The legal industry is currently witnessing a massive divergence between the speed of technological evolution and the reality of departmental adoption. Technology is simply advancing faster than legal departments can effectively implement it. The next wave – agentic AI – promises to automate and execute multi-step workflows and change the nature of in-house legal work end-to-end.
The problem is that 52% of legal departments are still in pilots with generative AI, with fewer departments (23%) saying they are fully deployed and operational, according to the latest Blickstein Group Law Department Operations (LDO) survey. Meanwhile, 20% of legal departments are actively deploying AI agents for contract negotiation, with another 40% exploring the technology.
Given the rapid pace of technology change, legal departments need a strategy for assessing, piloting and rolling out – or moving on – quickly and effectively.
The Middle-Mile Problem
Why do pilots stall? The root cause is often the “middle mile” problem. Organizations frequently treat AI as a standard software purchase or a tool to be installed rather than a fundamental workforce transformation.
This traditional approach is failing for three reasons:
- Fragmentation: An overwhelming number of providers has created a tech stack that cannot communicate with itself.
- Safety Brakes: Security and accuracy concerns remain a significant hurdle for 44% of legal professionals, acting as a permanent brake on deployment.
- The Shiny Object Trap: The rush to explore agentic models without a foundational data strategy leads to pilots that look good in a vacuum but fail in production.
To bridge the gap between piloting and deployment, legal leaders need a new roadmap.
A Roadmap to Escape Pilot Purgatory
1.- Establish a Rigorous Assessment Framework
With a flood of new technologies hitting the market, it is easy to get lost chasing the latest flashy feature. Successful departments apply the discipline of an objective framework: survey the market, prioritize high-value use cases, and apply consistent criteria to every tool. If a tool doesn’t meet the threshold, move on quickly.
2.- Accept a Continuing Work-in-Progress
The legal tech stack will never be complete. Many teams fall into paralysis by analysis, waiting for the perfect, all-in-one solution. In reality, decisions must be made to solve today’s challenges, with the understanding that these tools may be re-evaluated or replaced in two to three years as the landscape shifts.
3.- Leverage Trusted Partners to Shortlist
You don’t have to vet every tool yourself. Law firms and Legal Service Providers (LSPs) are exposed to a wide array of technologies across different clients. Leverage their experience to shortlist vendors. Often, a provider can run a pilot within your environment or conduct a joint proof-of-concept, saving your internal team hundreds of hours in the vetting phase.
4.- Define Success with Go/No-Go Timelines
Every pilot must have a shelf life. Before a single login is created, establish what success looks like using quantifiable metrics. Set a strict period for testing and reporting. At the end of that period, there are only two options: Go or no-go.
5.- Prioritize Quantifiable ROI Use Cases
Focus on pilots that directly reduce outside counsel spend or internal hours on high-volume tasks. If you cannot establish a current baseline or demonstrate time savings against your current state, do not waste time piloting it. For example, rather than exploring AI, map out a specific process like M&A due diligence where agents handle the first 80% of the heavy lifting.
6.- Empower Change Champions
Technology doesn’t fail; adoption does. Identify change champions within your team – those who are naturally tech-curious – to lead the pilot. Their enthusiasm generates the internal momentum necessary to push a tool past the pilot phase and into the daily workflow of the rest of the department.
Agentic Adoption Realities
The most common reason pilots fail is a misalignment of expectations. Many leaders expect 100% automation and are disappointed when a human still needs to intervene. Setting reasonable expectations for agentic adoption requires mapping out the process and understanding the priority areas where agents will offer the most lift and where humans will supervise most effectively. Success looks like agentic AI handling the first 80% of the work, leaving the final, high-value 20% for human experts.
In addition, the coming wave of agentic AI requires legal departments to calibrate how they are thinking about data and workflows. Consider piloting a data cleanup agent. The most sophisticated LLM in the world is useless if your contracts are trapped in disorganized repositories or inconsistent formats. By focusing on the data layer first, you ensure your legal AI has a clean foundation to act upon.
The 2026 Deadline
Many legal departments are still in pilot mode, but we are rapidly approaching a tipping point. By the end of 2026, the gap between piloters and deployers will become a significant competitive disadvantage. Those who have built an AI-enabled workforce will operate at a speed and cost-basis that traditional departments simply cannot match.
The goal for the modern GC isn’t to have the most expensive or best AI; it’s to have the best AI-enabled workforce. To get there, you have to stop piloting and start flying.
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About the author
Scott Bien, J.D., is Vice President, Enterprise Solutions, at Integreon. He earned his law degree from Northern Kentucky University, Salmon P. Chase College of Law.
