Building Real AI Competence in the Legal Profession

By Steve Fretzin and Colin Levy

SEO Meta Description: Discover how lawyers can build real AI competence, protect client confidentiality, choose the right legal tech, and use AI to improve everyday legal workflows.

Artificial intelligence is everywhere in the legal profession, but there is still a significant difference between talking about AI and actually knowing how to use it effectively. Lawyers are seeing new tools appear at a rapid pace, hearing predictions about how AI will transform the profession, and trying to determine which technologies deserve their attention. The challenge is that technology is not slowing down to let anyone catch up.

On a recent episode of the BE THAT LAWYER podcast, I spoke with Colin Levy, General Counsel at Malbek, Adjunct Professor at Albany Law School, and author of The Legal Tech Ecosystem. Colin has spent his career helping legal professionals understand technology, AI, and the practical changes shaping the future of legal work.

Our conversation focused on what lawyers should actually be doing now to build AI competence. The answer is not simply reading headlines, buying every new platform, or assuming that technology will solve problems on its own. Real competence comes from understanding the problems in your practice, experimenting with tools, protecting client information, and learning how to use AI in practical and responsible ways.

AI Is Changing Workflows, Not Replacing the Need for Lawyers

The conversation around AI often creates unnecessary anxiety. Lawyers hear predictions about jobs disappearing and assume that technology is coming to replace them. But the more immediate reality is that AI is changing how work gets done.

Many of the most practical applications involve repetitive, time-consuming tasks that already slow lawyers down. AI can help summarize documents, compare contracts, organize information, draft initial materials, and turn existing knowledge into something useful. That does not eliminate the need for legal judgment. It simply changes where lawyers spend their time.

The opportunity is to move away from spending hours on repetitive administrative and document-heavy tasks and toward higher-value work. Lawyers can focus more on strategy, relationships, judgment, and problem-solving while technology helps with some of the processes that consume time without requiring the same level of human expertise.

As Colin explains, “The power of AI right now is in using existing knowledge and taking that to create something new or build something new.”

That is a much more practical way for lawyers to think about AI. Instead of asking whether technology will replace them, they should be asking which parts of their workflow can be improved and where technology can help them work more efficiently.

Technology Will Not Wait for Lawyers to Catch Up

One of the biggest challenges facing the legal profession is the uneven adoption of technology. Some lawyers are actively experimenting with AI and legal technology, while others are waiting for the tools to become more established or hoping the pace of change eventually slows down.

That is unlikely to happen.

Technology continues to evolve whether lawyers participate or not. The risk of doing nothing is not necessarily that a lawyer suddenly becomes irrelevant. The more realistic risk is falling behind professionals who learn how to use technology effectively and can deliver work more efficiently.

This does not mean lawyers need to become technology experts overnight. It means they need to develop enough competence to understand what tools are available, what problems those tools can solve, and how to evaluate them responsibly.

The legal profession has already experienced major technological shifts. From e-discovery and document management to cloud-based practice management and modern AI, lawyers have repeatedly had to adapt to new ways of working. AI is simply the latest and perhaps most significant development in that progression.

The best response is not avoidance. It is curiosity.

Start with the Problem, Not the Technology

One of the easiest mistakes law firms can make is buying technology because everyone else is talking about it. A new platform may look impressive, promise dramatic efficiency, and sound like something the firm needs to remain competitive. But without a clearly defined problem, even the best technology can become expensive shelfware.

Before purchasing or implementing a new tool, lawyers should ask a simple question: What problem are we trying to solve?

Maybe the problem is spending too much time reviewing lengthy documents. Maybe it is drafting repetitive communications. Maybe it is comparing contracts, managing knowledge, organizing information, or dealing with an overloaded intake process.

Once the problem is clear, the technology evaluation becomes much easier. Lawyers can determine whether a particular tool actually solves the issue or simply adds another platform to an already crowded technology stack.

This approach also prevents firms from becoming distracted by AI hype. The goal should not be to use AI simply because it is AI. The goal should be to improve a specific workflow, reduce unnecessary effort, or create better results for clients and the firm.

Technology should serve the practice, not become the practice.

Document Work Offers Practical Opportunities for AI

Some of the most valuable AI applications in law are also some of the most straightforward. Legal work involves enormous amounts of information, and lawyers routinely spend time reading, comparing, summarizing, organizing, and drafting from existing documents.

That makes document-related work a natural place to start.

AI can assist with summarizing large volumes of information, identifying differences between documents, creating first drafts based on existing materials, and helping lawyers organize complex information before they apply their own legal judgment.

The important word is assist.

