AI That Works In The Real World: Lessons From A Legal Ops Playbook - Above the Law

AI That Works In The Real World: Lessons From A Legal Ops Playbook - Above the Law

Briefly

"When legal headlines talk about AI, it's usually all hype or all fear. Either we're replacing lawyers with robots or bracing for doomsday. But back on Earth, where work still has to get done, AI is a business decision, not an existential dilemma. An important decision that legal departments, especially lean ones, need to make with clarity, not chaos. Enter the Hanna Center: a nonprofit that treated AI not as a headline but as a workflow challenge."

"Start with the Why Our engagement with the Hanna Center began with a straightforward challenge: too much manual work for a small team, the kind that drains hours and focus from higher-impact priorities. Rather than chasing the next shiny tool, we zeroed in on what mattered most: value. Together, we mapped where time was being lost, what tasks could be safely offloaded, and how to safeguard both their people and their mission."

"That shift in focus changed everything. By grounding the project in a real operational problem instead of an abstract idea of "innovation," we created the space to measure outcomes that actually mattered. Hanna's goal wasn't a headline; it was lasting efficiency. That efficiency began with a workflow audit that identified nine clear use cases, each ranked by complexity to create a roadmap for phased adoption."