Why a Culture of Innovation Drives Impact for Law Firms

In today’s legal market, innovation is central to how firms deliver value, attract talent, and grow profitably. The difference between firms that see marginal gains and those that lead the market isn’t just what they adopt. It’s how they foster a culture of innovation.  

Firms that have shown that cultivating a culture of innovation—where technology is evaluated strategically and integrated deliberately—creates lasting, organization-wide impact. As illustrated by the approach at Gibbons and explored in the new commissioned research from Forrester Consulting, the Total Economic Impact™ of LexisNexis Lexis+ AI for Large Law Firms, this mindset enables law firms to stay competitive, deepen client relationships, and elevate legal work across every level. 

Client Expectations Are Changing 

Clients increasingly evaluate legal partners on more than legal outcomes. Responsiveness, efficiency, and strategic insight now influence who wins and retains business. As explored in a 2025 Case Study, Gibbons’ Thoughtful Approach to GenAI Enhances Strategic Excellence and Client Service, the firm aimed to enhance their operations while delivering exceptional value to clients and anticipating their needs. By implementing Lexis+ AI following a careful evaluation by its dedicated AI Committee, they were able to:  

• Accelerated development of case strategy 

• Expedite labor-intensive preliminary work  

• Streamline legal research and deliver faster, high value guidance 

 

“A task that would have taken 100 hours can now be done much more efficiently.” 
— Joshua S. Levy, General Counsel, Gibbons

These outcomes are like those found by Forrester Consulting. In the Total Economic Impact™ study, Forrester found that, “today’s clients expect the same high-quality support from firms they always have, but with accelerated timelines. Interviewees said Lexis+ AI enables a deeper level of understanding for both research staff and attorneys, giving them the ability to find a ‘needle in the haystack’ case law to best support client objectives sooner. Therefore, they can better meet quality and delivery timeline expectations and improve overall client satisfaction with the firm.” 

Talent Is Evolving 

As new generations of lawyers enter the workforce, they bring different expectations around tools, training, and impact. Today’s associates are familiar with AI from law school and want to join firms that are technologically current and support meaningful work. 

Providing the right tools is part of the solution. So is the environment firms create for exploring and learning new capabilities. To address this trend, Gibbons created a dedicated AI Committee to evaluate AI solutions that spans practice areas and career stages—demonstrating a top-down, bottom-up approach to innovation. 

“[New associates] are going to come to the firm already knowing how to use Lexis+ AI from school.” 
— Director of Research Services and Knowledge, law firm with more than $100M in annual revenue  

Forrester Consulting also noted that some of time savings of AI tools can contribute to a better work/life balance and makes the firm a more attractive working environment for both associates and experienced hires.  

Efficiency Isn’t the Goal. Strategic Work Is. 

Lexis+ AI accelerates legal tasks like research, case law summarization, and first-draft writing. This immediate impact of innovation is getting work done faster—but the more meaningful impact is elevating the work attorneys spend their time on. Lexis+ AI helps attorneys move more quickly from information gathering to interpretation and advice, where their expertise has the most value. 

“Lexis+ AI allows us to get to the second level faster. We can spend less time on ground-floor work and more on high-level analysis.” 
— Joshua S. Levy, Gibbons

The result: clients benefit from better insights, attorneys focus on more rewarding work, and firms position themselves as true strategic partners. 

Innovation Requires a Thoughtful Approach 

That said, the best technology requires the right environment around it to deliver maximum impact. AI-enabled firms implement and govern this new evolving technology with training, clear use cases, data governance, and a long-term commitment to adaptation.  

In the early stages of implementing Lexis+ AI, Gibbons developed internal processes for evaluating tools, piloting use cases, and providing firmwide education—ensuring that innovation is sustainable and secure. 

“We want to stay ahead of the curve, but not by racing beyond what we’ve carefully evaluated. We’re lawyers, after all.” 
— Peter Torcicollo, Managing Director, Gibbons

Forrester Consulting found that firms dedicated internal resources to “managing the deployment of Lexis+ AI to ensure that the program reached desired levels of awareness for potential users and use cases, provided prescriptive guidance for those users, and met strict internal security and governance protocols for genAI.” As the solution is scaled across the firm, a common approach is to require training prior to granting access to the tool to ensure participation and minimize potential risk.   

“One of the big concerns with our attorneys is to make sure they’re abiding by their ethical duties. [We view] an ongoing training process as mandatory for attorneys who want access [to Lexis+ AI].” 
— Director of Research and Information, law firm with $3B in annual revenue

To support this careful approach, Lexis+ AI is built to align with strict governance standards unique to law firms. It is designed with robust privacy and security measures in place to protect sensitive client information and ensure compliance with relevant data protection regulations. Furthermore, LexisNexis has a comprehensive data protection program to safeguard customer information, including encryption, compliance with data protection laws, and regular security assessments and audits. 

Innovation Builds Competitive Advantage 

Technology-forward firms signal to clients that they’re efficient, adaptive, and prepared for what’s next. By investing in AI solutions like Lexis+ AI and applying a thoughtful approach to their deployment, firms gain a competitive advantage.  

“What drove us to [invest in Lexis+ AI] is the belief that our clients will expect and the standard of service that we expect to deliver are both going to require that we utilize some sort of generative AI in the future…” 
— CIO, law firm with $231M in annual revenue

As seen in the Gibbons case study and Forrester Consulting findings, the changing expectations of clients and talent have driven interest in implementing solutions like Lexis+ AI. Along with Lexis+ AI’s ability to help attorneys focus on delivering higher level, higher quality work, these dynamics make a powerful case for investing in innovation, the right way.  

Explore how Lexis+ AI supports your firm’s innovation journey → www.lexisnexis.com/ai  

Download The Total Economic Impact™ of LexisNexis Lexis+ AI for Large Law Firms, Forrester Consulting, May 2025 to explore how Lexis+ AI drives business impact → www.lexisnexis.com/firm-ai-roi  

Download the case study on how Gibbons’ Thoughtful Approach to GenAI Enhances Strategic 
Excellence and Client Service → https://legal.lexisnexis.com/AI-Case-Studies