The Challenge
The firm had identified artificial intelligence as a strategic priority but faced the same problem most large professional services businesses face in 2026: too many vendors, too many potential use cases, too little internal capacity to evaluate any of them properly.
Individual practice groups had started experimenting with different AI tools in isolation, creating the risk of fragmented spend, inconsistent data handling, and exposure to client confidentiality concerns. Every month the fragmentation continued, the cost of consolidation rose.
The firm's leadership needed three things at once: a clear view of which AI use cases would deliver measurable value, a defensible approach to vendor selection and regulatory compliance, and the operational capacity to actually deliver the programme — not just design it. They engaged Grant & Graham to lead the full programme end-to-end.
The Solution
The firm evaluated a shortlist of consultancies with AI strategy credentials but selected Grant & Graham for one specific reason: Grant & Graham committed not just to strategy design but to end-to-end delivery, including embedded project management across all delivery workstreams. Craig led the engagement as senior consultant, with a team of Grant & Graham project managers dedicated to the programme for its full duration.
The 9-month engagement was structured in three phases.
Phase 1 — Strategy and prioritisation (Months 1–2). Craig led a structured discovery across practice groups and business services, identifying and prioritising candidate AI use cases against two filters: fee-earner time saved per engagement, and defensibility of the underlying data handling. This produced a ranked pipeline the firm's executive committee could approve with confidence.
Phase 2 — Vendor selection and architecture (Months 3–5). Craig led the evaluation of enterprise-grade AI platforms and specialist legal-AI vendors, benchmarking each against the firm's requirements for data residency, confidentiality, auditability, and integration with existing document and practice management systems. A recommended technology stack was agreed with the firm's CIO and security function.
Phase 3 — Deployment and adoption (Months 6–9). Grant & Graham project managers ran the delivery workstreams — co-ordinating vendor rollouts, internal training, change management across fee-earners, and operational handover to the firm's permanent IT and innovation teams. This is the phase where most AI programmes fail, and where Grant & Graham's operating experience made the difference.
"Most consultancies can write an AI strategy deck. Very few can actually deliver it inside a live professional services firm. That's what Grant & Graham brought." — Andrew Collins, CEO & Founder, Grant & Graham Ltd
The Results
The programme was delivered on time and within the agreed scope. Nine months after engagement, the firm had:
- A consolidated AI vendor estate — from fragmented practice-group pilots to a single approved technology stack under firm-wide governance
- Live AI use cases in production across contract analysis, document review, and knowledge retrieval — used daily by fee-earners
- Measurable fee-earner time savings on high-volume, lower-complexity legal tasks, freeing senior lawyers to focus on higher-value work
- A compliance-first architecture — data residency, client confidentiality, and audit trails built in from day one, not bolted on later
- A permanent in-house AI capability — its own AI steering group, trained internal champions, and an 18-month roadmap owned by the firm
Beyond the deliverables, the engagement changed how the firm approaches technology programmes of this scale. Craig and his team are now in continuing advisory discussion with the client on Phase 2 of the AI roadmap.
