Law360 Canada (July 29, 2026, 3:12 PM EDT) --

Connie L. Braun

As artificial intelligence grows more capable, human skills are becoming more valuable, not less. For decades, the legal profession around the world has rewarded expertise built on deep research, careful analysis and meticulous attention to detail. Today, AI can perform many of those tasks in seconds, summarizing thousands of documents, identifying relevant case law, drafting contracts, analyzing litigation trends and even suggesting legal arguments.

Knowing this raises an obvious question: if AI keeps getting better at legal work, what still sets lawyers apart? The answer is surprisingly optimistic. As AI capabilities expand, the uniquely human skills lawyers bring to their work only grow more important.

The new competitive advantage is not about information

For generations, legal professionals have distinguished themselves by knowing more than others. Access to information was limited, research was time-consuming and developing expertise required years of experience. Today, information is more than abundant and easily accessible. AI systems can retrieve statutes, summarize judgments, identify precedents and generate first drafts very quickly.

When everyone has access to similar AI capabilities, the competitive advantage shifts away from finding information and toward using information wisely. Lawyers who thrive will not simply be those who know the law. They will be those who know how to apply the law with sound judgment, empathy, creativity and strategic thinking.

Clients do not hire lawyers for answers alone

Clients rarely come to lawyers because they need someone to locate a statute. They come because they are navigating uncertainty or experiencing concern about a situation. They need someone who can:

• Understand the broader business or personal context
• Evaluate competing risks
• Build trust
• Negotiate effectively
• Communicate difficult advice
• Help make decisions when there is no perfect answer

Each of these activities are fundamentally human. While AI can generate options, it is people that determine which option is the correct or best one for them.

Human skills become ‘power skills’

As routine legal work becomes increasingly automated, the importance of interpersonal and cognitive skills grows. Among the most valuable are:

• Critical thinking: AI usually produces plausible answers, not necessarily correct ones. Legal professionals must evaluate AI outputs, identify weaknesses, verify authorities, recognize missing context and exercise independent judgment. The future belongs to lawyers who question AI rather than simply accept it.
• Emotional intelligence: Many legal matters involve conflict, uncertainty, grief, fear or high financial stakes. Whether advising a corporate executive during a crisis or supporting a family through difficult litigation, empathy cannot be automated. Clients remember how lawyers made them feel just as much as the legal advice they received.
• Communication: Legal advice has value only if clients understand it. The ability to explain complex legal issues in plain language, persuade interested parties, negotiate effectively and present compelling arguments becomes even more important when AI handles much of the underlying research.
• Creativity: The law rarely presents perfect, textbook scenarios. For this reason, innovative legal strategies, creative settlement structures, novel contractual approaches and practical business solutions require imagination that extends beyond pattern recognition. AI can generate possibilities; people recognize opportunities.
• Ethical judgment: AI cannot bear professional responsibility. Lawyers remain accountable for confidentiality, privilege, conflicts of interest, professional conduct, fairness and the ethical use of technology. As AI becomes more capable, ethical decision-making becomes increasingly central to professional practice.

The lawyer’s role is evolving

Rather than replacing lawyers, AI is changing how lawyers spend their time. Instead of dedicating hours to routine research or document review, legal professionals can now focus more energy on higher-value activities such as:

• Strategic counselling
• Client relationships
• Advocacy
• Negotiation
• Risk assessment
• Leadership
• Collaboration
• Innovation

This shift mirrors previous technological revolutions. Word processors did not eliminate lawyers. Electronic legal research did not eliminate lawyers. Document automation did not eliminate lawyers. Each innovation reduced administrative effort while increasing expectations for higher-value expertise. AI is accelerating that same evolution.

Human skills will differentiate legal professionals

With greater use of AI by lawyers, technical proficiency alone will no longer distinguish one lawyer from another. Two lawyers may have access to the same legal AI platform. The difference lies in how they use it. One may accept AI-generated content at face value. Another may ask better questions, recognize hidden risks, challenge assumptions, understand client priorities and develop a strategy tailored to specific circumstances. The technology may be identical. The outcomes will not. Recent news stories infer that some lawyers are failing to apply their human skills effectively when using AI, and at their peril.

The future lawyer is AI-augmented, not AI-replaced

The most successful legal professionals will not compete against AI. They will collaborate with it. They will use AI to eliminate repetitive work while investing more time in the uniquely human aspects of legal practice that technology cannot replicate. AI is raising the ceiling on what lawyers can accomplish. It enables professionals to spend less time producing documents and more time delivering judgment, insight and value. That is where the profession’s future lies.

Final thoughts

Every major technological advancement has challenged and changed the skills that society values. In this, artificial intelligence is no different. As AI becomes increasingly capable, human abilities become increasingly more important. Judgment, empathy, communication, ethics, leadership and creativity are no longer “soft skills.” They are the defining capabilities of modern legal professionals. Lawyers who embrace AI while continuing to strengthen these human capabilities will be best positioned to lead the next generation of legal practice. In an age where machines can process information faster than ever, the greatest competitive advantage is not thinking like a machine. It is thinking, and connecting, like a human.

Connie L. Braun is a product adoption and learning consultant with LexisNexis Canada.
 
The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author’s firm, its clients, Law360 Canada, LexisNexis Canada or any of its or their respective affiliates. This article is for general information purposes and is neither intended to be nor should be taken as legal advice.

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