Extract from Tom Baldwin’s article “AI Silos: The New Data Fragmentation Problem Inside Law Firms”
Data silos and disconnected technology systems are a persistent challenge for law firms. As newer systems are added to solve specific problems, very few are designed to create a firmwide source of truth. Compounded by the rush to adopt AI, this fragmentation is creating new, unintended silos at the intelligence level.
Law firms have always adopted technology unevenly with practice groups often trying to select tools independently while central IT attempts to drive consistency. AI accelerates this pattern as research, drafting, analytics and custom workflows proliferate across the firm. Each system generates insights, but very little of that intelligence is shared or governed centrally. Firms are no longer just managing tools; they are managing fragmented intelligence.
The Governance Dilemma
AI adoption is accelerating faster than most firms’ enterprise architectures can support.
