Change Management and AI Training Jump to the Top of Legal's 2025 Priorities
The Future of Legal Services Global Heatmap Survey Report 2025 points to a clear pivot: change management and AI training have overtaken talent attraction as the legal profession's short-term focus. The report will be unveiled tomorrow at the International Bar Association's annual conference in Toronto.
Key findings
- AI is now the number one priority across the profession. Attention is high, but perceived readiness to respond trails other areas.
- Rule of law concerns move up: political uncertainty and threats to judicial independence feature among immediate challenges for the first time.
- ESG continues to fall down the rankings after years of rising expectations.
- This is the third annual study commissioned by the IBA Future of Legal Services Commission, based on a global survey of IBA members and legal professionals across regions, practice areas and roles.
What this means for legal leaders
The conversation has shifted from hiring to execution. Skills, process, and governance need to catch up with the pace of change.
Firms, in-house teams, and bars that move first on training, workflows, and risk controls will set the standard clients and courts come to expect.
90-day action plan
- Stand up a change office: appoint a cross-functional lead (IT, KM, Risk, HR) with authority to ship quick wins and report to leadership weekly.
- Baseline AI skills: run a short audit of lawyer and staff competence; set role-based learning paths; schedule mandatory training for high-impact teams (litigation, investigations, transactions, legal ops).
- Adopt an AI policy: define approved tools, data handling, confidentiality safeguards, output review, and logging. Map policy to professional conduct rules and client outside counsel guidelines.
- Pilot with purpose: select 3-5 use cases with measurable outcomes (e.g., first-draft memos, clause extraction, discovery triage). Track time saved, quality checks, and risk flags.
- Client communication: publish a brief statement on your AI approach, competence, and controls; offer to align with client policies and audit requirements.
- Judicial independence and political risk: designate a monitoring group; coordinate with bar associations on response protocols and advocacy.
- ESG recalibration: meet regulatory and contractual requirements, but reallocate "growth" resources to change management and skills.
Voices from the commission
Soledad Atienza, co-chair of the IBA Future of Legal Services Commission and dean of IE Law School, notes that AI, political volatility, and shifting social expectations are moving faster than the profession's capacity to adapt. Her call: act with foresight, agility, and collaboration to keep the profession strong.
Christopher Howard, co-vice chair of the commission, underscores the rule of law angle: "Safeguarding the independence of the legal profession is not just a professional issue - it's a rule of law imperative. The global legal community must remain vigilant and united."
Practical next steps
- Put budget and owners behind training and change execution, not just experimentation.
- Align AI adoption with risk management, privilege, and evidentiary standards from day one.
- Engage courts and regulators early to reduce uncertainty around acceptable use.
Learn more
For context on the International Bar Association and its work, visit the IBA site: ibanet.org.
If you're building an internal curriculum, you can scan role-specific AI learning paths here: Complete AI Training - courses by job.
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