Heather Kidd
Senior Editor & Writer
at LawVu
Written by
If AI is transforming every profession, what will distinguish the legal leaders who thrive from those who struggle to keep up? According to futurist and technology advisor Andrew Grill, it will not be technical expertise alone. The defining advantage will be digital curiosity.
As artificial intelligence reshapes the way work is performed across every industry, legal leaders face a choice. They can view AI as another technology trend to monitor from a safe distance, or they can actively explore how it will change the delivery of legal services, governance, and decision-making.
The difference matters. Grill believes the defining trait of successful leaders in the AI era is not technical mastery but digital curiosity. As he puts it, “The future belongs to the curious.”
Digital curiosity is more than an interest in technology. It is the willingness to ask questions, experiment, close knowledge gaps, and challenge assumptions. It is the mindset that drives leaders to explore what is possible before they have complete certainty about the outcome.
That mindset may prove to be one of the most valuable assets a general counsel can develop.
Curiosity is becoming a competitive advantage
Many organizations understand that AI will have a significant impact on their business. Far fewer have changed the way they work. This gap between awareness and action is where digital curiosity creates value.
Grill argues that AI success is less about technology budgets and more about leadership behavior. The leaders who gain an advantage are not waiting for perfect information. They are testing tools, exploring use cases, and learning through experience.
Curiosity drives adoption because it removes fear. Rather than asking whether AI will transform legal work, curious leaders ask where it can improve outcomes, reduce friction, or create new opportunities.
Importantly, this does not require deep technical knowledge. Most legal leaders do not need to understand the underlying mechanics of large language models. They need to understand what the technology can and cannot do, where the risks lie, and how it can support better decisions. The willingness to engage with those questions is becoming a strategic capability in its own right.
From legal gatekeeper to legal architect
The most significant impact of AI may not be the automation of legal tasks. It may be the redesign of the legal function itself. Traditionally, legal teams have operated in a reactive model. The business asks questions. Legal provides answers. Lawyers act as gatekeepers, controlling access to expertise and managing risk. AI creates an opportunity to rethink that model.
Grill envisions a future where legal teams build the knowledge layer that sits behind the business. Policies, guidance, precedents, and institutional knowledge become part of an intelligent system that can deliver self-service answers at scale.
In this environment, legal professionals do not become less important. Their role becomes more strategic. Rather than spending time responding to routine requests, legal leaders focus on governance, supervision, knowledge management, and risk oversight. They become architects of legal intelligence.
The shift is subtle but significant. Legal moves from being a destination for answers to becoming an enabler of better decisions across the organization. For general counsel, this represents an opportunity to increase both influence and impact.
AI changes work, not necessarily jobs
One of the most persistent concerns surrounding AI is the fear of job displacement. Grill offers a more nuanced perspective: “AI replaces tasks, not people.”
The distinction matters. Most legal roles consist of dozens of individual tasks, ranging from document review and research to strategic advice and stakeholder management. Many of the repetitive, administrative, and time-intensive activities that consume legal teams today can be supported by AI. What remains are the capabilities that machines struggle to replicate: judgment, ethics, leadership, negotiation, context, and human understanding.
In other words, the more routine work that AI absorbs, the more valuable uniquely human skills become.
This is why legal leaders should focus less on what AI might replace and more on how it can elevate the work their teams perform. The greatest opportunity is not faster legal work. It is fundamentally different legal work.
Governance must move to the top of the agenda
As organizations accelerate AI adoption, governance is becoming a defining leadership responsibility. Too often, AI is viewed primarily through a technology lens. Grill argues that it is increasingly a legal and leadership responsibility. Questions around transparency, accountability, oversight, confidentiality, and risk management cannot be delegated entirely to IT teams. They require active involvement from legal leaders.
This responsibility will only grow as regulatory frameworks mature. The EU AI Act, for example, places significant emphasis on human oversight, governance, and accountability for high-risk AI applications.
Legal teams are uniquely positioned to lead these conversations. They understand risk. They understand policy. They understand governance. Most importantly, they understand how to balance innovation with responsibility.
In an AI-enabled enterprise, those capabilities become even more critical.
The risk of standing still
Perhaps Grill’s most important message is that waiting carries its own risk. Many leaders are still observing developments from the sidelines, hoping for greater certainty before taking action. Yet AI is evolving too quickly for passive observation to be a viable strategy.
The organizations making progress are experimenting. They are starting with low-risk use cases, building confidence, and learning through practical experience. Curiosity creates momentum. Momentum creates capability.
As Grill observes, “The one thing that predicts AI success, it’s not technology, it’s not seniority, it’s not budget, it’s curiosity.”
The legal leaders who thrive in the coming decade will not necessarily be those with the most sophisticated AI tools. They will be the ones asking better questions, challenging old assumptions, and helping their organizations rethink how work gets done.
The future-ready legal leader will not be the person with the most AI tools. It will be the one with the clearest thinking, the strongest governance, and the most curious team.
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