The insight was useful. The conversation was the work.

Co-authored by Suzanne Donnels, SDC and Mark Howe, Head of Business Development and Client Relations at Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP

Featured in Centrum, The Journal of the PSMG Magazine, London.

Why are we always looking for a technological shortcut that will finally solve the hard part for us? It is a human instinct. We want faster answers, cleaner processes, and clearer signals. Artificial intelligence (AI) feeds that instinct. It can summarize, analyze, draft, and detect patterns faster than we can.

But if human progress teaches us anything, it is that our advantage has never been information alone. We advanced because we could communicate, build trust, and turn shared understanding into action. That is the part at risk of being overlooked in many law firm AI conversations.

Harvard Business School research found that people who ask informed follow-up questions are better liked and build more trust. A good follow-up question signals attention: “I heard that, and I want to understand it better.”

AI is quickly becoming table stakes in legal services. Emotional intelligence (EI) is now the differentiator. The firms that succeed will not just adopt AI. They will combine it with EI.

The Insight Was Useful. The Conversation Was the Work.

A conversation with a real estate partner brought this into focus. Like many law firm partners, she was moving quickly from one deal to the next. She had handled dozens of similar transactions, and because the work had become familiar, it was easy to describe it in shorthand. The matter list, hours billed, and relationship intelligence gave us a starting point, but the data alone did not explain why the work mattered.

The value came from the conversation. As we walked back through the projects and relationships, the partner began to see them differently. These were not just real estate transactions. They were developments that changed how people lived, worked, and moved through the community. The relationship history also mattered. We were able to find where the client had seen the partner’s judgment up close and why that relationship could support rankings, referrals, and future growth.

AI helped organize the facts. EI helped uncover the story. That distinction is useful because in professional services, insight only creates value when people are willing to act on it.

From Insight to Adoption: Where the Friction Has Shifted

For years, the friction in law firms was processing information. Today, that dynamic has shifted. AI can surface insight quickly and at scale. Patterns in client behavior, pricing, matter trends, and relationship activity are easier to show. But surfacing insight is not the same as creating impact.

AI produces signals, not confidence. Partners need to trust the recommendation, and clients need to believe it reflects their reality. Without that, even the best insight stalls. The real friction is not insight. It is application.

That is why the next phase of legal innovation is not only about advanced tools, but also better empathy, judgment, conversations, and translation between data and human action.

EI as the Trust Layer

This is where EI is essential. Think of EI as more than a soft skill. EI is a point of differentiation. It decides how professionals interpret information, communicate it, and translate insight into action.

Across five EI core capabilities, self-awareness, self-expression, interpersonal relationships, decision-making, and stress management, EI acts as the bridge between raw AI output and meaningful outcomes. It allows professionals, in real time, to read what is not being said, recognize when something feels misaligned, ask better questions at the right time, and adjust tone, pacing, and positioning.

In this sense, EI is the trust layer. It is what determines whether an AI-generated insight creates momentum or quietly fades. AI finds what is possible. EI decides what is embraced.

Where AI Meets EI: The Augmentation Effect

The opportunity is not choosing between AI and human expertise. Rather than competitive, think complementary. It is understanding how they work together. This is where augmentation happens, a catalyst for value creation. In formulaic terms, 1 + 1 = 3.

How does this work? AI can analyze data and find patterns. EI finds the patterns that matter to clients and turns them into a useful conversation. AI drafts material. EI ensures those materials reflect client risk tolerance, culture, priorities, and pressures. AI generates strategic options. EI selects the strategy that aligns with commercial reality, relationship dynamics, and client expectations.

In practice, consider a partner reviewing an AI-generated client briefing before a relationship meeting. The briefing flags a possible cross-servicing opportunity based on recent matter activity and industry trends. On paper, it looks promising. Then context appears: the client has been through a leadership change; the legal department is under cost pressure; and a similar offer was made two years ago and did not land. None of that changes the data. It changes the approach.

A strong BD professional asks what feels timely, what feels risky, who needs to be involved, and what would make the conversation useful to the client. Moving beyond simply passing along the output, the idea becomes stronger because it has been tested against relationship insight and human judgment.

The Conversation Is Where Value Is Activated

Much of the discussion about AI in legal marketing and BD focuses on tools, dashboards, and adoption. The more pertinent question is what happens in the conversation after the insight emerges.

This is where EI becomes visible in practice. In many firms, BD professionals have one or two meetings to show credibility with a partner. What builds trust in those moments is the initial rapport and the quality of the interaction. Professionals who ask thoughtful questions, show genuine curiosity, empathy, and build on what they hear are more likely to create trust and engagement.

Certified coaches know that surface-level questions produce surface-level answers. A well-timed follow-up question signals attention, understanding, and caring. The rapport between partner and coach determines whether the partner pokes holes in an idea or adds context and helps turn the approach into something useful.

The BD Reality: More Insight = More Pressure

For marketing and BD leaders, this pragmatic approach shapes the day-to-day work. BD teams are balancing two demands: striving to be proactive and supporting strategic-growth initiatives, while offering a “concierge service” and reacting to individual partner requests.

AI amplifies both. Without the ability to tactfully push back, that volume is debilitating, bumping BD leaders off their important priorities, like a Queen knocking a Knight off the chess board. With strong EI and assertiveness, clarity results to distinguish between busy work and impact work.

What Firms Should Do Differently

If firms want AI to improve BD, focus equally on authenticity and technology. Train lawyers for conversation, prompting, and using AI outputs in client discussions.

Coaching better questioning and judgment positions BD teams as interpreters of insight, not just data providers. Stop chasing every new tool. Instead, lean into use cases that improve judgment, BD-to-partner relationships, and partner-to-client relationships. Start with client-focused examples, prove value through iteration, learn from proactive client feedback, and scale from there.

Conclusion: The Rise of the Augmented Advisor

As access to technology becomes consistent across firms, competitive advantage shifts. It will come from how people use it and apply judgment, build trust, and translate insight into action.

AI expands what is possible. EI decides what becomes credible, useful, and activated. Together, they create something more powerful than either could achieve alone.

The future of legal services is “AI + EI” augmented trusted advisors, not AI-powered lawyers.

-------------------------------------

Suzanne Donnels is a strategic advisor and legal marketing consultant focused on business development, client engagement, and the intersection of strategy, technology, and growth in the legal industry.

Mark Howe is Head of Business Development and Client Relations at Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP, where he focuses on business development, client relationships, relationship intelligence, and practical strategies that support client growth, continuity, and stronger firm relationships.