The College of Law Practice Management recently held its annual Futures Conference — Untether the Law — focused on breaking the bonds of business structures and cultural mores that hold law firms back from improving the value delivered to clients. The College is a unique society of fewer than 300 “Fellows” drawn from across the legal ecosystem — judges, lawyers in private and in-house practice, consultants, law firm and legal department operations executives, marketing professionals, tech entrepreneurs, consultants, and academics. In this environment of leading practitioners who have made a positive impact on law practice management, it is clear that we need to apply new practices to old problems.  

Let’s Be Clear 

In “The Newlywed Game” session, participants from law firms and legal departments reveal common misunderstandings with their counterparts. For example, one in-house legal executive says, “I want you to make the call,” a familiar complaint about receiving long, nuanced memos rather than clear guidance on what you think I should do.  

Corporate clients would get better results if they applied what they’ve learned about crafting effective AI prompts when giving direction to their outside counsel: 

• Clearly state what you want to achieve and what type of work product you want, such as analysis, advice, or a research summary. 
• Specify the format including length, writing style (e.g. bulleted), and tone. 
• Provide context and examples showing what the ideal output would look like. 
• Iterate and refine as needed.  

Clients can get what they want by giving specific directions and then insisting on their needs being met, even if they must reiterate them.  

Let’s Engage 

Both corporations and law firms are under competitive pressure to adopt AI. However, they often approach this independently rather than collaboratively. Many corporate clients are issuing policies prohibiting law firms from using AI on their data. Instead of a restrictive approach, clients can join forces with their law firms, engage the right stakeholders, and select the right knowledge base and protections to assure data privacy. Together, corporations and firms can develop AI governance strategies, ensuring compliance with ethical standards, and maintaining transparency about AI usage. 

The process of prompt engineering and AI innovation is iterative. By sharing costs and pooling expertise, both corporations and law firms will accelerate their progress toward common objectives. 

Let’s Expand 

In that “Newlywed Game,” one of the in-house counsel contestants said, “Law firms are too focused on ‘top of pyramid’ work; clients want help with the whole pyramid.” This is where alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) come in. ALSPs use technology and data analytics capabilities to meet client needs and attract investors. The fast growth of the ALSP sector is proof of their utility in providing managed services for high volume, lower risk work in the middle and lower tiers of the pyramid.  

Corporate legal executives should exercise their power as buyers of legal services by orchestrating ecosystems of law firms and ALSPs to improve legal services up and down the value pyramid. Like writing a good prompt, they should be clear about not just what they want but how and when, while being willing to collaborate and iterate to advance a highly efficient, tech-enabled legal service delivery model.  


Catherine J. Moynihan is Senior Director, Strategic Intelligence & Advisory for Epiq’s Legal Business Advisory Group overseeing Hyperion Research, Epiq’s legal market intelligence program, as well as spearheading legal advisory intelligence programs for global legal executives focused on legal operations transformation.