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Key Takeaways
Governing AI access before expanding it
Nevan Isaac, Director of Information Technology, has spent more time building lawyer confidence in AI than deploying it. Lito gave the firm a governed environment where lawyers could start experimenting without fear.
Lito’s Microsoft integration eliminated the data destination problem
Lito lives directly inside Microsoft Word and Outlook, removing the most common source of AI hesitation: uncertainty about where copied data goes. For even the most skeptical lawyers at McDougall Gauley, that familiarity made the difference.
McDougall Gauley is building toward a connected AI ecosystem
Nevan’s roadmap extends well beyond Lito. iManage, Microsoft Copilot, and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) are all in play, part of a vision he believes will fundamentally change how lawyers access and act on firm data.
Challenge
McDougall Gauley LLP is Saskatchewan’s largest full-service law firm, with 100 lawyers across two offices in Regina and Saskatoon. As Director of Information Technology, Nevan Isaac is responsible for innovation, AI strategy, and technology adoption across the firm. The lawyers he serves represent the full spectrum of AI readiness, from early adopters saving hours on document-heavy work to colleagues genuinely uncertain whether AI can be trusted with client data.
The concerns Nevan encounters most often are not abstract. Lawyers worry about hallucinations, about inadvertently exposing client information, and about whether they need explicit client approval before using AI in their work. In a profession where professional responsibility obligations are taken seriously, these concerns require a direct response.
“I think the way we get over the fear is to introduce lawyers to safe tools and tell them: anything you do here is safe and approved. Here are concrete examples relevant to your practice group. Here are prompts you can use to interact with AI in a way that’s predictable — and you’ll understand how it derived its results.” — Nevan Isaac, Director of Information Technology, McDougall Gauley LLP
Solution
Nevan brings more than 13 years of IT experience with McDougall Gauley and a long history with Litera’s tools. Users at the firm had previously worked with Contract Companion, so the move to Lito built on an existing level of familiarity while giving the firm a more modern, governed foundation for its AI strategy.
Structured onboarding for every level of readiness
The firm held two consecutive-day sessions led by Litera’s Daniel Choi, designed to reach as many lawyers as possible across both offices. The sessions opened with a grounded introduction to how AI works, a deliberate choice to meet skeptics on their own terms before moving into practical applications. From there, the focus shifted to specific prompts, practice-relevant use cases, and hands-on demonstrations, giving lawyers at every comfort level something concrete to take back to their work.
Lito lives inside Word and Outlook
Where Lito lives has been as important as what it does. By sitting directly inside Microsoft Word and Outlook, it removes the moment that generates the most AI hesitation: being asked to paste sensitive client data into an unfamiliar platform. In a market full of generic AI tools and bold promises, that kind of governed, predictable experience is what separates a tool lawyers will use from one they’ll avoid.
“Having it right inside of Word and right inside of Outlook has been really valuable. If lawyers have to take their data and paste it somewhere else and they don’t really understand where it’s going, it makes people nervous — as it should. Meeting them right inside of Word is just very handy.” — Nevan Isaac, Director of Information Technology, McDougall Gauley LLP
A data-driven approach to building peer advocacy
Nevan’s plan for expanding adoption beyond the initial sessions is deliberate. By reviewing Lito utilization metrics, he’s identifying the lawyers engaging most actively and using those insights to build peer advocacy within practice groups. His reasoning is straightforward: the most credible endorsement of a new tool comes from a colleague already using it on similar work.
Results
McDougall Gauley is at an early stage of its Lito adoption journey, but the early indicators are encouraging.
Lawyer confidence in AI is growing
The combination of a governed environment and structured onboarding has begun to shift how lawyers at the firm relate to AI. Nevan is seeing increased willingness to experiment across practice groups, including among lawyers who were openly skeptical at the outset.
“They’re starting to feel better about interacting with AI because of the trust they can have with Lito. It’s making them more comfortable trying things. I think that’s important.” — Nevan Isaac, Director of Information Technology, McDougall Gauley LLP
Contract review is generating time savings
Lawyers using Lito for contract comparison, redlining, and document scrubbing are spending less time on manual review tasks. This work is high-volume and well-suited to AI assistance, making it a natural starting point for measurable impact. That reclaimed time is capacity redirected toward the strategic client work that strengthens relationships and creates new opportunities for the firm. This kind of work also demands deterministic accuracy. Litera’s rules-based approach, built on 30 years of legal-specific development, ensures every output lawyers act on is something they can stand behind.
Lito works without adding steps
Nevan reports no technical issues with the Lito experience. The tool functions as expected inside Word and Outlook, without requiring lawyers to change how they work.
Usage data points to practical, embedded adoption
Early usage metrics show the team spending an average of 30 minutes each week in Litera’s Word interface, with activity concentrated across Lito, Compare, Proof, and Review. Within Lito, the most-used skills are List Open Items, Compare, and Mitigate Risk, suggesting lawyers are gravitating toward practical, document-centered workflows where AI assistance can support review, comparison, and risk identification without pulling them out of Microsoft Word.
Looking Ahead
Today, directing Lito at documents stored in iManage still involves more manual steps than Nevan wants. The integration he’s most focused on is the Model Context Protocol (MCP), which he believes will fundamentally change how lawyers at McDougall Gauley access and act on firm data.
The goal is a connected ecosystem where Copilot, Lito, and iManage communicate directly, pulling together documents, matter context, and Outlook data to deliver legal-specific answers in a single, conversational experience.
“I’m hoping MCP will allow Copilot, Lito, and iManage to all talk to each other — so you can use the data within iManage, the data within Outlook, and the brains behind Lito to deliver a more seamless experience and get real, legal-specific answers.” — Nevan Isaac, Director of Information Technology, McDougall Gauley LLP
See how firms like McDougall Gauley are building lawyer confidence in AI with Lito. Let’s talk.
Frequently Asked Questions
Lawyer confidence was the primary barrier to AI adoption at McDougall Gauley. Attorneys had legitimate concerns about data security, hallucinations, and professional responsibility obligations before using AI on client work. Nevan Isaac, Director of Information Technology, addressed this by introducing Lito as a governed, approved environment with guardrails built in and practice-relevant examples lawyers could act on immediately.
Lito eliminated the moment lawyers distrust most: being asked to paste client data into an unfamiliar platform. It lives directly inside Microsoft Word and Outlook, the tools lawyers already use every day. That familiarity removed the single biggest source of AI hesitation at McDougall Gauley without requiring any change to how lawyers work.
Law firms build lawyer confidence in AI by starting with governed, approved environments where lawyers can experiment without risk. At McDougall Gauley, Nevan Isaac, Director of Information Technology, introduced Lito with structured onboarding sessions, practice-specific prompts, and clear guidance on what the tool can and cannot do. Peer advocacy built through utilization data reinforced adoption beyond the initial rollout.
Lito operates inside Microsoft Word and Outlook, meaning client data never leaves the environments lawyers already use and trust. There is no copying data into third-party platforms. For firms with professional responsibility obligations around client confidentiality, this architecture directly addresses the most common concern lawyers raise before engaging with AI tools.
Lito and iManage integration is on the active roadmap at McDougall Gauley. Nevan Isaac, Director of Information Technology, is focused on using the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to connect Lito, iManage, and Microsoft Copilot directly, enabling lawyers to access documents, matter context, and Outlook data through a single conversational experience without switching between platforms.
Yes. Lito is designed to meet lawyers wherever they are on the AI adoption curve. At McDougall Gauley, it served skeptics who needed reassurance and early adopters who wanted to push further. Because it deploys within existing Microsoft tools with no new platforms or logins required, the barrier to getting started is low.
