Law Firms Discuss AI, Tech Innovation at Litera Summit

At Litera, the clients often do the talking . So it’s no surprise that three of them shared the stage with CEO Avaneesh Marwaha at the company update at ILTACON last week. The clients, representatives from Troutman Pepper Locke and FBT Gibbons, were fresh off the latest Trailblazers Summit — an annual meeting of Litera Foundation users . The event brings together a community of law firm technologists who share the most innovative use cases their firms are implementing. Their respective presentations covered topics like navigating a multifirm merger, powering AI systems with vetted data, boosting Chambers rankings, and transforming the RFP response process. Lito, the company’s award-winning Legal AI agent, is now present throughout all of these workflows. When the presentations from the law firm representatives — Carrie Remhof of Troutman Pepper Locke, along with Cindy Bare and Casey Rauschenberg of FBT Gibbons — ended, Marwaha posed a question for the ILTACON audience of legal technologists. “How are you going to compete with those two firms you just saw?” he said. “Because in reality, they’re going to keep winning. They just are.” “They’re set up the right way. They have the right culture. They’re using technology the right way.” While Litera focuses on getting the maximum value from a law firm’s data, the company’s CEO shared some data of his own. He presented sample metrics from a recent survey of over 100 customers: • 95% of respondents believe they have already made their bets on AI. For Marwaha, this is a shocking result. He noted that, at his company, the areas they’ve bet on 18 months ago probably aren’t even involved in the operations today. “It’s initial innings,” he said. “So don’t be afraid to keep researching and looking. It’s definitely tiring, but I would counsel against thinking that you’re done.” • 85% of respondents have made decisions on AI because of client pressure. This was a particularly important theme for Litera at ILTACON. The company sponsored a separate AI masterclass panel on communicating AI use to clients, led by Litera’s general counsel. Those panelists agreed that firms must “show their work” when describing technology use to GCs, adding that simply sharing a firm’s tech stack would probably be poorly received. Marwaha echoed this theme at the ILTACON company update. Firms must be “maniacal” about client service in the AI age, he said — and firms that don’t adapt to technology might as well consider themselves a failing business. “For the management team, I understand you all don’t always have a say in that,” he said. “But you do have the right to raise your hand in a meeting and say, ‘Folks, we’re not doing enough.’” • 53% of respondents are worried about the activities of their competitors. “So you’re just pretty much pointing at each other saying, ‘Well, they’re doing it, so I’m doing it,’” according to Marwaha. These types of actions are just checking a box without a strategic approach, he said. • 60% of respondents say their law firm’s data is what keeps them separate from the market. Marwaha endorsed this idea, and followed it up with a challenge. “How are you harnessing [the data?]” he asked. “How are you using it? What are those technologies you’re investing in? Are you just looking at the shiny object?” • And, finally, 99% is an unacceptable rate of accuracy for outputs from a technology tool — Litera’s own ethos. In the legal industry, professionals have to be right, Marwaha said. This makes it unacceptable for technology to introduce any level of uncertainty. “‘99% good’ means ‘100% of the time you&r