Your legal confidence checklist for 2026 – LexisNexis
As 2026 begins, AI sits firmly within everyday legal work, influencing how research is carried out, advice is drafted, and risk is managed. This year, confidence will come from sound judgement rather than speed alone.
This checklist is designed to help legal teams focus on what genuinely matters as AI use becomes routine.
- Place AI within core legal work
Our research shows that most firms now incorporate AI into some aspect of their work. A priority for 2026 is ensuring that you have the right tools to support legal reasoning and professional standards.
For many teams, this means reassessing whether current tools fit naturally into research and drafting processes and whether outputs can be checked easily against trusted legal sources.
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What to review: Are AI features built into your existing research and drafting tools, and do they support clear review and checking?
- Set clear rules for oversight and review
Unchecked AI use creates risk. Courts, regulators, and clients expect lawyers to remain accountable for every piece of advice and every document submitted. Clear internal rules on review and sign-off are now essential.
Discover why Lexis+ AI is trusted by legal professionals
What to review: Written guidance on when AI can and should be used, how outputs are checked, and who remains responsible for final content.
- Be open with clients about AI use
Clients are increasingly aware that their advisers use AI, and many use it themselves. This brings questions about cost, accuracy, and responsibility. Silence on the subject can create confusion or mistrust.
Senior legal professionals are addressing this directly by explaining how AI supports work, where human judgement applies, and how quality is protected.
Read our blog to explore the best practices in building client trust in the age of AI
What to review: Client-facing explanations that describe how AI supports legal work without replacing professional responsibility.
- Develop practical AI skills across the team
Knowing how to prompt a tool is not enough. Lawyers need to understand how outputs are produced, where errors may arise, and how to test reliability. This applies to partners as much as junior lawyers. Training in this area is becoming part of core professional development rather than a technical extra.
See our guidance for AI prompting
What to review: Training that focuses on checking outputs, assessing source quality, and applying legal judgement to AI-assisted work.
- Keep pace with regulation and professional duties
Rules around AI, data use, and professional conduct continue to develop. Legal teams must ensure their internal policies reflect current obligations across the jurisdictions in which they operate. This includes data handling, confidentiality, and ethical duties tied to competence and supervision.
