How legal professionals are using AI with Toni Counts

What specific task or workflow in your practice has AI changed most dramatically, and what does that look like day-to-day?

AI has most dramatically improved our firm-wide workflows. We use AI to support intake, operations, finance, leadership and legal by handling early-stage drafting, formatting and high-level analysis. Operationally, AI assists with drafting emails, formatting communications, checking numerical consistency, summarizing and analyzing monthly reports, and identifying intake and performance trends. On the legal side, we use AI to draft and format demand letters, complaints, answers, discovery and trial and mediation briefs. It excels at organizing the factual narrative and issue framework of a case. We do not rely on AI for legal research or authority, but as a drafting accelerator that provides a strong starting point. Day to day, this reduces administrative friction and blank-page work, allowing our team to focus on judgment, strategy and client service, while enabling a small firm to operate with the efficiency of a much larger one.

When you're using AI tools for legal research or drafting, how do you verify the output and catch hallucinations or errors?

We never treat AI output as authoritative. Any legal content generated by AI is independently verified by our team. This includes confirming all case citations and statutes against primary sources, cross-checking research in LexisNexis, reviewing the logic for gaps or overgeneralization and ensuring the law is current and jurisdiction specific. AI helps with pattern recognition and organizing information, but human review and validation remain essential. Internally, we are clear that AI is a drafting assistant, not a substitute for legal research or professional judgment.

Have you encountered a situation where AI led you astray or gave problematic advice? What did you learn?

We learned early that AI delivers value only when it is actively challenged. Achieving useful output often requires refining prompts, adding constraints and clarifying intent. Effective AI use is therefore iterative, not one-and-done, and depends on clear prompting, subject-matter expertise and sound human judgment.

How are you thinking about confidentiality and data security when using AI tools? What guardrails have you put in place?

Confidentiality is non-negotiable. Our guardrails include:

• No client-identifiable information entered consumer AI tools

• Mandatory redaction and anonymization of all prompts

• Preference for paid or enterprise-grade platforms with data-use restrictions

• Internal policies aligned with California Bar guidance on AI use

• Ongoing training for attorneys and staff on ethical AI practices

We treat AI tools like any third-party vendor, scrutinizing terms of use, retention policies and security controls before adoption.

What kind of legal work do you think AI will never be able to do well, and why?

AI will not replace strategic judgment, advocacy, negotiation or human trust-building.

How has AI affected your professional relationships with clients, colleagues, or others in the legal ecosystem?

AI has raised expectations around speed and responsiveness, but it has also allowed us to deliver more thoughtful work without sacrificing quality. Internally, it has shifted collaboration toward higher-level discussions rather than administrative friction.

If someone just entering the legal profession asked you how to think about AI in their career development, what would you tell them?

I am a big proponent of AI, informed by my background in both legal operations and the technology industry. AI is not a passing trend; it is the future, and it is imperative that the legal profession learns not only how to use it, but how to thoughtfully integrate it into daily work and decision-making. Importantly, AI is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Law firms must focus on true digital transformation, aligning people, processes and technology to drive meaningful, sustainable change rather than adopting tools in isolation.