If you manage or run a law firm in Iowa, you’ve probably noticed that artificial intelligence has shifted from “interesting tech trend” to “something I actually need to deal with.” That shift happened fast — and 2026 is the year it becomes unavoidable.

The Iowa State Bar Association has made that clear. Their 2026 AI Training Series — six sessions running from January through May — covers everything from using ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot in a law practice to deepfakes, agentic AI workflows, AI policy development, and vendor selection. This isn’t a niche CLE offering for tech-curious attorneys. It’s a mainstream educational priority for every practicing lawyer in the state.

So what does this mean for your firm?

AI Is No Longer Optional Knowledge for Lawyers

In July 2024, the American Bar Association issued Formal Opinion 512, which addressed lawyers’ ethical obligations when using generative AI. The core message: your duty of competence under Model Rule 1.1 now extends to understanding the AI tools you use — or that your staff uses — in the course of legal work.

That doesn’t mean every attorney needs to become a technologist. But it does mean that if someone at your firm is using ChatGPT to draft a brief, summarize a deposition, or research case law, the supervising attorney has an obligation to understand what that tool does, where its outputs come from, and what can go wrong.

About half of U.S. states now have some form of formal AI ethics guidance for lawyers. Iowa hasn’t issued its own opinion yet, but the ISBA’s training series signals that the conversation is well underway. Waiting for a formal mandate before paying attention is not a defensible strategy.

What AI Tools Are Actually Relevant to Law Firms?

There’s a lot of noise in the AI market right now. For Iowa law firms in the 20-to-80-seat range, the tools that matter most fall into a few categories:

Microsoft Copilot

If your firm runs on Microsoft 365 — and most do — Copilot is the AI tool closest to your existing workflow. It can draft emails, summarize documents, pull data from spreadsheets, and assist with document review. But it also surfaces whatever is in your Microsoft 365 environment, which creates data governance questions we’ll come back to.

Legal-Specific AI Tools

Platforms like CoCounsel (from Thomson Reuters), Harvey, and Clio’s AI features are purpose-built for legal work. They’re designed with attorney-client privilege and confidentiality in mind. The 2026 Thomson Reuters State of the U.S. Legal Market report highlights technology sophistication as a key differentiator for firms — and these tools are a big part of that picture.

General-Purpose AI (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini)

These are the tools your associates are most likely already using — whether you know it or not. They’re powerful for drafting, brainstorming, and summarizing, but they come with real risks around confidentiality and accuracy. The February 2026 Heppner ruling out of the Southern District of New York made this concrete: a defendant’s use of the consumer version of Claude (a personal subscription, not an enterprise account) to prepare defense strategy documents resulted in a finding that those documents were protected by neither privilege nor work product — because the platform’s terms allowed data retention and third-party disclosure, regardless of the subscription tier. Without a policy governing which AI tools are approved and how they’re used, your firm has a gap.

The Three Questions Every Firm Should Be Asking

1. What are our ethical obligations?

ABA Opinion 512 is the starting point. Your firm needs to understand the duty of competence as it applies to AI, the duty of confidentiality when using cloud-based tools, and the duty of supervision over associates and staff who may be using AI on their own.

2. Do we have a policy?

An AI acceptable use policy isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. It defines which tools are approved, what data can and can’t go into them, when AI-generated work must be disclosed, and who’s responsible for verifying outputs. The ISBA’s final training session on May 15 — “AI Policy & Vendor Selection for Law Firms” — is dedicated to exactly this topic.

3. Is our technology environment ready?

AI tools like Copilot don’t work in a vacuum. They interact with your existing data, permissions, and file structures. If your SharePoint is a mess, your permissions are too broad, or you have years of stale files sitting around, rolling out AI will amplify those problems, not solve them. Getting your environment ready is a prerequisite, not an afterthought.

How to Start Without Getting Overwhelmed

You don’t need to overhaul your firm overnight. Here’s a reasonable starting point:

Attend the ISBA sessions. They’re designed for practitioners, not technologists. The series covers practical usage, ethical obligations, and policy development in a structured sequence.
Audit what’s already happening. Chances are, someone at your firm is already using AI tools informally. Find out what’s being used and where client data might be going.
Draft a basic AI policy. It doesn’t have to be perfect on day one. Start with approved tools, prohibited uses, and a verification requirement for any AI-generated legal work product.
Assess your data environment. Before you deploy Copilot or any other AI tool that touches your firm’s data, make sure your Microsoft 365 environment is organized, properly permissioned, and free of data you don’t want surfaced.
Talk to your IT provider. If your managed IT provider isn’t talking to you about AI readiness, ask them about it. If they can’t have the conversation, that’s worth noting.

This Has to Come From the Top

The firms that handle AI well in 2026 won’t be the ones with the fanciest tools. They’ll be the ones where the managing partner took the time to understand what’s changing, set clear policies, and made sure the technology environment was ready before turning anything on.

That’s a leadership decision, not something to hand off to “whoever’s good with computers.”

Have questions about AI readiness for your law firm? Artech Solutions helps Iowa law firms navigate new technology with a focus on security, compliance, and practical business value. Contact us for a conversation.