How In-House Legal Teams Build the Case for AI Adoption

In-house legal teams occupy a unique position in the legal industry. They manage regulatory compliance, high-stakes litigation, and operational support — all while helping their companies scale and grow.

Unlike law firms, which are structured and resourced to deliver highly tailored client services, in-house teams typically operate with leaner budgets and smaller teams. As businesses grow, legal departments have to keep up with ever-growing demand. According to the CLOC 2025 State of the Industry Report, 63% of legal departments report that workload and bandwidth are top challenges, while 83% expect demand for legal services to keep growing in 2025.

“Doing more with less is a constant reality for us,” says Dr. Claudia Junker, General Counsel at Deutsche Telekom, a telecommunications leader that serves millions of customers across Europe and the United States.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help alleviate these pressures by giving legal teams new ways to manage growing workloads and focus on higher-impact work. Teams that take the lead can shape how AI is adopted, demonstrate ROI through measurable time savings, and elevate their strategic value.

Here’s a six-step framework to help legal departments turn early wins into lasting adoption — starting with a pilot, capturing outcomes, and building a business case.

The most effective way to build support for AI is by running a focused pilot. Begin with strong executive alignment so leadership understands the goals of the pilot and the criteria for success. From there, define a clear time period, targeted use cases, and the right mix of users. A cross-functional group that includes individual contributors, managers, and leaders will provide the most complete view of how AI can support different roles and responsibilities.

Before the pilot begins, run workshops to define use cases and select participants. During the pilot, support the group with structured training, guided sessions, and office hours to drive adoption and help users get the most from the tools. Collect feedback regularly, share usage recaps to highlight power users, and toward the end of the pilot, prepare a tailored ROI analysis and business case that captures what the team achieved. Capturing and quantifying time saved is one of the clearest ways to demonstrate ROI — something many legal teams highlight as their first measurable win.

When HubSpot’s Legal Operations team evaluated Harvey, they followed this playbook. By selecting a cross-functional group of legal and operational testers and integrating Harvey into core workflows, they were able to measure real efficiency gains. The results showed that day-to-day tasks could be completed faster, freeing in-house professionals to focus on in-depth legal analysis and strategic planning instead. Those early wins also made it easier to build momentum and a clear case for broader adoption.

Frame AI in terms of business-aligned goals to help make the case more compelling for business partners, IT, and other key stakeholders::

Across industries, forward-looking legal departments are applying AI in targeted ways — from improving workflows to aligning more closely with business priorities. Legal teams often find momentum by focusing on four types of use cases that deliver visible results early.

Start with areas that will benefit from greater efficiency or where tangible gains can be demonstrated. Measure gains to the extent possible — time saved is one way our customers say they see Harvey’s value, but other outcomes like improved work quality aren’t as easily quantifiable.

At Repsol S.A., a global multi-energy company that serves more than 24 million customers, Harvey has been central to the legal department’s digital transformation initiatives. Attorneys are more productive across many use cases, such as legal document creation and analysis, template completion for incorporated companies, and brainstorming litigation analysis.

Engage functional partners earlier to reduce friction later and save time. If a platform fails to meet a company’s privacy standards, for example, it’s far better to find that out before investing time and energy into a pilot.

AI is a rapidly evolving space. It’s important to tell a clear story about the impact these tools can have, as well as to address common concerns and misconceptions. Position yourself as a driver of responsible innovation. Legal teams evaluating AI are proactive enablers of better decision-making, better strategy, and better work.

This approach isn’t theoretical — leading teams like The Adecco Group are already showing how responsible AI adoption can set new standards.

“We have been at the forefront of deploying this new tech across our Legal and Compliance teams,” said Andreas Vosskamp, SVP Head of Global Legal Operations at The Adecco Group. “Harvey is preparing us for the future of work — we find that it greatly simplifies day-to-day tasks providing actionable insights for faster decision making.”

By integrating Harvey into daily operations, Adecco’s legal team isn’t just working more efficiently; they are setting new benchmarks for legal and compliance excellence. Harvey saves time, delivers precise insights, and elevates the quality and consistency of legal work across Adecco’s global operations.

Legal work rarely happens in isolation. In-house teams coordinate with multiple law firms, business partners, and teams across practice areas and jurisdictions. Any AI platform your department adopts should make that collaboration more seamless — connecting people, documents, and workflows in one place. Look for solutions that support joint workspaces organized around matters or transactions, shared playbooks, and secure document collaboration. These capabilities help replace fragmented email chains, duplicative reviews, and disconnected tools with a single, aligned workspace — ensuring faster turnaround, fewer errors, and higher-quality outcomes.

AI adoption has nearly doubled since 2023, with 30% of legal teams already using AI and 54% planning to adopt it within the next two years, according to the CLOC 2025 State of the Industry report. This means that over 80% of legal departments expect to be using AI by 2027 — a clear signal that generative AI is no longer experimental, but quickly becoming standard. And this growth in AI implementation is for good reason — a 2025 Harvard study of AmLaw100 firms reported productivity gains greater than 100x in some cases.

AI empowers in-house legal departments to support their company’s growth while staying compliant at every stage. With the right platform and implementation, AI can unlock exponential gains for legal departments and elevate their business impact.

For a deeper look at how your peers are building the business case for AI — from early pilots to stronger collaboration across the legal ecosystem — explore our guide: Building the Business Case for Legal AI — A Guide for In-House Teams.