Lawyers should not blindly accept everything an AI tool produces. AI can help create a starting point, but legal professionals still need to review the output, verify the information, and apply the appropriate professional judgment.

Starting with low-risk tasks can also help lawyers build confidence. Rather than attempting to redesign an entire law firm around AI, a lawyer can experiment with one repetitive process and evaluate the results. Small experiments create practical learning opportunities and make technology feel less intimidating.

That is how real competence develops.

Client Confidentiality Must Come Before Convenience

As useful as AI can be, lawyers cannot forget the professional responsibilities that come with using technology. One of the most important issues is client confidentiality.

Not every AI platform provides the same level of privacy, security, and data protection. Free and open tools may be convenient, but lawyers need to understand what happens to the information they enter and whether that information is being retained, reviewed, or used in ways that create confidentiality concerns.

When client information is involved, lawyers need controlled and appropriate environments. Paid tools, enterprise platforms, and properly vetted technology solutions may offer important safeguards that public or free platforms do not.

Convenience is not a substitute for diligence.

Lawyers have an obligation to understand the tools they use and the risks associated with them. That includes asking questions about how data is handled, whether information is retained, who can access it, and what protections are in place.

AI competence, therefore, is not simply about learning how to write better prompts. It also includes understanding the professional and ethical responsibilities that come with using these tools.

Build Competence Through Experimentation

Reading about AI is not the same as using it.

The fastest way to understand technology is often through practical experimentation. Lawyers can test how different prompts affect outputs, compare the results generated by different tools, and learn how providing better context can improve the usefulness of an AI response.

Prompting is not magic. It is a skill that improves with practice.

The more clearly lawyers communicate what they want, provide relevant context, and refine their requests, the more useful the output is likely to become. Experimenting with prompts also helps lawyers understand the limitations of the technology.

That hands-on experience is essential. You cannot develop real technology competence by passively consuming AI news and expecting to become proficient.

Lawyers should become active learners. Try a tool. Give it a clearly defined task. Review the results. Change the prompt. Add more context. Compare the output. Learn what works and what does not.

Over time, that experimentation creates practical knowledge that cannot be gained from simply reading another article about AI.

Build a Smarter Legal Workflow

The future of legal technology is not about replacing lawyers with machines. It is about helping lawyers work more effectively by improving the workflows surrounding their expertise.

The lawyers who benefit most from AI will likely be those who understand both sides of the equation. They will understand their legal work deeply enough to identify where inefficiencies exist, and they will understand technology well enough to evaluate whether a particular tool can help.

That requires a mindset shift.

Lawyers do not need to master every new AI platform. They need to become better at recognizing problems, testing solutions, protecting client information, and continuously learning.

The legal profession will continue to change. AI tools will become more sophisticated, workflows will evolve, and clients will expect professionals to use technology intelligently. The best time to build competence is not after everyone else has figured it out.

It is now.

About Colin Levy

Colin S. Levy is a leading authority on legal technology, AI in law, and contract lifecycle management. He currently serves as General Counsel at Malbek and as an Adjunct Professor at Albany Law School. Widely recognized as an influential voice in legal technology, Colin helps legal professionals understand digital transformation, modern AI integration, and workflow innovation.

He is the author of The Legal Tech Ecosystem, a guide to understanding legal technology and AI, and frequently speaks and writes about how technological advances are reshaping the future of the legal profession.

Connect with Colin Levy

Website: https://www.colinslevy.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinslevy/

Connect with Steve Fretzin

LinkedIn: Steve Fretzin
Twitter: @stevefretzin
Instagram: @fretzinsteve
Facebook: Fretzin, Inc.
Website: BETHATLAWYER.com
Email: [email protected]
Book: Legal Business Development Isn’t Rocket Science and more
YouTube: Steve Fretzin
Call Steve directly at 847-602-6911

Ready to Grow Your Law Practice?

If you are ready to grow your law practice without selling or chasing, schedule your free 30-minute strategy session with Steve Fretzin. The goal is to build a business development approach that feels natural, consistent, and aligned with the way you want to practice law.

You can also join the BE THAT LAWYER Community to connect with ambitious lawyers who are serious about growing their book of business, strengthening their brand, and becoming confident, consistent rainmakers.

Be sure to check out BE THAT LAWYER Coaches Corner for the strategies Steve uses with his clients to win more business and love their careers again.

And if you are ready to go from good to GOAT in your legal marketing game, don’t miss PIMCON, where the brightest minds in professional services gather to share what really works.

Thank you to LEX Reception, Rankings.io, and Lawyer.com for supporting the legal community.

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You’re the expert. Your podcast will prove it.