Direct answer
What does AI readiness mean for a law firm?
AI readiness means the firm can name an approved use, its owner, the workflow evidence, the review standard and the conditions for stopping or expanding.
Stage one: informal experimentation
Individuals test tools under uneven rules. The next move is not expansion. It is an approved-use position, named ownership and a way to record what is being tried.
Stage two: what makes use controlled?
Permitted tools and data boundaries are written. Human review is expected. The next move is to select one repeated workflow and collect its current numbers.
Stage three: measured workflow
The firm knows volume, hands-on time, turnaround, corrections and write-offs for one process. It can now compare four routes: fix the process, buy a tool, run a controlled pilot or leave it alone.
Stage four: what must a governed pilot define?
Scope, data route, reviewers, acceptance criteria, failure condition and exit are agreed before the test. The pilot produces a decision rather than a showcase.
Stage five: managed operation
Monitoring, correction, training, incident handling, supplier change and exit have owners. Expansion is earned workflow by workflow.
The useful question: which piece of retained evidence would prove the firm has moved one stage?
For the wider context, read our legal AI workflow answers. Explore Margo by Margo Legal, currently in development, or use the Workflow Value Workshop to examine one repeated workflow.