What it Takes to Build AI Fluency Across a Law Firm

Law firms have spent the last few years focused on AI adoption: evaluating tools, running pilots, and rolling out new capabilities across their organizations. As generative AI becomes part of everyday legal work, attention is increasingly shifting to AI fluency — helping lawyers develop the skills, judgment, and confidence to use these tools effectively in practice.

Building that fluency requires more than access to technology. It depends on thoughtful training, clear governance, opportunities for experimentation, and a culture that encourages continuous learning.

In our Innovation Spotlight series, we've spoken with innovation and knowledge leaders about how they're approaching this challenge. Below, we share insights from four individuals, including the strategies and lessons that have helped them drive AI fluency at their firms.

Meet Lawyers Where They Are

For Elisabeth Cappuyns, Senior Director of Knowledge Management at DLA Piper, building AI fluency starts with recognizing that lawyers learn differently. Some are eager to experiment with Harvey on their own, while others prefer structured training, practical examples, or one-on-one guidance.

To support those varying needs, DLA Piper offers a range of resources, including live and on-demand trainings, monthly open houses, newsletters, video tutorials, and consultations tailored to specific practice groups and matter teams.

The firm's approach has evolved alongside its users. Early efforts focused on helping lawyers understand generative AI's capabilities and limitations. As familiarity grew, the emphasis shifted toward adoption, advanced use cases, and sharing success stories across the firm. Cappuyns also highlighted the role of peer learning. Adoption often accelerates when lawyers share how they're using AI and the results they're seeing, creating momentum that spreads organically across teams.

Read the full conversation with Elisabeth →

Build the Foundation Before You Scale

AI fluency often begins with experimentation, but sustaining it across an organization requires structure. As firms move from pilots to broader adoption, clear governance, training, and support become increasingly important.

That has been a key focus for Marc Geiger, Director, Legal Operations & Business Technologies at Gleiss Lutz. At the firm, AI adoption is supported by firmwide guidelines, mandatory training, ongoing support, and the active sharing of best practices. The goal is to help lawyers use AI consistently and confidently while maintaining quality standards and client trust.

"We keep the fire burning by pairing clear firm-wide guidelines with hands-on, mandatory training and fast, friendly support," Geiger said. Gleiss Lutz has also focused on embedding AI capabilities early in legal careers by expanding access to trainee lawyers. By treating prompting and AI literacy as skills that can be developed over time, the firm is helping build a generation of lawyers who are comfortable working alongside AI from the outset.

Read the full conversation with Marc →

Drive Fluency Through Shared Learning

AI fluency rarely develops in isolation. Across a law firm, lawyers learn from one another's successes, challenges, and experiments. Creating opportunities for that knowledge-sharing has been a key part of HEUKING's approach to AI adoption.

When the firm began exploring generative AI, it paired new technology with a culture of experimentation and shared learning. Firmwide roadshows, hands-on workshops, prompt libraries, and open communication helped create an environment where lawyers could learn from one another and gradually build confidence using AI.

That approach has contributed to strong adoption across practice groups and seniority levels. According to Juliane Diefenbach, Director of Knowledge Management at HEUKING, the common denominator isn't role or experience level, it's a willingness to try new ways of working.

Diefenbach also emphasized the importance of persistence. Not every use case delivers immediate results, and not every experiment succeeds. But when lawyers openly share both successes and challenges, organizations can develop the trust and skills needed for long-term adoption.

Read the full conversation with Juliane →

Create Opportunities for Iteration

Confidence with AI often develops when lawyers have opportunities to apply the technology to real work, see meaningful results, and refine their approach over time.

At Haynes Boone, that principle has shaped Director of Practice Innovation, Tony Capecci's approach to AI adoption. While firmwide training plays an important role, he has found that some of the most impactful moments happen during one-on-one conversations, when lawyers can work through challenges, improve prompts, and see better results firsthand. As he noted, "I often say AI stands for It's About Iteration."

Haynes Boone has invested in building repeatable workflows in Harvey that help lawyers solve recurring problems more efficiently, from large-scale document analysis to data extraction and review processes. Rather than expecting lawyers to become prompt-engineering experts, the firm's innovation team focuses on creating tools and workflows that make AI easier to use in practice.

For Capecci, successful adoption is built through a series of small wins. When lawyers experience tangible value in their day-to-day work, confidence grows, usage increases, and new opportunities for innovation emerge.

Read the full conversation with Tony →

If you want to learn how Harvey can help you drive AI fluency across your legal organization, contact our team: