An AI Readiness Assessment for a Law Firm: What It Checks and What You Get

An AI readiness assessment shows a law firm where AI would pay back first, what AI your people are already using, and what to do in the next 90 days. Ours is called the AI Scan: a session of up to two hours with the people who run the firm, and a written report you keep.

The question behind it is usually a simple one. You know AI is coming to your firm, your partners have different views on it, and nobody wants to spend money on the wrong thing. A readiness assessment gives you a shared set of facts to make that decision with.

What does an AI readiness assessment check?

Ours checks four things, in this order.

1. Where the work goes. We walk through the work in the order a matter moves: intake and conflicts, drafting and file work, client updates, compliance and trust, time and billing, and the running of the practice.
2. What AI is already in the firm. Every tool your people use, who uses it and what for, whether anyone approved it or not.
3. Which jobs are ready for AI. The top three are written up: who does the job, how and with what. Each one then gets three scores.
4. What to do first. One thing you can start on straight away, and a written plan for the 90 days after it.

What are the three scores?

Each process gets a score out of ten for three questions.

• Safety. Is it safe to hand to AI?
• Capability. Can AI do it well today?
• Return. What is it worth at your firm's own rates, and how sure is that?

Safety comes first for a reason. A low safety score keeps a job with a person, however well AI could do it. That's why steps like witnessing a document or releasing trust funds sit on our never list before any return is worked out.

Why look for the AI already in your firm?

Because it's probably there. Here is what the Scan found in our sample report, written for Marlow & Finch Lawyers, a fictional 18‑person firm.

• Microsoft 365 Copilot. Both principals, for summarising email and drafting replies. Approved.
• ChatGPT on personal free accounts. Five staff, for rewording letters, some with client names in them. Not approved.
• A dictation app on personal phones. Two lawyers, for file notes after client calls. Not approved.
• The AI inside the practice management system. Paid for in the subscription, and switched off.

Those people were trying to get through their day, and a good Scan treats them that way. The risk is where the client details end up: in personal accounts and on personal phones, outside the firm's control. So closing it goes on the 30‑day plan, with approved tools for the people who need them. We've written more about this in shadow AI in Australian businesses.

What do you get at the end?

A written report in five parts:

1. A map of where AI pays back first in your firm.
2. The list of AI already running, approved or not.
3. Your top three processes, each with its three scores and a dollar figure.
4. The one thing to do first.
5. A 90‑day plan, with a number to check before each stage starts.

The dollar figures show their working, so your partners can argue with them. In the sample, the first process is time capture. Nine fee earners each lose about 1.1 billable hours a week rebuilding their time from memory at 5:30pm. That's 38 hours a month, and at the firm's realised rate of $480 an hour it comes to $18,200 a month. Every figure in that example is made up, and the full sample report shows how the rest are worked out.

The one thing to do first is often smaller than people expect. For Marlow & Finch it was switching on the time recording they were already paying for: one setting per person, then five minutes a day.

What do you need to bring?

The people who run the firm, and an honest account of how the work gets done. The figures come from your firm: fees, hourly rates, how many fee earners and how long the jobs take. We work them through with you in the session, so rough numbers are a fine place to start.

Can a firm fail an AI readiness assessment?

No. The word "readiness" makes it sound like an exam, and it works more like a map. If the return isn't there for a job, we say so and we don't build it. Finding that out in two hours is a good result, and you'll know before you've spent money on a build.

How is it different from an AI roadmap?

The Scan tells you where to start and what to do in the next 90 days. The AI Blueprint takes one week and goes further: your biggest jobs mapped step by step, three scores on every step, and a 12‑month plan your partners own. You can stop after either one and keep everything you have.

Bart Puszko

Founder and Principal of Blue Seas AI. Queensland Government AI mentor. Top 10 finalist, Australian AI Awards 2025 & 2026. Before AI, 16 years in financial crime, risk and continuous improvement for major banks across Australia and Europe.