Client expectations are reshaping how success in dispute resolution is defined. Corporate legal departments are increasingly focused on outcomes — speed, cost control, transparency, and alignment with business strategy — and are using technology to hold firms and dispute resolution providers accountable to those goals.
Legal leaders explored what this looks like in practice at the 2025 American Arbitration Association Future Dispute Resolution – New York Conference, where they discussed how AI, analytics, and online platforms are changing how disputes are evaluated, managed, and resolved, and how those changes are redefining expectations across the legal ecosystem.
AI Adoption Is Now a Measure of Credibility
Across industries, AI is no longer viewed as optional or experimental. Panelists noted that corporate clients, boards, and executive leadership increasingly see responsible AI use as a marker of competence — evidence that legal teams can manage risk, control cost, and operate efficiently at scale.
Some in-house teams are already using AI-enabled workflows to manage smaller or lower-complexity matters internally, reducing reliance on outside counsel and shortening resolution timelines. As a result, firms that lag on technology may now appear cautious to the point of inefficiency, while those that can demonstrate thoughtful AI integration signal readiness for today’s dispute environment.
Trust Is the Real Test of AI in Legal Work
While adoption is accelerating, panelists agreed that trust remains the defining challenge for AI in legal and dispute resolution work. Technology alone does not create confidence — transparency, safety, and human oversight do.
Several panelists emphasized that trust ultimately flows from competence. When practitioners understand how AI tools work — and where their limits lie — they are better positioned to supervise outputs, explain decisions, and maintain accountability. Even accurate systems, they noted, can undermine confidence if users cannot clearly explain how conclusions were reached or how results are reviewed.
To preserve trust, panelists stressed the importance of clearly disclosing when and how AI is used, maintaining human decision-making authority, and ensuring traceability throughout the process. These safeguards help AI support professional judgment rather than obscure it.
New Metrics Are Redefining Success in the AI Era
As technology reshapes dispute resolution workflows, it is also changing how value is measured. Traditional indicators such as hours billed or matters closed are increasingly giving way to outcome-driven metrics, such as time-to-resolution, cost-per-matter, and settlement rates.
Clients now expect greater visibility into performance, and firms and dispute resolution providers that can quantify and share those insights transparently are setting a new benchmark for credibility. The discussion underscored a broader shift: effectiveness is no longer defined by process alone, but by results that align with business priorities.
With access to large-scale case data and a mandate grounded in fairness and due process, institutions like the AAA are well-positioned to help shape these emerging benchmarks, balancing efficiency with quality, transparency, and confidence in outcomes.
The session made clear that dispute resolution is increasingly being evaluated through the client lens. Technology is not replacing judgment, but making expectations more straightforward — and outcomes more measurable — across dispute resolution.
Explore more insights from the 2025 Future Dispute Resolution – New York Conference by downloading the full conference report.