"Boards, Not Buzzwords: The Real Driver of Legl AI Adoption"
Ahead of Lexpo’s 10-year edition, we spoke with Maged Helmy, founder and CEO of Newcode.ai, about AI privacy done right, what agentic workflows truly mean, why hybrid (on-premises plus cloud) models are set to define legal AI, and why firms should beware of ‘innovation by press'.
Maged, many firms are concerned about data privacy and confidentiality when using AI. How does Newcode’s approach address these challenges, specifically for legal professionals?
“At Newcode, we address data privacy and confidentiality concerns for legal professionals by providing granular control over where and how AI runs. Firms can choose from three deployment options:
- Fully offline/on-premises: The Newcode platform operates entirely offline, without any internet connectivity, ensuring all data stays securely within your environment—while still delivering performance similar to off-the-shelf solutions like GPT-4.
- Private cloud: Newcode can be deployed in your firm’s private cloud environment, offering control over data residency and access, with scalable compute and robust security.
- Secure public cloud: For firms preferring managed infrastructure, our secure public cloud option leverages industry-best encryption and compliance, while maintaining strict access controls.
With these options, you retain control over sensitive data and can align AI deployment with your firm’s security requirements.”
“We also support firms in moving beyond generic IT checklists by focusing on AI-specific privacy and confidentiality controls, enabling them to determine precisely who can access what information, and under what circumstances. We maintain up-to-date certifications and give firms full control over encryption keys and access policies, so they can confidently introduce AI while safeguarding sensitive data.”
You describe Newcode as enabling agentic AI workflows. What does that look like in practice for a law firm or legal department?
“Legal tech today is a wrapper around a large language model. What sets Newcode apart is the level of customization and control: firms can design how the model operates for their specific matters, defining which tools and sources it can use, and when to pause for human input or switch models, so workflows align with their risk profile and practice.
“The Newcode.ai platform enables firms to automate repetitive work and reduce unbillable hours without sacrificing control or oversight. The key is empowering each firm to tailor AI behavior to match the way its lawyers work, all within a secure, customizable framework.
Legal work often involves highly sensitive, jurisdiction-specific data. How do you balance innovation with the need for strict compliance across regions?
“Strict compliance always comes first. We support this by making trade-offs transparent: administrators can see, for each model option, the corresponding accuracy and risk profile. This is visualized in a red/yellow/green format, making it easy to adjust access and behavior by practice group—so, for example, an investigations team can operate with stricter settings than internal communications, reflecting the level of risk involved.”
“As a result, Newcode can look and feel very different across firms, based on their chosen balance between risk appetite and output quality. Even in offline deployments, this tuning applies—the key is ensuring that innovation occurs within the firm’s governance framework, not outside it.”
You already mentioned on-prem. What role do you see for on-prem or private-cloud deployments in the future of legal AI adoption?
“It’s going to skyrocket—not because the public cloud is going away, but because hybrid architectures are becoming essential. Law firms aren’t monolithic: different teams like marketing, IT, M&A, and compliance each have distinct needs and risk thresholds, so a single approach won’t satisfy everyone.”
“The public cloud will continue to power many AI workflows because of its convenience and efficiency. However, as AI adoption deepens, we’re seeing a shift: highly sensitive tasks are often better suited for on-premises or private cloud environments. The real future is hybrid—combining both approaches so firms can align each workflow with the appropriate level of risk, control, and regulatory requirements.”
Looking ahead, how do you expect the role of AI agents to evolve in law firms over the next three to five years?
“In AI terms, that’s a lifetime, but I’ll still be blunt: I don’t think there will be a serious firm not running agentic workflows in a few years. We’re past the stage of questioning whether LLMs are useful; for leading firms, agentic AI will become the baseline, not an optional extra.”
“The nature of competition will shift too. Firms will differentiate themselves by how well they’ve designed and implemented robust AI workflows that consistently deliver results, not by flashy demos or announcing partnerships. Agentic AI won’t be a buzzword—it will be fundamental to staying competitive and relevant.”
Lexpo celebrates 10 years of legal innovation. From your perspective, what will be the single most significant driver of legal transformation in the next decade?
“First, congratulations. I’ve attended many conferences, and Lexpo feels human-scale, a family-run event. Lexpo is big enough to meet new people and learn, yet small enough for meaningful conversations. That matters to me. I appreciate what goes into building something like this, brick by brick.”
Looking ahead, the biggest driver of legal transformation will be leadership, specifically, boards with a real, informed AI strategy. And please quote me on this: ‘innovation by press.’ By that, I mean firms that make headlines by announcing partnerships with big-name vendors, often after buying just a handful of licenses, but never actually changing their workflows or having meaningful adoption.
The firms that will genuinely transform are those whose boards deeply understand AI and are committed to true adoption. This means investing in governance, training, and the substantial work of integrating AI into daily operations and not just chasing publicity or easy wins to appear innovative to clients.”