Confidently embracing Copilot:
A legal sector blueprint from Norton Rose-Fulbright
A collaborative approach to AI adoption in a legal firm
As a global law firm, Norton Rose Fulbright faced a complex landscape for adopting Microsoft Copilot – balancing data privacy, international regulations and diverse user needs across jurisdictions. In late 2024, the firm partnered with First AI to support its adoption journey and ensure the rollout was thoughtful, user-led and impact-driven.
Together, they launched a phased rollout, beginning with business services and gradually extending to legal teams, establishing a collaborative and learning-focused implementation model.
Phased rollout strategy
Norton Rose Fulbright approached the implementation in phases, starting with teams that were more likely to benefit immediately from productivity gains, such as marketing, finance and practice coordinators.
This allowed the firm to build momentum and internal confidence before expanding to a smaller cohort of lawyers a few months later. Insights gained from the early rollout shaped improvements in the second phase, ensuring a smoother and more informed experience for the legal teams.
Understanding and supporting users
As with many AI initiatives, the user perspective was mixed. Some users were enthusiastic and curious, while others were skeptical – particularly about AI’s impact on roles and workflows. To bridge this gap, Norton Rose Fulbright and First AI conducted needs assessments across teams, surfacing relevant, role-specific use cases that helped demystify the role of AI.
These assessments revealed not only opportunities for improvement but also reduced apprehension by showing real, practical value – transforming uncertainty into experimentation and excitement.
“The needs assessments helped alleviate apprehension by demonstrating the tool's practical applications.”
— Alyson Schmidt-Iverson, Innovation Analyst, Norton Rose Fulbright
Changing workflows
Efficiency was the standout area of impact. Many users immediately adopted Copilot for simple but time-consuming tasks such as summarizing emails, planning their day or reviewing documents. These entry-level use cases proved foundational, building user confidence to explore more complex features over time.
Among legal teams, two use cases stood out:
- Time entry prompts: Custom prompts allowed users to compile tables of their activities across systems – addressing a major pain point in billing their time.
- Information retrieval: Copilot helped users quickly locate past work or templates, saving valuable time.
“The time entry prompt significantly streamlined the process, saving noticeable time.”
— Alyson Schmidt-Iverson, Innovation Analyst, Norton Rose Fulbright
User engagement and training
Within four weeks of activation in January 2025, Norton Rose Fulbright observed a steady rise in engagement, tracked via usage metrics. Monthly sessions were hosted to share prompts, discuss use cases and introduce new Copilot features.
Business services teams showed strong ongoing participation, while lawyers engaged more flexibly, often consuming follow-up materials in their own time.
“Business services personnel show strong attendance at these voluntary sessions, indicating perceived value.”
— Alyson Schmidt-Iverson, Innovation Analyst, Norton Rose Fulbright
Tailored support from First AI
First AI’s tailored approach was central to the project’s success. The team worked closely with Norton Rose Fulbright to conduct user interviews, develop custom prompts and iterate based on real-world feedback.
They also created short training videos and documentation tailored to Norton Rose Fulbright’s workflows.
“First AI provided support during initial training and then heavily focused on conducting needs assessments collaboratively with us.”
— Les Sierra, AI Product Owner, Norton Rose Fulbright
“First AI were active listeners who really adapted to our evolving needs.”
— Alyson Schmidt-Iverson, Innovation Analyst, Norton Rose Fulbright
Key barriers and enablers
Some of the main challenges included:
Time constraints for training and experimentation
Knowledge gaps in AI usage
Keeping up with new Copilot feature updates
However, these barriers were effectively managed through ongoing training, leadership support and role-specific enablement.
“Strong leadership support was crucial; it helped bring a sense of value and encouraged learning.”
— Les Sierra, AI Product Owner, Norton Rose Fulbright
Adoption trends and future outlook
While business services led initial adoption, interest among legal professionals steadily grew. All Copilot licenses were eventually allocated, and engagement has continued to climb.
Norton Rose Fulbright sees this as a strong sign that the benefits of AI, particularly around workflow efficiency, are being recognised across the firm.
“The fact that all Copilot licenses are now allocated and actively used, with increasing engagement metrics, indicates success.”
— Les Sierra, AI Product Owner, Norton Rose Fulbright
Looking ahead, Norton Rose Fulbright plans to stay close to users to surface new opportunities as AI continues to evolve.
There is growing interest in legal-specific models and AI agents trained on firm data, signalling a long-term commitment to innovation in practice.
“We want to deepen our understanding of AI’s potential value. It’s an exciting and unpredictable space.”
— Les Sierra, AI Product Owner, Norton Rose Fulbright
The collaboration between Norton Rose Fulbright and First AI stands as a benchmark for effective AI integration in the legal sector.
First AI’s ability to flex around Norton Rose Fulbright’s needs, build trust across diverse teams and deliver practical, user-centric solutions helped transform potential into progress.
With a foundation rooted in genuine partnership, Norton Rose Fulbright is not only equipped to navigate the evolving AI landscape – but to lead it.