Law Firms Move Beyond AI Policies to Real Governance
Allen Darrah, chief information officer at Spencer Fane, presented at Legalweek 2026 on March 9 in New York about the gap between having an AI policy and actually governing AI use. The session, titled "AI Acceptable Use 2.0: Enforcing Policies and Closing Compliance Gaps," examined how law firms are transitioning from early experimentation to mature governance frameworks.
The core problem: many firms assume an AI policy means they have governance. It doesn't.
"Policy alone is not governance," Darrah said. "Governance requires visibility, controls, and accountability."
What Mature AI Governance Looks Like
Darrah outlined the elements firms need to move beyond novelty-stage AI adoption:
- Vendor management and oversight
- Monitoring and enforcement mechanisms
- Control over tool proliferation
- Data protection and risk management
- Client expectation alignment
The framework treats AI the same way firms handle cybersecurity and vendor risk - as enterprise technology requiring discipline, not as an isolated productivity experiment.
Darrah noted that client expectations increasingly shape AI strategy. As clients demand transparency about how their data is processed, firms that lack governance frameworks face compliance exposure.
The Competitive Shift
"AI adoption is no longer the differentiator," Darrah said. "The differentiator will be how effectively firms govern and operationalize AI."
This signals a maturation phase in legal technology. Early adopters gained an edge by simply using AI tools. That advantage disappears as adoption becomes standard. Firms now compete on execution - whether they can actually manage AI at scale without creating risk.
Legalweek attendees engaged heavily on the tension between innovation speed and risk management, suggesting this gap is a live problem across the industry.
For managers overseeing technology strategy, the takeaway is straightforward: audit whether your AI governance includes actual controls, not just written policy. AI for Management training can help teams understand what effective governance requires in practice.
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