AI is changing how legal professionals research, draft, analyze information, and navigate increasingly complex records. For dispute resolution institutions, responsible adoption is a capability-building and governance issue. Practitioners need direct experience with AI to understand where it adds value, where its limitations lie, and where institutional boundaries are necessary.
The American Arbitration Association® (AAA®) has been testing that premise through practical implementation. AAA was the first dispute resolution services provider to provide Clearbrief, an AI-powered legal technology platform, to its panel, initially testing the technology with a small group of arbitrators before making it available at no cost to its 5,000+ arbitrators and mediators.
The objective was not simply broader AI adoption. It was to give experienced neutrals an opportunity to evaluate emerging technology in the context of their day-to-day work, while generating practical insight to support new capabilities without compromising the independence and deliberation at the center of dispute resolution.
Learning Before Scaling
In May 2024, the AAA began piloting Clearbrief with ten arbitrators. The platform operates within Microsoft Word and can help users navigate source documents, verify citations, create timelines, and organize and analyze information—tasks that can consume significant time in complex, document-intensive matters.
Beginning with a small group allowed the AAA to observe how arbitrators used the technology within existing workflows before expanding access. Participating arbitrators identified where the tool was useful and how it fit, or didn’t, into the way they work. This real-world feedback created space to reveal benefits, limitations, and any unintended consequences.
In early 2025, the AAA expanded Clearbrief access to its full panel. It supported the rollout with individual training, office hours, and the Clearbrief Academy program, allowing panelists to develop familiarity with the technology at different levels of engagement.
The data shows a progression from access and experimentation to structured learning among a voluntary user base. Since the broader launch, 672 AAA panelists have used Clearbrief, 482 have attended at least one Clearbrief Academy session, and 222 have completed the Clearbrief Academy course.
The implementation reinforced an important lesson: effective technology adoption depends on shared understanding as much as technical capability. Early communication among the AAA, the Clearbrief team, and other stakeholders highlighted how even seasoned teams can interpret terminology, expectations, and intended outcomes differently. That experience further sharpened the AAA’s approach to subsequent technology initiatives, with greater emphasis on defining objectives, responsibilities, and expected outcomes at the outset and confirming shared understanding before rollout.
Where Practitioners Found Value
The most immediate benefits were practical. AAA panelist Melissa Thompson pointed to the time involved in one labor-intensive task: “You don’t understand how much time this saves - it takes us 20+ hours to create a timeline.” Andrew Flake noted, “It gives me—particularly on cases where I’m a sole arbitrator—an additional check to make sure that my review of the record is accurate.”
These experiences point to two useful applications: reducing manual effort on document-intensive tasks and providing another way to interrogate a complex record. The crucial question then becomes not the rate of adoption, but under what conditions benefits can be realized without compromising accuracy, quality, or the integrity of the process.
Matching Technology to the Task
Parties select neutrals for their experience, expertise, independence, and judgment. Clearbrief is being used to support the panelist’s work, not to make the decision.
Outputs still require review and verification, and AAA Arbitrator Shawn Aiken captured that distinction: “We’re not looking to have AI make decisions for us; we’re looking for tools that help us analyze the evidence and make more efficient, informed decisions.”
Confidentiality and security are equally important considerations. Before the pilot, AAA Legal reviewed Clearbrief’s privacy policy and terms, while its Information Security team built and reviewed the integration through which the AAA controls the transfer of case documents into the platform. Clearbrief is also subject to the AAA’s ongoing AI governance program, with safeguards including SOC 2 Type II audited controls and encryption of data in transit and at rest. According to Clearbrief, customer data is never used to train AI models, and prompts and generated content are not cached or stored externally by Microsoft or OpenAI.
Beyond Adoption
The AAA’s deployment of Clearbrief is an example of a broader institutional strategy: using technology implementation as a source of learning. A contained initiative can reveal how practitioners use a capability, where it creates value, what limitations emerge, and how it should be delivered and integrated. The result is a more informed path from experimentation to institutional investment.
For the AAA, that agility serves a larger purpose. Building the capacity to learn quickly while making deliberate decisions allows the AAA to support its ecosystem as practice evolves, improving the experience and effectiveness of dispute resolution for the arbitrators who deliver it and the parties who rely on it.