COMMENTARY: How AT&T is using AI to reduce its reliance on law firms

AT&T says it has cut reliance on outside law firms by moving many routine legal tasks in-house and onto AI-enabled workflows. Over the course of this year, General Counsel David McAtee told Reuters that AT&T has stopped paying law firms for assignments typically handled by junior associates, instead using an internal team of attorneys with artificial intelligence. Document review, legal research, witness interviews and first drafts are among the work now done internally, and McAtee said associate hours on bills have fallen. The company said it’s difficult to estimate cost savings. AT&T also announced a partnership with OpenAI to package more than 100 years of legal knowledge into AI tools, following the January launch of LegalEdge, a 38-person unit.