An expert piece on Law.com says compliance AI fails when it only speeds reactive audits. Consolidate data, then redesign the work.
Via Law.com: AI's Potential Maximum Effect: Compliance and Beyond
Note: The underlying piece is an expert opinion by Jon Kessler, VP and general manager of AI Governance and AI Advisory at Legal Solutions; this article independently summarizes it.
Most compliance teams start with AI the same way they start with every other tool: make the audit cycle faster. That is understandable. It is also incomplete.
In a July 20, 2026 Law.com Legaltech News essay, Jon Kessler argues that AI for legal and compliance is not merely an improvement technology. He says it should catalyze a new way of working, and that treating AI as an accelerator for reactive, audit-based compliance misses what makes the technology different.
For owner-led firms, the practical translation is blunt. If your first AI project is only chat-assisted checklisting on siloed files, you may get speed without judgment. Garbage in still produces garbage out — Kessler says so directly when arguing for data consolidation before smarter monitoring.
Kessler writes that compliance consumes thousands of hours every year and has stayed reactive and audit-based for three primary reasons: finite staff with limited time; complex technology stacks with numerous risk tools; and data siloed across systems.
That framing will sound familiar to a 20-person law firm, accounting practice, or RIA. Nobody has a compliance factory. Staff juggle client work and after-the-fact reviews. Tools multiply. Definitions of risk live in email threads.
Under those constraints, leaders reach for AI to automate manual tasks. Kessler calls faster and more frequent monitoring only the start. Functionally, he argues, AI can accomplish in moments what would take humans hours, any time of day — but only if the data picture and the workflow design catch up.
Kessler outlines three moves: consolidate siloed data first; reimagine workflows beyond monitoring and standard automation; and support hands-on exploration by people closest to the pain points.
Without comprehensive data consolidation, AI provides only garbage in, garbage out results, Kessler wrote on Law.com.
AgentsROI does not replace your counsel or compliance officer. We help owner-led firms make AI use governable and measurable so redesign is not a slogan.
A Fractional AI Officer owns operating tempo: which workflows deserve agents, where human gates sit, and how exceptions get reviewed. A Workflow ROI Audit finds where automation saves real hours versus where it only speeds a weak process.
Vendor-neutral on purpose. The goal is not another tool in the stack. The goal is consolidated context, redesigned work, and an owner who keeps it from decaying.
If your compliance AI plan starts with chat on scattered folders, pause. Follow the Law.com essay sequence: consolidate data, redesign the workflow, then let practitioners explore with clear ownership. Faster audits are not the finish line.
Talk to AgentsROI about a Workflow ROI Audit or Fractional AI Officer engagement before the next pilot hardens the wrong process.
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