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The email looked polished. Confident. Thorough. It included case citations, a structured legal argument, and a clear recommendation. It was exactly the kind of internal memo you would expect from a competent legal team, except for one problem.
The cases didn’ t exist.
Somewhere between a tight deadline and a well-intentioned shortcut, artificial intelligence had been used to accelerate the drafting process. The result was a document that looked right, sounded right, and passed a quick review, but was fundamentally wrong.
And it made its way further than it should have.
That story, or some version of it, is no longer hypothetical. It’ s happening in real organizations, across industries, right now. And it captures the moment in-house counsel find themselves in today: standing at the intersection of extraordinary capability and very real risk.
Artificial intelligence is not coming for the legal profession. It’ s already here.
And it’ s changing the role of in-house counsel in ways that are both subtle and profound.
From reviewer to architect
For years, the role of in-house counsel has been largely reactive. Review the contract. Assess the risk. Step in when something breaks.
AI is flipping that model.
Today, legal teams are being pulled upstream into conversations about implementation, governance, and strategy. Not because they asked to be there, but because they have to be.
AI is now embedded in core business functions:
■ Screening job applicants
■ Analyzing customer data
■ Generating marketing content
■ Informing operational decisions
Each of those functions carries legal implications. And those implications don’ t wait for a contract to be signed; they exist at the moment of design.
Which means in-house counsel are no longer just reviewing decisions. They’ re shaping them. 18