From Investment to Impact: Driving Real Value from Legal Tech
- cosmonauts
- Feb 23
- 7 min read
Legal tech investment is no longer the hard part. Adoption is.
Virginia Odriozola, Senior LegalTech and Innovation at Bird & Bird, shares her perspective on what truly drives engagement, how firms can embed AI into everyday workflows, and why culture is the real differentiator.
In this Q&A, Virginia reflects on the rise of “vibe coding,” practitioner-led innovation, and what it takes to turn experimentation into measurable impact.
Enjoy the interview below.
What recent innovation in the legal sector has impressed you the most, and what makes it particularly impactful?
It’s almost impossible to discuss innovation in the legal sector without acknowledging the impact of AI and large language models, which have reshaped expectations around how legal work is delivered and how clients engage with legal services. While innovation takes many forms, I’m particularly interested in the technology-driven changes that are transforming how lawyers work in practice.
Beyond LLMs themselves, what has impressed me most is the rise of “vibe coding” within legal teams. Using AI coding assistants and natural language prompts, fee earners and legal operations professionals with little or no formal technical background are now building automated workflows, document tools and even client-facing applications. In some cases, these tools move quickly from experimentation into firm-wide adoption.
For me, this represents a fundamental shift. Innovation is no longer solely centralised within dedicated innovation teams. Instead, it is becoming distributed, with lawyers closest to the work identifying problems and building solutions themselves. In a sector where behavioural change is often one of the biggest barriers to progress, this democratisation of tool-building is particularly impactful.
A strong example of this at Bird & Bird is our Green Claims AI Scanner. Dr Constantin Eikel, a partner in our German office, together with Johannes Jung from our Legal Tech team, identified an emerging client challenge around the need to scrutinise environmental and sustainability claims at scale. Rather than waiting for an external solution, they collaborated to build a tool themselves. It demonstrates what is possible when legal expertise is combined with technical curiosity and client-driven problem solving.
What makes this trend especially interesting is that it brings both opportunity and responsibility. Vibe coding allows lawyers to rapidly test and externalise ideas that might otherwise remain conceptual. However, these tools are rarely production-ready by default, and without appropriate oversight can create security, compliance and maintenance risks.
This is where the role of legal innovation teams is evolving. Rather than acting as gatekeepers, they are increasingly enabling practitioners by providing secure, governed environments where ideas can be tested, refined and scaled safely. Alongside this, we are seeing a broader cultural shift, with a new generation of tech-curious lawyers who are more willing to experiment and build solutions themselves.
Together, this combination of empowered practitioners and structured innovation support is, in my view, one of the most significant developments shaping the future of legal.
Can you share an example of an innovation initiative that genuinely changed how work gets done at Bird & Bird?
I would point to our early partnership with Legora, then known as Leya. We began working together when they were still a small team in Stockholm, launching a six-month pilot with 100 individuals across our UK, Germany, Spain and Nordic offices. By the end of that pilot, engagement had grown to 800 people, and we became one of the first international law firms to move to an enterprise-level deployment.
From the beginning, Bird & Bird played an active role in shaping the Legora platform through insight, rigorous testing and real-world use. That early involvement allowed us to embed AI into our workflows well ahead of much of the market and the impact has been transformative: a 250-contract review that would traditionally take more than 500 hours was completed with over 90% time and cost savings.
Beyond efficiency, however, the most significant change has been cultural. Fee earners and business services teams are now proactively identifying opportunities to improve processes, rethink pricing models and work more efficiently. AI has reshaped internal conversations, enabling us to move from streamlining routine tasks to delivering more strategic, value-driven client engagements.
This shift has also influenced how we develop talent. Fee earners now undertake secondments with the legal tech team to build expertise and share it with their practice groups, and this year we have a solicitor apprentice embedded in the team. Placing people directly within the legal tech environment accelerates learning and strengthens the connection between legal practice and technology.
The early success with Legora, alongside other AI tools we have adopted, has built genuine confidence across the firm. Colleagues who were initially hesitant are now enthusiastic adopters, supported by a growing network of digital champions across fee-earning and business services teams who actively promote our legal tech tools and contribute ideas to improve how we work.
What organisational, cultural, or technical challenges typically arise when implementing new technology in a large, global law firm?
Implementing new technology in a large, global law firm inevitably comes with challenges, and while I can’t speak for every firm, I can share what we see at Bird & Bird.
Organisationally, operating across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East means working across different languages, cultures and ways of working. Although English is our common language, many colleagues operate day to day in their local language, with different regulatory requirements and workflow preferences. That means different offices can have different needs, which can make global rollouts more complex.
