harry Borovick, general counsel, Luminance, and Amy Merrick, senior legal counsel, Google DeepMind
Why governance roles are emerging now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
The governance professional as translator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
A practical risk framework: The “four gates” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
The privilege question: When AI meets confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Cybersecurity, client assurance, and the new trust question . . . . . . . . . 83
Governance as a competitive advantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Chapter 7: Designing the modern legal workforce: Building multidisciplinary teams for the AI-enabled law firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
By Dr Catriona Wolfenden, director of product and innovation, Weightmans LLP
The times, they are a-changin’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The capabilities modern teams need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Choosing the right operating model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
The Weightmans approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Culture and incentives: Integrating other specialists into partnership-led environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
The shift to organizing teams around “products” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Challenges and lessons learned: Making multidisciplinary teams work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Chapter 8: From roles to systems: How AI is reshaping legal decision infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
By Olga V. Mack, CEO, TermScout
The misdiagnosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Core framework: The Legal Decision Stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Supporting framework: Signal vs document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Supporting framework: The Risk-Tiered Action Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Example 1: Contracts as decision systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Example 2: ESI protocols as decision systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Why roles are emerging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Implications for leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Chapter 9: The AI-enabled professional: Skills, culture, and adoption in the modern law firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
By Paul Caddy, managing knowledge lawyer, Lewis Silkin LLP
The skills required for AI-enabled roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
The cultural and behavioral factors that drive successful AI adoption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Challenges of embedding new tools into real workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
How firms approach training and capability development . . . . . . . . . . 141
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
About Globe Law and Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149