“So you’re a lawyer… working at an AI company that sells to lawyers?”

It’s not your average day job. But for in-house counsel in AI-driven legal tech companies, this is reality – a complex, high-stakes role at the crossroads of law, technology, and trust.

While most in-house lawyers are busy assessing AI vendors, you’re the one helping build the AI. And in legal tech, that means managing not just technical risk, but legal, ethical, and reputational risk too – often simultaneously.

If you’re the sole lawyer (as many are), your remit likely includes everything from product reviews to privacy policies to public statements. And with legal buyers as your customer base, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Here’s what it’s like to be the legal brain behind the legal AI.

Innovating in the age of AI – with regulators watching

AI is moving fast – and legal tech is right at the forefront. Tools that generate contract clauses, summarise case law, or review NDAs are now standard offerings. But when you’re building these products, not just using them, the legal considerations go much deeper.

As in-house counsel, you’re expected to:

• Scrutinise training data – Was it legally obtained? Does it create bias or IP risk?
• Define product claims – Can we really say our AI delivers “90% accuracy”?
• Pre-empt new regulation – From the EU AI Act to UK guidance, the rules are coming.

It’s not just about what the law says today – it’s about what the law might say tomorrow, and whether your business is ready.

You’re not just risk-managing – you’re product-shaping

In most companies, the legal team exists to manage the business’s legal risk. In AI-powered legal tech, you often are the risk – or at least, your product is.

You’re likely involved in:

• Reviewing how the product handles client data or generates legal advice
• Crafting ethical guidelines for how users should (and shouldn’t) use AI tools
• Defining auditability, transparency, and oversight standards

The line between legal and product blurs. And when the users are themselves lawyers, there’s zero room for error. One dubious output or overstated claim, and trust in your platform could evaporate.

The buyer is you – and that changes everything

Here’s the twist: your end users aren’t casual consumers – they’re in-house legal teams just like you. That gives you an extraordinary edge.

You understand:

• What legal teams expect from an AI-powered tool
• Why GCs hesitate to trust black-box technology
• How compliance and procurement will scrutinise your contracts

This means your voice carries real weight across sales, marketing, and product development. You’re not just ticking boxes – you’re helping craft a proposition that your peers will buy into.

Moving at start-up speed… with a regulator’s lens

Like all scale-ups, legal tech companies move quickly – shipping new features weekly, pivoting based on customer feedback, experimenting with new data sources.

But legal teams can’t work in beta. And when your product is used by other lawyers, the bar for rigour is especially high.

You need:

• Contracts and DPAs that stand up to scrutiny from legal buyers
• Clear, accurate disclosures about how your AI works
• Scalable compliance processes – without slowing the pace of innovation

It’s a constant tightrope: enabling commercial speed while guarding legal integrity.

It’s a lonely, high-impact seat

As the only lawyer, you might not have a team to fall back on. But you’ll likely have a seat at the top table.

Legal issues in AI aren’t tangential – they’re existential. Whether it’s a potential hallucination risk, a debate about IP ownership, or a customer worried about bias, you’ll be in the thick of it.

And you’ll often be the one helping the business draw the line between “we can” and “we should.”

Final thought

In-house lawyers at AI-driven legal tech companies wear many hats: risk manager, product advisor, ethics lead, commercial strategist.

You’re not just protecting the business – you’re shaping what legal technology becomes. In an industry built on trust, your judgment may be the most powerful tool of all.