From Activity to ROI: What Sets High-Impact Legal AI Teams Apart

GenAI access is now baseline in legal, but impact is not. According to our 2026 GenAI in Legal Benchmarking Report, 82.7% of legal teams report broad AI access, yet only 32.1% feel very confident using AI for legal work and just 22.1% report high trust in AI outputs. 

So the question has changed. It’s no longer “Do we have AI tools?” It’s “Are those tools delivering measurable return?” 

This insider briefing marks the launch of our 2026 Benchmarking Report and unpacks what separates AI activity from genuine AI impact. The data tells a clear story: among high trust teams, 89.5% report positive ROI; among low trust teams, that drops to 27.8%. Trust is emerging as the inflection point between experimentation and performance. 

Moderator Alex Denniston, Director of Insights and Innovation at Factor, will be joined by Will McKinnon, Managing Director, Russell Reynolds Associates and Tara Waters, Strategist and adviser on AI, TLW Consulting. 

They will explore: 

• Why access is no longer the differentiator – capability is 
• What high impact teams are doing differently to build trust and reduce verification friction 
• The leadership behaviors that accelerate adoption 
• How hybrid build and buy environments are reshaping operating models 
• What it takes to activate AI inside real workflows, beyond pilots 

Drawing on insights from 204 legal leaders, this session will give you a clear benchmark on where the market stands in 2026 – and what it really takes to move from AI activity to sustained ROI. 

If your team has AI access but is still questioning impact, this discussion will help you see where you stand and what to do next. 

Register now to join us live on Thursday, March 19th.