A disability-oriented affinity group, for example, could send regular communication about issues, invite other firm members to participate in events and encourage employees who have loved ones with a disability to join the group.

“There’s a global day for persons with disabilities [that] some firms do a lot of programming around,” Kleiman says. “One does accessibility-focused engagement and makes an effort to keep that message going throughout the year. Don’t look at disability inclusion as a one-off; make it an integrated part of the organization and work to identify how it can be tied to key business priorities.”

Relatively small operational tweaks, such as clarifying preferred communication styles, can enhance employees with disabilities’ working conditions.

Lawyers, legal assistants and paralegals might talk through how to reach someone who needs to block off a chunk of time to work without interruptions, says Sierra Grandy, an attorney and speaker who provides law firm neurodiversity training and co-chairs the Minnesota Disability Bar Association’s Education Committee.

Firm members often have to complete a daunting amount of paperwork to request formal accommodations; even employees who already have an ADHD or other diagnosis, Grandy says, may need to get a doctor to complete multiple forms and supply accommodation recommendations they can submit to HR.

“Their doctor is not trained in [figuring] out what workplace accommodations are appropriate,” she says. “[The] suggestions may or may not be beneficial. You have to go through [so] many hoops; that ends up being a barrier to asking for accommodations.”

A standardized enterprise-wide system, Kleiman says, will allow all employees to take the reins and leverage tech tools’ efficiency-boosting effects.

“Everyone gets the same [form]; this person just fills it out one way, and this person fills it out another,” she says. “People will feel like they're getting support, without any request for what some people perceive as special treatment.”

Offering an Effective Setting

Law firms’ physical work environment can also affect employees’ productivity and job satisfaction.

Firms may want to provide private or quiet workspaces, Kleiman says, to assist neurodivergent firm members who find an open office layout distracting — or allow employees to work remotely.

Early in Davis’ career, he was asked to participate in management-level committees and shared insight about upcoming events planned for outside of the office.

“For instance, the social committee rented out [a space] for Saturday evening, and it’s going to involve transportation to take families from one pick-up spot to the destination,” he says. “Is that bus wheelchair accessible? If we’re going to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, [is] there a visual interpreter? What might we need to ensure it’s an enjoyable experience?”

Although initiatives involving race and gender may, she says, present challenges in the current environment, law firms can potentially double down on their disability-related efforts — and make big advancements.

When Davis’ firm moved to a new building two years ago, his colleagues conferred with him about the common kitchen area.

“They asked me about the drawers — can I reach the silverware?” he says. “We had a conversation and they came up with some solutions so the kitchen was completely accessible to me.”

If a firm doesn’t intend to relocate or renovate anytime soon, Grady says a walk around the office can help leadership determine whether the space is easy to navigate.

“How heavy are doors?” she says. “If there isn’t a button to open [the door], can you open it with just your elbow? Could somebody in a wheelchair get around here?”

A growing number of legal community members are looking for ways to be more inclusive, according to Kleiman.

Although initiatives involving race and gender may, she says, present challenges in the current environment, law firms can potentially double down on their disability-related efforts — and make big advancements.

“The legal framework for disability inclusion is untouched and remains in place,” Kleiman says. “Steps can be taken that work for everyone's advantage. Ensuring easy access in and out of the office is important for those with a physical disability — but also works for the person coming late at night to deliver the team dinner or attorneys carrying big litigation bags to court.”

Context is irreplaceable. AI finds the pattern; experienced administrators and engaged leadership interpret what it means. The goal is a partnership — AI handling the heavy lifting of data assembly and trend identification, humans providing the institutional knowledge to act on those insights wisely.

The Foundation AI Requires: Process Before Technology

There is a prerequisite that many firms overlook, and it is the one Sandra finds most sobering: AI is only as good as the data it works with, and data is only as good as the processes that generate it.

For Sandra’s firm, that means confronting some uncomfortable realities. Timekeeping practices are inconsistent across attorneys. Billing codes have proliferated without clear governance. Matter data lives in systems that don’t communicate cleanly. Deploying AI on top of fragmented data doesn’t solve these problems — it amplifies them.

AI is only as good as the data it works with, and data is only as good as the processes that generate it.

AI readiness requires a three-part foundation. First, rationalized processes: clear, documented workflows for timekeeping, billing, collections and matter management that everyone follows. Second, the right tools: practice management and financial systems that automate key steps and generate clean, structured data as a matter of course. Third, and most important, genuine alignment among firm personnel. Partners, attorneys and administrative staff all have to buy in. If timekeepers enter time inconsistently, if billing coordinators apply codes differently, if partners override processes ad hoc, no AI system can compensate.

From Panic to Preparedness

Sandra’s firm doesn’t transform overnight. But over the following months, she leads the effort: working with firm leadership to standardize billing codes, consolidating matter data onto a single integrated platform and — after some frank conversations with the partnership — establishing firm-wide timekeeping standards with real accountability attached. It isn’t easy. There are resistant partners and awkward meetings. But Sandra makes the case, and the firm moves forward.

By the time the next midyear arrives, Sandra sits down at her desk on that familiar morning in June and the reports are already waiting. AI has flagged three areas worth the partners’ attention and summarized the key trends in plain language. She spends her morning not assembling data, but reviewing it: applying her own judgment, adding context, preparing to have the kind of strategic conversation with leadership she never previously had the time or information to drive. The knot in her stomach is gone.