California Courts: Clear Guidance on Managing Generative AI Workload in Legal Teams

• Clarify your team's responsibilities and establish clear boundaries around urgent requests.
• Encourage your team members to ask for clear direction on their responsibilities and seek outside expertise when necessary.
• Communicate clearly about urgency by asking how urgent each request truly is, rather than assuming it's critical.

Communicating clearly about urgency can be key to managing the distress these questions engender in your team members.

As a legal manager, you're likely no stranger to receiving a constant stream of questions from colleagues and stakeholders. However, the recent influx of queries about generative AI tools has added an extra layer of complexity to your team's workload. The questions range from data governance and risk management to the use of these tools in various contexts. While some of these inquiries may be novel, others are more familiar territory for lawyers. To mitigate burnout, it's essential to clarify your team's responsibilities and establish clear boundaries around urgent requests.

A closer examination of the scope of work assigned to your team is necessary to prevent 'mission creep' and related burnout. Are you being asked to procure generative AI tools, or are the questions only about how they're used? Lack of clarity can lead to overestimation of urgency, causing teams to overcommit and burn out. Encourage your team members to ask for clear direction on their responsibilities and to seek outside expertise when necessary. This will help prevent the unconscious expansion of mandates and related stress.

Communicating clearly about urgency is crucial in managing the distress caused by these questions. Encourage your team members to ask how urgent each request truly is, rather than assuming it's critical. This simple step can help prevent overcommitment and burnout. Additionally, being able to adapt personal boundaries and reassert them when necessary is just as important as creating them initially. By setting clear expectations and communicating effectively, you can better manage the workload and reduce stress on your team.

To mitigate burnout, clarify your team's responsibilities and establish clear boundaries around urgent requests. Ask the questioners to specify the urgency of each request, and consider bringing in outside expertise for tasks beyond your team's training and expertise.

Source: Original reporting via Managing the Overload