Getting People to Change is the Hardest Part About Legal Tech Adoption ft. Carolyn Humpherys

Change is always uncomfortable. But in today’s tech-driven world, it is necessary. In this episode of Between the Briefs by Steno, hosts Joe Stephens and Adrian Cea welcome Carolyn Humpherys, Senior Consultant at Traveling Coaches, to explore the critical gap between implementing new technology and achieving genuine organizational adoption. And, most importantly - how law firms can bridge that divide. Drawing from her experience as a change management consultant and certified legal trainer with over thirty years of experience, she offers valuable insights and strategies on making adoption and innovation a reality within law firms.

What You’ll Learn:

Why change management and strategic training are the secret weapons behind successful AI adoption in law firms
How to overcome the resistance that derails most digital transformation initiatives

How to identify and remove adoption barriers within your organization

The practical strategies for implementing emerging technologies like Microsoft Copilot and generative AI tools
Understand the pivotal role of prompt engineering in maximizing AI productivity

How to build a culture of innovation in traditionally risk-averse law firms

Changing is no longer a survival tactic. It’s a competitive advantage. Tune in to understand how you can leverage it.

Highlights:

00:00 Introduction & Meeting Carolyn Humpherys

00:41 From Skepticism to Innovation: How Top Law Firms Embrace Change

08:40 Why Adoption, Not Implementation, Is the Real Challenge

12:56 Mastering AI Prompting & The "Questions Before You Begin" Technique

16:19 Measuring Success Beyond Time

25:02 Why Leadership Must Model Technology Adoption

29:49 How to Convert Tech Skeptics

32:41 The "Woo Factor" & Why it Beats Hierarchy

34:12 The Reasons Why Legal Tech Implementation Fails

38:03 The Science of Hiring to Build High-Performing Teams

39:49 Why Proof-of-Concepts Should Empower End-Users

43:28 Carolyn’s Hottest Take: Democratizing AI Access

45:14 Closing Thoughts

Quotes:

"I would say the most common gap is to be able to execute change, to get adoption of whatever that change is. Maybe it's a workflow, maybe it's taking advantage of new technologies. Whatever that change is, firms struggle to get everybody going in the same direction and to get that adoption because adoption only happens when the majority of people within that organization choose to change and it is a choice, right?”
“If it's wrong to do it yourself, it's wrong to do it using AI. We would never put case law into a brief that we haven't shepherdedized, that we haven't looked up and validated word for word, that we got that quote right, that we know for sure that it's accurate.
“I think that the trap is they think that there's one magic prompt that's going to spit out a perfect answer and it doesn't work that way. You may need to iterate your way through it. You may need to ask some follow-up questions. A little trick that I like to use is at the end of my prompt, ask AI, "What questions do you have before you begin?”
“We need to see our leaders using technology, following the rules, following that knowledge management, all of those rules, because if they're not doing it, guess what? Their lawyers that report to them aren't going to do it either.”