AI Counsel: Driving Team-wide AI Adoption

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Welcome to part three of my joint column with GC AI’s CEO and co-founder, Cecilia Ziniti. While we have discussed evaluating AI tools for in-house legal work and real use cases for in-house teams in the previous editions, this final piece will highlight the ways that legal leaders can empower their teams and enterprises to adopt AI. For this column, I’ll let Cecilia take it away:

When Sharon Johnson, CLO, CCO, and Corporate Secretary at MODE Global, joined GC AI’s all-hands meeting a few weeks ago, I was blown away by her approach to driving AI adoption within her team. With over 5,800 lifetime chats in GC AI and 100-percent team adoption, Sharon has created a blueprint that any legal leader can follow.

Here’s what we at GC AI learned from our conversation about how she made it happen:

1. Make adoption essential

Sharon recognized the strategic potential of GC AI early on and conveyed its importance directly: “Adoption is not optional. You will either adopt or we will not be successful at this company.” By framing GC-AI adoption as essential for the team, she created immediate momentum.

2. Show the data

Sharon implements a data-driven approach to adoption and provides usage statistics with her team. “To demonstrate tangible value, I shared my GC AI search data for the month alongside time-efficiency metrics. I did this because I believe that transparency plus data equals credibility. It paints a picture of what is achievable,” she explained.

This transparency accomplishes three things: It normalizes AI use across different tasks, cross-pollinates ideas by showing teammates new use cases they hadn’t considered, and creates gentle accountability by making usage visible to everyone.

3. Customize team encouragement and training

Sharon analyzes why team members aren’t using the tool and develops targeted strategies for each reason. “It helps to recognize the difference between someone who needs help learning and someone who’s simply resistant to change. Each requires a different strategy,” she explained.

This insight leads to personalized approaches:

1. For those needing training: Provide additional support
2. For those stuck in habits: Set specific goals
3. For the unwilling: Connect adoption to performance expectations

“And above all, make it fun!” she added, which they have done by creating contests and Tech Tip Tuesdays, each introducing new ways to incorporate the tool into existing workflows.

4. Set clear goals and track progress

Sharon doesn’t leave adoption to chance. She asks team members to commit to specific goals during meetings and tracks their progress. “I’ll be posting stats at every meeting to highlight our progress,” she tells her team. This creates accountability while identifying who needs additional support. “This is important because individual performance drives our collective achievements.”

5. Lead by example

One of the top GC AI users, Sharon showcases the value of AI through her own work. These results provide compelling evidence of AI’s practical value in addressing real business challenges. “The volume of work in our business has increased, creating a workload that would be difficult to manage through traditional methods alone,” she explains. “Using GC AI, we’ve been able to absorb additional demand while maintaining (and in some cases, improving!) our quality standards — all without expanding headcount. Literally, some weeks I’ve saved entire headcount’s worth of hours. It has transformed how we scale our operations.”

6. Position adoption as leadership

“We’re going to be leaders in this space,” she tells her team. “With AI disruption comes opportunity. By leaning into this technology now, we’re positioning ourselves at the front edge of legal innovation. We’re creating value for our company while evolving the way legal work gets done. Who doesn’t want to be part of that?”

Bonus tip:

Invest in prompting education for your team. Look for AI vendors that offer comprehensive training programs, as proper prompting skills are essential for effective AI adoption. Many legal professionals report feeling more confident using AI tools after completing structured prompting courses that focus on legal workflows.

AI is now table stakes for in-house counsel

The message from our research and conversations with leading in-house counsel is clear: AI adoption is no longer optional for legal professionals who want to remain competitive and effective.

As AI continues to transform the legal landscape, those who embrace these tools will:

• Command higher compensation
• Complete more work with fewer resources
• Focus on higher-value strategic contributions
• Position themselves as leaders within their organizations

For the lawyers still sitting on the sidelines, concerned about hallucinations or other risks, the greatest risk may be inaction itself. The future belongs to lawyers who can effectively partner with AI, not those who compete against it or ignore it.