In just a few years, generative artificial intelligence has already had an enormous impact on the practice of law. Far from a novelty, it’s become a proven tool in the day-to-day work of legal professionals.

A recent innovation survey shows that lawyers and litigation professionals are optimistic about the efficiency gains AI affords—with 80% expecting it to ease “drudge work,” and 75% anticipating greater job efficiency.

But exactly what is drudge work? Is it truly mundane? Or are mundane tasks an important part of learning how to be a lawyer—and a more efficient one, at that? There’s a lot to unpack here.

The jury is in on AI-powered e-discovery

Law firms and in-house legal teams have widely adopted generative AI tools and platforms to improve the efficiency of core tasks, such as document review. Nearly half of respondents to the innovation survey reported that generative AI saves them between one to five hours per week. Across an entire year, this average amounts to up to 260 hours, or 32.5 working days. For an Am Law 200 firm with an average of 757 employees, these savings collectively amount to about 197,000 hours per year, a significant efficiency gain.

Document review has been characterized as drudge work, and rightfully so. The hours I spent as a junior litigator sifting through bankers’ boxes filled with paper documents can be characterized as time-consuming and tedious, at best.

Still, we live in a world where disputes are heard by humans. What lawyers learn from the discovery process allows us to build a fact-based narrative that will be adjudicated by humans. This is an exciting, integral part of the process and practice of law—and critically important in any litigation. Properly executed, discovery identifies key pieces of evidence used to build a case. If they’re lucky, lawyers will find the “smoking gun” or the “needle in the haystack.”

Generative AI facilitates a strategic perspective

The key to using generative AI to address drudge work is to automate repetitive elements while retaining the aspects that impart knowledge, build experience and exercise strategic thinking.

In today’s legal environment, generative AI technology is crucial to scale document review capacity. Millions of documents, emails and messages from multiple apps are routinely delivered by the opposing counsel at the last possible moment. Generative AI is vital in reviewing, coding and extracting key pieces of information from mountains of electronic evidence.

Putting the critical pieces of evidence together and forming a narrative is core to the process and practice of law, requiring the ability to strategically assess any number of possible outcomes. When judgment is in play, humans should be fully in command, with advanced generative AI technology “in the loop” to assist.

Don’t outsource critical thinking

Like document review, the drafting of legal briefs is often assigned to junior and midlevel associates. Will writing a brief eventually become considered drudge work? With abundant document drafting generative AI tools available, it’s a slippery slope.

The reality is that writing is one of ways that thoughts are processed, from iterating on bad first drafts to getting to thoughtful analysis and strong conclusions. In other words, writing is where thinking happens. Writing briefs builds the critical thinking skills that are another of successful lawyers’ core competencies.

If legal writing tasks are outsourced to generative AI tools indiscriminately, there will be a significant and growing gap in how young lawyers are able to develop critical thinking and actually do that kind of thinking. Critical thinking is, after all, the most valuable quality that separates humans from AI machines. Even as the quality of the technology improves, human judgment will prevail; generative AI operates on statistical pattern matching, not understanding or consideration of context and ethics.

Balancing tech proficiency with skill building

It’s not just firms and in-house teams that need to be thoughtful and strategic about how AI is used to conduct the practice of law. A growing pipeline of lawyers is vying for coveted positions in a “vibrant yet fiercely competitive environment for legal talent.”

According to the American Bar Association, 42,817 students began first-year JD studies in fall 2025, an increase of 3,128 (about 7.9%) from the 2024 reporting cycle. For example, when they entered law school, the 2024 graduating class was nearly 12% larger than any other class since 2012.

While new associates are expected to be proficient with technology tools, law school doesn’t teach students how to be a lawyer. It teaches them how to think. Learning how to practice law and earning the pride of being a lawyer requires the agility to handle surprises; gain hands-on experience; and develop grit, critical thinking and a raft of fundamental skills.

By nature, skill building is a step-by-step, iterative and repetitive process that can’t just be skipped over. In my own experience as a private practice lawyer and a junior associate who wanted to be a trial lawyer, I was taken under the wings of two seasoned, incredible, very successful trial lawyers.

From their mentoring, I learned that skill building requires watching, doing and teaching—with an in-the-moment presence that can’t be provided by any AI tool. Finding a mentor remains the same today. Law school alumni networks, national and state bar associations, and a request for a quick 15-minute coffee chat within the firm can bear fruit.

Mastering drudge work, like identifying evidence and writing a brief, is not just commendable. It hones judgement and develops skills essential to becoming a successful lawyer who can adapt to the realities of litigation today and throughout a long career. There’s nothing mundane about that.

Gloria Lee is the chief legal officer at Everlaw, a legal services and e-discovery company based in California. Lee advises Everlaw’s executive leaders and board of directors to drive business growth while mitigating risk. She leads the legal department and is responsible for all legal, regulatory and privacy issues across the company.

Mind Your Business is a series of columns written by lawyers, legal professionals and others within the legal industry. The purpose of these columns is to offer practical guidance for attorneys on how to run their practices, provide information about the latest trends in legal technology and how it can help lawyers work more efficiently, and strategies for building a thriving business.

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