Mastering Legal AI: How Strong Inventory Management Drives Litigation Operations

Artificial intelligence is becoming embedded in law firm operations, shifting the discussion from whether firms should use AI to how they can deploy it securely, effectively and at scale.

The International Legal Technology Association’s 2026 Technology Survey shows that firms are expanding their use of generative and agentic AI while focusing more closely on governance, cost, accuracy, and compliance.

Recent coverage of the survey points to several key trends:

1. Agentic AI Is Moving Into Real Workflows

   1. Law firms are moving beyond limited generative AI tests and beginning to pilot agentic AI for more complex, multi-step workflows.
   2. Firms are exploring AI across business functions, internal automation, legal work, knowledge management, and research. The shift matters because AI’s value depends not only on the model, but also on the data, processes, and workflows around it

2. Governance Is Becoming More Important

   1. As AI adoption grows, firms are formalizing how they evaluate and manage its use.
   2. AI committees and task forces are taking on greater oversight, underscoring the need for clear policies on security, confidentiality, accuracy, permissions, and human review.
   3. Technology is advancing quickly, but responsible implementation still depends on people, processes, and controls.

3. Firms Are Consolidating Around Leading Platforms

   1. The survey suggests that firms are concentrating AI investments among a smaller group of providers.
   2. Microsoft 365 Copilot remains widely used, while platforms including Claude, Thomson Reuters CoCounsel, Harvey, Lexis+ AI and ChatGPT Enterprise are also gaining adoption.
   3. For firms, the larger question may be not which AI platform they choose, but whether their information and workflows are structured well enough to use it effectively.

4. Accuracy, Security and ROI Remain Critical

   1. Despite growing adoption, accuracy, confidentiality, compliance, and cost of adoption remain among firms’ top concerns.
   2. That underscores the difference between deploying AI as a proof of concept and building an operating environment – including people, processesm and infrastructure that can support it.
   3. For complex litigation practices managing hundreds or thousands of claimants, fragmented information, incomplete documentation, and inconsistent workflows cannot simply be automated away. AI can accelerate a process, but the process and data must first be sound.

What This Means for Complex Litigation

For mass tort and class action firms, the AI conversation comes back to a more fundamental question: How well do you know and manage your inventory?

As technology advances, firms need centralized, reliable information to support claimant engagement, deficiency tracking, portfolio analysis, and settlement preparation.

Strong litigation operations create the foundation for better technology.

That means:

• Structured and validated claimant data
• Defined workflows and ownership
• Visibility into documentation and deficiencies
• Consistent reporting across the portfolio
• Analytics that identify trends, risks, and opportunities
• Human oversight at critical decision points

The firms most likely to benefit from AI will not simply be those adopting the newest tools. They will be the firms that have built the data infrastructure, operating discipline, and portfolio visibility that those tools require.

Build the Foundation for What Comes Next

Technology can accelerate litigation management, but it cannot replace disciplined execution.

Verus helps law firms move entire litigations from intake through resolution by combining experienced people, proven processes, scalable technology, and actionable portfolio intelligence.

Whether firms need better inventory visibility, stronger settlement preparation, clearer documentation tracking, or a more scalable litigation operation, Verus helps build the foundation for better decisions as technology evolves.

Ready to better understand what is really happening across your inventory?
Connect with Verus to learn how litigation analytics and case management can turn complex case data into clearer strategy and stronger settlement readiness.

Sources:

International Legal Technology Association, 2026 Technology Survey.Ella Sherman, “5 Things We Found Interesting From the 2026 ILTA Tech Survey,” Legaltech News / Law.com, September 14, 2026.