Creating a Strong Law Firm Environment
 

Bridging the AI Skills Gap: From Legal Support to Strategic Partner

Learn how law firm administrators can lead during the AI revolution.
By Kelly F. Zimmerman
January 2026
 

Law firm administrators are often the foundation of legal organizations and departments, managing operations, supporting teams and systems, and ensuring day-to-day business runs smoothly while attorneys focus on casework. However, as artificial intelligence and generative technologies continue to dominate conversations across the business landscape, modern professionals — including those in the legal landscape — are facing serious skills gaps that can prevent them from keeping up.

At the same time, the opportunity for administrators to claim their seat at the table is significant. According to a 2025 Thomson Reuters report, legal professionals are anticipated to free up almost 240 hours per year, a cost savings of about $19,000, just from the use of AI.  

Now consider the potential of using AI for higher-level business strategy, pricing models and other operational efficiencies. “As organizations seek higher levels of return on investment (ROI), having a strategic plan for AI adoption and implementation is becoming the single most distinguishing factor in their future success,” the report says. “This pursuit of ROI needs to be a collaborative effort among organizational leadership, professionals and operational support staff.” 

As AI reshapes the legal landscape and how work gets done daily, administrators are finding themselves uniquely positioned to support firms and lead them through this transformation. The question is whether they will seize the opportunity to position themselves as strategic business partners by bridging skills gaps and aligning operations with their firm or organization’s competitive goals. 

By identifying new technology support roles, demonstrating value through data-driven insights and using AI for change management initiatives, administrators can transform their positions from support functions to strategic leadership. 

Call in an Information Architect 

Law firms and legal service providers need someone on staff who is dedicated to information architecture, says Eric DeChant, legal consultant and executive director of the American Society of Legal Engineers. This is where someone with a background in data operations can help. 

“It’s serious business to keep an organization’s information at least somewhat well structured,” DeChant says, but having someone in place to ensure “all the pipes are connected” can help prevent technical breakdowns and keep tabs on legacy platforms that may be underutilized or causing operational issues. 

Law firms and legal service providers need someone on staff who is dedicated to information architecture.

Roles like this will become increasingly important in legal environments as new tools continue to emerge — particularly in the AI space. According to the same Thomson Reuters report, 46% of organizations have invested in new AI-powered tech in the past year with corporate legal departments investing heavily in this area over law firms and corporate risk and compliance departments. By having someone in place who can help streamline tools and data, DeChant says, legal administrators can be in a position to evaluate their firm’s tech stack, identify where internal conversations are breaking down, and build a comprehensive technology map for their organizations. That’s a real opportunity for someone to step in as a leader — potentially even as a Chief Information Officer. 

Tabs3
Tabs3

Reshape the Administrator Role — Particularly in Smaller Firms 

Small- to mid-size firms often don’t have the same resources as their larger counterparts. Consider Boston-headquartered Ropes & Gray or Los Angeles-based Latham & Watkins, two BigLaw firms that are investing non-billable hours to train their first-year associates on AI implementation.

On the flipside, smaller firms tend to lag behind in technological advances like this because they are more likely to have office managers rather than business leaders, according to Josh Kalish, legal consultant and managing partner with Law Firms of the Future. Simultaneously, he says, “Most of the executive management resides with the partners, the shareholders [and] the owners of the firms that have very little business experience.”

The outcome of this dynamic is that firm administrators are left without a seat at the table, while the firm itself may not have the strategic and analytical focus to implement new technical initiatives. 

However, this can be an opportunity for administrators to develop their skill set, since firm building initiatives “require expertise and bandwidth to get them done.” 

The key to claiming that seat at the table, says Kalish, is credibility, and credibility comes from data. “Being able to explain ‘the why’ is where administrators are going to get credibility. And from there, they can start to make recommendations,” Kalish says.  

Kalish recommends building that credibility with these tips: 

  • Move beyond basic reporting. Attorneys respond well to concrete analysis, so administrators should provide variance analysis with interpretation rather than simply reporting numbers. This approach can help to demonstrate strategic thinking rather than simple operational management skills. 
  • Identify bottom-line impacts. Use data to pinpoint overstaffing, inefficiencies and ROI opportunities that directly affect the firm's profitability. 
  • Take a proactive approach. Prove you can identify business gaps and build a concrete roadmap to help pitch new achievable ideas. 

Use AI to Bolster Change Management 

For those who aren’t experienced change management practitioners, AI can be a valuable support tool to help legal administrators gain strategic buy-in from partners, DeChant says. Even free tools like ChatGPT can assist with stakeholder mapping, process documentation and developing communication strategies tailored to different decision-making styles.  

The key is both identifying who your champions are within the organization and understanding who the detractors or reluctant adopters might be. By using AI to map out organizational stakeholders and create individualized pitches based on their profiles, administrators can build support for strategic initiatives more effectively.

Seize the Moment 

The AI revolution is creating both disruption and opportunity in legal services. Administrators who take advantage of new technological resources to bridge skill gaps, align operations and navigate organizational change will have extra leverage to shift from a support role to a strategic partner. The question isn’t whether administrators can become strategic partners — it’s whether they’ll seize the opportunity before it passes.

About the Author

Kelly F. Zimmerman

Kelly F. Zimmerman

Kelly F. Zimmerman is a former Managing Editor of Legal Management and has extensive experience covering the legal industry for organizations such as Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law and Axiom Law. She earned a Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University. 

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