For forward-thinking law firms, artificial intelligence is no longer just a novelty—it’s a powerful tool for driving efficiency and enhancing client experience. We spoke to John Knight, Senior Director & Solicitor at Ringrose Law. With his over 25 years specialising in medical negligence and personal injury law he could see how the power of legal AI could supplement the expertise of their highly experienced legal professionals.
Valuing People, Delivering Excellence
Ringrose Law have nine offices serving both individuals and businesses. With a focus on private client work, the firm prides itself on its culture of valuing both clients and staff. As John Knight, Senior Director and Solicitor, puts it: “We work very hard on our culture internally, if you value people you tend to get happy staff who do good work and if you do good work then the clients are then happy as well.”
Embracing the AI Revolution
This drive for excellence is one of the things that led Ringrose to adopt Lexis+ AI, the AI-powered legal research solution from ÀÏ˾»úÎçÒ¹¸£Àû. John, who oversees the personal injury and clinical negligence department of 30 people, has been following AI technology progress and decided it was time to act. “I’ve been interested in AI for a couple of years now following the AI story inside and outside of the legal profession. I like technology... but from a work point of view, it has to have a benefit.”
When John saw what ÀÏ˾»úÎçÒ¹¸£Àû was doing with AI integrated with its secure legal database, he recognised the potential.
“I thought hang on, this could be really useful for us... I was very interested to see what ÀÏ˾»úÎçÒ¹¸£Àû would do in this space and thought, right, let’s have a look at this and if it’s appropriate for us, let’s give it a go to give us a little bit of a competitive advantage.”
Streamlining Casework with AI Insights
For John, a key driver was the ability to quickly get well-researched answers to legal queries that arise during casework. “Rather than not being 100% sure of your thoughts on a legal query, I'll say let’s ask AI. Let’s see what it says,” he explains.
“It’s like asking somebody else in the office who’s been around for 30 years, who really knows their stuff.”
The efficiency gains are already becoming apparent. As John describes it, “Those quick questions that pop up in your mind when considering a particular case, that’s where we’re at, at the moment... I’ve been asking Lexis+ AI legal questions and then using it to draft research notes.” Others in the team have taken it further and are using it to create first drafts of letters.
Driving Firm-Wide Adoption
While adoption is still in the early stages, John is encouraging his team to embrace the technology. “If you can push the benefit which Lexis+ AI brings and when people realise ‘that saved me 20 minutes. That’s fantastic. Great. I'll do it again’.” He recognises that realising Lexis+ AI’s full potential will require firm-wide adoption driven by clear benefits for users which they are seeing.
The Next Frontier: Case Management Integration
Looking ahead, John sees integration with the firm’s case management system as the next frontier. “If you can integrate AI into a case management system, you’ve cracked it,” he states. With ÀÏ˾»úÎçÒ¹¸£Àû’ acquisition of Henchman to enable seamless connectivity between Lexis+ AI and case management workflows, this vision may not be far off which is another benefit to partnering with a leader in the legal AI space.
Advice for Firms Considering AI
For other firms considering AI, John advises: “You need to understand what benefit you’re going to gain from it.” He cautions against treating it as “a new toy that sits in the corner” and emphasises the importance of firm-wide embrace. “If you are going to use it, you need to embrace it.”
“With the ability to get properly paid for the legal work you do getting harder and harder, you have to constantly look for efficiencies. Lexis+ AI provides that.”
Enhancing Client Service Through Innovation
Ultimately, John sees Lexis+ AI as a way to provide better service to clients through increased efficiency. “It will give us a competitive advantage and enable us to provide a better service to our clients.” And he is not alone, David Heath the Operations Director and Solicitor at Ringrose added when asked:
“Choosing to upgrade to Lexis+ AI made complete sense to us. The powerful generative AI draws solely from the ÀÏ˾»úÎçÒ¹¸£Àû library that we trust and means that our research and document production time can be hugely reduced.”
Ringrose leadership is aligned that by strategically applying AI to streamline workflows and empower staff, forward-thinking firms are paving the way for the AI-enabled future of legal practice.
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