How corporate counsel are dealing with AI in-house

As companies and employees seek higher productivity in shorter timeframes, many are turning to the benefits of artificial intelligence to resolve some of the mundane tasks associated with day-to-day operations.

And for corporate counsel at these companies, the use of AI brings in a new set of questions and standards that attorneys must adapt to ahead and in the midst of employee use.

“You have to understand [AI] and be aware of it, because people are going to use it, and you have to know when to use it and the right time to use it and when it’s been used inappropriately,” said Timothy Robinson, vice president and general counsel at Lumina Foundation in Indianapolis.

For Robinson and others, the increasing use of AI is unavoidable, and as a result, it’s important for general counsel to understand how it can be used and misused in both legal and business spaces.

According to data from McKinsey & Company, a global consulting firm, the percentage of companies using AI worldwide has jumped significantly in the last few years, with 88% of respondents in 2025 saying their company uses AI compared to 78% in 2024 and just 55% in 2023.

In response to the higher demand for AI, many attorneys are developing strategies to help companies and employees use the technology proficiently and safely in order to maintain productivity while also safeguarding crucial company information.

How companies are using AI

The Lumina Foundation, which provides resources and opportunities to help Hoosiers pursue a college education, recently established an AI pilot program to support its operations.

Prior to building the program, the organization gathered a work group to discuss best practices for AI use, including how the technology would fit into the foundation’s operations and its ethical use. The nonprofit surveyed employees to determine how they use AI in their roles and which tools they rely on for certain tasks.

The foundation also established an AI policy with guidance on how to use the technology without compromising private information, how to avoid copyright and trademark infringement and more.

Based on their research, Lumina subscribed to three AI applications under enterprise licenses to keep their data from being used to educate the tools.

“We didn’t want the Lumina data to be caught up in that generation of information—obviously we have confidential things we want to keep tight. So, by doing this enterprise license, we were able to contain how it was feeding the machine,” Robinson said.

The foundation subscribed to the applications in the spring and is now preparing to send out another employee survey to learn how employees are adapting to the tools and what is and isn’t working.

And while employees are encouraged to use the applications the organization subscribes to, they can use other tools as long as that use is in line with company policy.

“Generally, if you’re going to use AI for your work product, you have to use the ones that we provide the license for,” Robinson said.

At Telamon Corporation, a turn-key provider company offering solutions for telecommunications projects, instructions on proper AI use policy have been built into the employee handbook.

The company has embraced the opportunities AI provides and is working to roll out tools that integrate AI into its existing processes, said Dan Strunk, secretary and general counsel for the company.

Just like Lumina, Telamon places an emphasis on responsible AI use.

“We’re trying to encourage our people to be open-minded and curious, while at the same time understanding the legal and ethical risks that go with using something like an AI tool,” Strunk said.

The use of AI is a business tactic at the company, but its legal team has been heavily involved in determining the company’s steps in integrating the tools. While the company is still too new in its adoption of AI to conclude how effective the technology is, the legal team has not run into any issues, Strunk said.

Advising the use of AI

The integration of AI adds a new layer of legal precautions for corporate counsel to navigate to ensure that both their companies and employees comply with company policy and ethical standards.

“We have to teach lawyers, whether they’re in-house or external, how to use these models to the best of their advantage without compromising client privilege and confidentiality,” said Frank Emmert, the John S. Grimes Professor of Law at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

Emmert works with law students on how to work with AI without compromising confidential information.

At Telamon, Strunk not only helps build the company’s approach to AI but also advises employees on safe and effective approaches to the technology.

“As folks are working with AI tools, they need to make sure that their management understands the nature and scope of what they’re doing, and then if they ever have any questions or are unclear, they can talk with their management, and they can also come to legal,” he said.

He explained that since Telamon hasn’t had any specific legal issues with the technology so far, his role has been focused on more high-level guidance, such as helping individuals understand potential concerns with intellectual property law and data security. Most of all, employees must understand that the technology is still developing, so it’s important to proceed with caution.

Lumina uses applications that have built-in AI models for tasks like auditing expense reports and managing grants.

In addition to his role as general counsel, Robinson acts as chief compliance officer for Lumina. As part of the role, he’s directly involved in making sure employees are using AI in line with the company’s legal policy and practices.

Is AI worth it?

Emmert divides AI into two categories: large language models, like ChatGPT, which trains on several trillion bits of information based on interactions with users, and professional models, which are designed by companies and are close-circuited for tasks specific to that organization.

Both have their lists of pros and cons, but, in general, large language models offer the most in-depth, diverse information to users. However, professional models promise data privacy, Emmert said.

When determining whether to use AI, and in what capacity, Emmert said companies must consider what tasks they need it for. From his perspective, professional models designed for specific companies are often too expensive for the benefits they provide.

He said he’s spoken to several companies over the last couple of months who’ve said they’ve yet to see the payoff for designing their own AI models. That doesn’t mean they won’t pay off eventually, he said.

“The question is, do you have professional models that’ll address all your needs, promise you the privacy and the confidentiality and still give you an interesting price point?” Emmert said.

AI generally will be beneficial for companies, he concluded, especially for improving productivity in day-to-day tasks for in-house counsel.

However, Robinson said, he doesn’t believe it will ever replace the minds of attorneys. When Westlaw and LexisNexis rose in popularity during his law school career, it often removed the need for physical law libraries. But attorneys aren’t consulted for their ability to recite specific court cases.

“It can’t replace the judgment that lawyers are tasked with when they are advising their clients,” Robinson said.•