Last year, Artificial Lawyer asked me whether AI might eventually replace the “support boomers” in law firms. My response then feels even more relevant now:

“Even if the long-term goal is to automate certain tasks with AI, the first step is still the same - capturing the request in a way that allows someone (or something) to process it effectively.”

At the time, it felt like a reminder to slow down the hype cycle, but as we move toward 2026, it’s become more of a blueprint for meaningful change. The firms making real progress with AI are those empowering people and innovating processes that are already embedded. It’s not business as usual, but we’re not talking about a complete overhaul of the legal support function either.

That’s why BigHand’s latest product innovation is so significant. AI Email Routing for BigHand Workflow Management is going to significantly improve the day-to-day of one of your firm’s most valuable assets - the support staff.

Bringing Order to Email-Driven Workflows

For most law firms, the daily reality of support work still starts - and often ends - over email. Partners fire off requests, lawyers forward documents, secretaries triage messages, and work is distributed accordingly.

Chaotic inboxes create delays and friction at every stage of the workflow. Requests get buried. Work gets duplicated. When someone is away, tasks stall. Leaders struggle for visibility because the data is stuck in unstructured text rather than a managed system.

That’s the problem AI Email Routing was designed to solve. Built into BigHand’s award-winning Workflow Management platform, it automatically reads incoming emails, understands the nature of the request, and instantly routes it to the right resource.

It transforms a chaotic inbox into an intelligent entry point. Lawyers stay focused on client work, support teams spend less time triaging, and firm leaders get the visibility they need for strategic forward-planning.

This is AI applied to make a measurable difference. Instead of replacing decision-making, we’re removing the noise that prevents good decisions.

Real People, Real Workflows

Legal efficiency is often framed in terms of productivity and profitability, but we can’t ignore how deeply it affects the day-to-day human experience of work.

Ask any legal support specialist what their biggest frustration is, and they’ll rarely mention technology. They’ll talk about bottlenecks - the endless flow of unclear requests, the duplication of effort, and the lack of visibility into who’s doing what. Sure, these issues waste people’s valuable time and can result in a dip in work quality, but they can also be incredibly demotivating and demoralising.

AI Email Routing eliminates one of the biggest drains on support teams by ensuring every request enters the workflow clearly and accurately. Right task. Right person. Right time.

For leaders, this clarity translates into better resourcing decisions and smoother operations. And crucially, none of this requires behavioural change. Lawyers send emails exactly as they always have. The intelligence happens behind the scenes - people simply get time back that they didn’t even know they were losing.

The Human Argument for AI

Understandably, advancements in AI raise a persistent question: Is this replacing people? The short answer is no, and the long answer is why this matters so much.

The knowledge, judgment, and experience that support professionals bring to law firms can’t be replicated by a model. AI Email Routing doesn’t try to. It removes the repetitive, low-value administrative steps that prevent those people from using their expertise.

In many firms, when support teams are stretched or absent, lawyers take on that admin work themselves. In fact, the latest research from BigHand revealed that 31% of firms report an increased reliance on lawyers to handle administrative work. The result? Lost visibility, reduced efficiency, and a poorer client experience. By automatically capturing and routing work, AI Email Routing protects workflows and the people behind them.

Technology should make professionals more human, not less. It should create space for focus, thought, craft, and care. BigHand has believed that for more than 30 years - we build tech that truly has people at its core, creating and strengthening the link between lawyers and the support staff who help to make them so effective.

What This Means for Your Firm

What we’re delivering here is elevated technology that improves the user experience when it really matters. Your people will have more time to focus, think, and deliver their best work.

Legal AI doesn’t always need to be “all-singing, all-dancing.” Significant benefits and transformation can come from quiet, structural improvements that solve big pain points and free people to do their best work. Firms that thrive in the coming decade will be the ones that pair human expertise with automation that genuinely fits their workflows.

AI Email Routing is the next logical step in that journey - automation that starts with clarity, scales intelligently, and always keeps people at the centre. Coming in early 2026 to all Workflow Management Cloud Plus customers (at no extra cost)!

I'll be speaking more about BigHand's AI Email Routing in our webinar, AI-Powered Legal Support on 10th December. Don’t miss out - register now and join the conversation!