AI is changing legal work fast. Drafting is quicker. Research is easier. First versions arrive instantly.
For in-house teams under pressure to move faster, this is a relief.

But speed is not the same as effectiveness.

As AI removes friction from drafting, something else becomes more visible:
many contracts still don’t work particularly well in practice.

What AI is very good at

AI excels at:

• generating text

• summarizing clauses

• spotting patterns

• accelerating first drafts

These are powerful capabilities.
They are quickly becoming part of the baseline for modern legal work.

But they solve only part of the in-house legal challenge.

What AI does not replace

AI does not replace the ability to:

• translate legal risk into business decisions

• create clarity under time pressure

• build trust between legal and the business

These are not drafting skills.
They are judgment, communication, and leadership skills.

And as AI makes legal output faster and cheaper, these skills matter more, not less.

The overlooked capability: contract usability

Contracts don’t live in legal silos.
They live in sales teams, procurement, operations, and compliance.

A usable legal document:

• makes obligations visible at the right moment

• supports decisions instead of slowing them down

• embeds compliance into everyday work

• reduces follow-up questions

No AI can do this on its own, because usability depends on human judgment, context, and intent.

Technology can assist.
But deciding what should be visible, to whom, and when remains a human responsibility.

Why this matters more for in-house teams

In-house legal teams are expected to:

• reduce friction

• enable the business

•  move fast without increasing risk

When contracts are hard to use, legal teams pay the price:

• more questions

• more workarounds

• less perceived value

As drafting becomes commoditized, the value of legal teams shifts upstream, from producing text to shaping how legal operates in practice.

Crafting documents for usability is becoming a core legal capability, not a niche skill.

Building this capability in an AI-enabled environment

Forward-looking legal teams are now deliberately developing skills at the intersection of:

• contract design

• legal communication

• AI-aware workflows and judgment

Not to replace legal expertise, but to make it work in real-world conditions, at business speed.

This is where legal judgment becomes more valuable, not less.