In a decentralised firm like ours, reaching agreement on technology investment across dozens of offices and hundreds of partners requires strong leadership and clear decision-making, as it’s rarely possible to meet every requirement equally. That said, our One Firm business model, where partners all benefit from better client relationships, means there is a shared incentive to support technology transitions and deliver a better client experience.
Culturally, resistance to change is one of the more nuanced challenges. As a former lawyer, I understand that scepticism. Legal work is rooted in expertise, judgement and intellectual rigour, and when automation enters that space it can feel like it threatens the craft. That’s why it’s so important to show that these tools are not there to replace legal judgement, but to remove repetitive, low-value tasks and free lawyers up to focus on higher-value advisory work, problem-solving and client relationships.
There are also valid questions from fee earners around billable hours, pricing models and wider business implications, alongside the non-negotiable requirement to protect client confidentiality. Any technology that involves external data processing has to be supported by rigorous due diligence and strong governance.
From a technical perspective, integration with legacy systems and data quality can be challenging, which makes responsive support critical. And ultimately, acquiring a tool is only the start - real adoption depends on dedicated training, accessible resources and a legal tech team that’s visible, approachable and ready to support colleagues day to day.
In today’s market, does innovation still provide a competitive advantage for Big Law firms, or has it become a basic requirement?
From my experience working closely with lawyers and clients, innovation is no longer a differentiator in Big Law firms - it has become a baseline expectation. Clients increasingly assume their legal advisers are using advanced technology, and most major firms now have access to broadly similar tools. Technology alone rarely provides a sustainable competitive edge.
Firms that can build proprietary tools, customise platforms and integrate AI deeply into their operations will be better positioned to move beyond off-the-shelf solutions. However, the real point of divergence lies in leadership and culture. The most successful firms demonstrate a genuine commitment to embedding technology into how people work every day.
At Bird & Bird, this means investing in adoption and engagement. We support colleagues through a dedicated training team, an active Digital Champions network, and initiatives such as our Digital Academy. We also focus on making innovation fun and accessible - for example, through our LegalTechno event. It brings together lawyers, legal technologists and vendors in an informal setting with music, cocktails, giveaways, and interactive experiences. By creating a relaxed environment, the event sparks conversations, encourages collaboration across teams and roles, and often leads to practical, practitioner-led innovation. In my experience, this combination of serious investment and playful engagement is what turns technology from a capability into a day-to-day advantage.
Ultimately, value is created when technology is embedded into workflows and supported by teams who understand how to use it effectively. As AI tools and integrations mature across the market, firms are increasingly distinguished by how they apply these technologies rather than whether they have access to them.
AI can produce first drafts or initial assessments, but it can also be confidently wrong. Clients recognise this - they engage law firms for risk assessment, real-world legal application, and seasoned professional judgment, all of which remain essential to business decisions.
In a market where access to technology is becoming increasingly uniform, the true differentiator lies in qualities technology cannot replicate: deep expertise, emotional intelligence, strategic thinking, and the ability to build trusted, meaningful client relationships. In my view, the most effective lawyers of the future will be those who combine these human skills with technology, rather than seeing them as competing forces.
What expectations do you have regarding your participation in the Future Lawyer UK, and what outcomes are you hoping to gain from attending?
Every time I attend Future Lawyer UK, I come away with something genuinely valuable - whether it’s a new technology insight, a practical idea to take back to the firm, or a meaningful connection. There’s always a takeaway.
This year, I’m especially excited because it’s my first time speaking at the event. I’m looking forward to connecting with other legal innovation leaders, technology providers, and practitioners who are actively shaping the future of legal services. It’s a rare opportunity to exchange ideas with peers who are grappling with the same challenges around technology adoption, cultural change, and evolving client expectations.
Beyond the formal agenda, I place real value on the informal conversations that happen throughout the event. Some of our most successful ideas and partnerships have emerged from those spontaneous discussions. Attending year after year, I’ve been able to reconnect with familiar faces while building new relationships - and this growing network is one of the aspects I most look forward to.
Virginia’s insights highlight a shift taking place across leading firms: innovation is becoming increasingly distributed, with practitioners building solutions themselves—supported by structured governance and strong operational foundations.
Virginia will be joining Future Lawyer UK Day 1 on the panel “From Investment to Impact: Driving Adoption, Engagement, and Value from Legal Tech”, exploring how firms can ensure technology investments translate into meaningful outcomes.
Register now to join the discussion at Future Lawyer UK.
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