2025 ILTACON ClearPeople + BA Insights KM Roundtable Recap: Real Talk on Legal AI Enablement

This year at ILTACON, the Atlas by ClearPeople and Upland BA Insights Customer Roundtable provided a fantastic opportunity for open, forward-looking conversations about the state of legal knowledge management (KM) and IT strategies. Sitting alongside customers and industry leaders, we heard “real talk” about the challenges firms face today and how they’re navigating the path to meaningful AI enablement. 

We’ve long believed that legal technology shouldn’t just be about implementing the latest tool, it should be about enabling people to work smarter, faster, and with more confidence.

The conversations at ILTACON confirmed what we hear every day, law firms are shifting from experimenting with AI toward making it work in practical, impactful ways. AI fatigue is real, but so is the determination to cut through the noise and see results.

Here's a summary of what the panel discussed:

Legal AI Enablement: Where Firms Are Focused

KM and IT leaders face mounting pressure to deliver innovation while maintaining security and compliance. This means balancing generative AI experimentation with the realities of client requirements, regulatory demands, and complex technology stacks.

Several leaders at our roundtable highlighted common barriers:

• Proof-of-concept fatigue, with too many pilots delivering limited long-term value.

• Cloud migration delays, particularly with tools like SharePoint Online.

• Vendor churn and pivots, which can destabilize projects and spread resources thin.

Yet we also heard encouraging success stories. Firms that committed to cleaning and organizing their document management systems (DMS) saw significant gains in attorneys’ ability to surface actionable insights. That’s a foundational step and exactly the kind of groundwork needed for legal AI enablement to succeed.

Building the Foundation for AI Success

One message came through loud and clear: legal AI enablement isn’t possible without the right foundation. Outdated or siloed data structures simply won’t support the type of intelligent knowledge discovery attorneys need.

Atlas ClearPeople has always championed this alignment of data integrity, people, and processes. That’s why we focus on:

• Enhanced Governance – Clear policies paired with seamless technology adoption.

• Practical Training – Role-specific learning and CLEs to ensure adoption and confidence.

• Data Readiness – Cleaning up “noise” so that AI models work with high-quality, contextual data.

This pragmatic approach helps firms balance their ambition for AI innovation with the readiness required for long-term success.

From Talk to Tangible Value

A standout theme during ILTACON was the importance of AI that simplifies, not complicates, workflows. Leaders consistently emphasized that AI functionality, whether through Microsoft Copilot, iManage, or NetDocuments, must integrate where attorneys already work, minimizing disruption while maximizing value.

We agree wholeheartedly. At Atlas by ClearPeople, we design solutions to:

• Unlock knowledge across silos and systems.

• Embed AI seamlessly into existing workflows.

• Drive adoption through transparency and trust.

For us, legal AI enablement is not about the “shiny new thing.” It’s about creating real productivity gains by aligning people, processes, and platforms.

Long-Term Shifts: Where the Industry Is Heading

Discussions at the roundtable also pointed to a broader transformation already underway:

• AI-Augmented Workflows: Using tools like Copilot to generate robust summaries, quickly analyze legal data, and automate administrative burdens to increase billable hours.   
• Data Compliance by Design: AI governance policies are ensuring firms meet both their own expectations for security and their clients’ growing concerns over data usage.   
• Strategic Team Shifts: Creating “AI champions” within firms who can evangelize adoption and troubleshoot processes to ensure value realization. 

These shifts highlight a key truth: AI is becoming normalized in legal operations, and firms that prepare now will be the ones to thrive.

Looking Ahead: Atlas By ClearPeople’s Commitment

ILTA has always been a hub for ground-breaking ideas, and ILTACON 2025 reinforced just how quickly the conversation around AI is maturing. Firms are no longer content with experimentation, they want measurable results, and they’re investing in the foundations required to achieve them.

We’re proud to support legal firms on this journey. By helping unlock knowledge, improve findability, and build scalable infrastructures for AI adoption, we’re ensuring our customers not only keep up with change but stay ahead of it.

The future of legal knowledge management is already taking shape. It demands education, infrastructure, and cultural change, but with the right strategies in place, AI enablement will transform how legal services are delivered.

Learn more about Atlas for law firms here or book a free demo to see Atlas in action.