As generative AI began reshaping the legal sector, Walker Morris focused on a practical challenge - how to adopt the technology in a way that genuinely supported lawyers without compromising accuracy, consistency or client trust.
That emphasis on trusted outputs led the firm to choose Lexis+ with Protégé following a successful pilot programme. By combining generative AI capabilities with authoritative LexisNexis legal content, the platform supported faster legal work while helping lawyers remain confident in the quality and reliability of their advice. As Jeanette Burgess, Managing Partner, described:
“We’re seeing usage of Protégé across lawyers at all levels in the firm, from senior partners down to trainees on a regular basis. There’s really no differential, everybody is using it.”
Watch the 1 minute video case study to learn more
Building legal AI into everyday outputs
Walker Morris approached generative AI with an established culture of technological innovation. Rather than treating AI as a separate initiative, the firm focused on how it could improve internal technology systems and workflows lawyers were already using.
“AI was just something we couldn’t ignore”, said Laura Pilkington, Innovation Lead. “We really wanted to embrace that change within sensible guardrails”.
Because LexisNexis tools were already deeply embedded within the firm’s research workflows, moving to Protégé felt like a natural progression. As Kelly Cunningham, Senior Knowledge Lawyer, explained: “the systems were already embedded within the work that we were doing, and each improvement within Lexis+ felt like part of the day-to-day rather than introducing something completely separate”.
Walker Morris ran a structured pilot across selected teams and tasks before proceeding to a firm-wide rollout. Lawyers tested the platform in live client matters, while the innovation and knowledge teams gathered feedback and assessed where the tool delivered the greatest value.
Following the pilot, the response from participants left little doubt about the value the platform was delivering. Burgess recalled that:
“The pilot of Protégé went really well. The people who had been involved in the trial said, ‘Please don’t take this away from us.’”
When considering legal AI, Walker Morris' must-haves included:
- Trusted legal content with clear citations
- Faster drafting and legal research capabilities
- Simple adoption across teams and seniority levels.
Confidence built on trusted legal content
Walker Morris focused their rollout on governance, transparency and trust in the legal content supporting the platform.
Before rollout, the firm introduced mandatory generative AI trainings, internal policies and clear guidance on appropriate usage. Innovation champions across departments helped support adoption and encourage practical knowledge sharing between teams.
For the board, resolving concerns around hallucinations and client confidentiality was a necessary part of the rollout process. Burgess explains that they were “comfortable that if they trained their people in the right way, Protégé could be used appropriately and safely.
Part of Walker Morris’ governance approach was ensuring lawyers could quickly verify AI-generated outputs by tracing responses back to authoritative legal sources. That traceability quickly became one of the platform’s most valuable features. As Cunningham explained:
“We know and trust the resources in LexisNexis. Being able to cross-check citations quickly means fee earners can validate information much faster.”
Traceability also helped lawyers build confidence in everyday use. Liam Faulkner, Senior Associate in Employment & Immigration, elaborated:
“I’m often ninety-five percent certain already. Protégé gives me that extra layer of defence.”
Faster drafting and legal research under pressure
Lawyers across Walker Morris began using Protégé differently depending on their role and experience.
For senior lawyers, using the tool became a way to reduce time spent searching through large volumes of legal information, verify reasoning and accelerate drafting. For junior lawyers, it provided a faster route into unfamiliar areas of law and helped them produce stronger first drafts with greater confidence.
Paul Armstrong, Director in the Commercial team, uses the drafting functionality regularly when working on commercial contracts.
He recalled needing to draft an audit rights clause for an IT services agreement under significant time pressure. Using Protégé, he generated a baseline draft within seconds before refining the wording for the specific client matter. Armstrong explained:
“Before Protégé, the task would likely have taken around an hour. With Protégé, the clause was ready in under five minutes.”
Lawyers also found the platform especially useful for narrowing down legal authorities quickly and identifying issues outside their immediate specialties.
As Faulkner explained, “If you put that query into Lexis+ with Protégé, it won’t just respond with pure employment advice. It might suggest there’s a regulatory issue there as well”.
This broader perspective helped identify additional legal considerations earlier in the process while improving the quality of advice.
How legal AI adoption is improving client experience
As lawyers spent less time on routine drafting and research tasks, Walker Morris saw greater capacity for client-focused and strategic work across the firm.
The impact was particularly noticeable in time-sensitive transactions and fixed-fee work, where turnaround times and write-offs can directly affect both client relationships and profitability.
For Walker Morris, the value of Lexis+ with Protégé lies in helping lawyers get to the right authority faster, test their thinking more rigorously and move with greater confidence in high-stakes disputes. In a boutique litigation practice built on precision, turning trusted knowledge into high-quality outputs sharpens its commercial edge As Pilkington said:
“Protégé is helping our teams to work faster. When they do that, it means they can deliver more for clients, especially in time-pressured transactions.”
Clients have also become encouraging of legal AI, particularly when used within trusted legal platforms and clear governance frameworks. As Cunningham explained, “Clients are aware of the existence of AI, and they want to make sure that firms are progressing”.
Integration of legal AI across the firm continues to grow
One of the strongest indicators of Lexis+ with Protégé’s success at Walker Morris has been the breadth of adoption across the business.
As firm has become accustomed to the tool’s integration across legal work, the opportunity now is to continue driving support. Walker Morris has done this by combining senior sponsorship with a strong network of innovation champions that encourage experimentation, peer learning and practical use cases across departments. Pilkington explained, “We’ve seen our lawyers shouting about the benefits of Protégé and encouraging each other to use it”.
Burgess believes that reflects the wider culture of the firm and stems from board-level leaders who were “hugely supportive” and passionate about innovative tools to benefit clients. She explained says that this support reinforced a crucial and enduring principle across the business: AI tools should strengthen legal expertise, not replace it.
Get a quote for Lexis+ with Protégé
* denotes a required field
