This article, featuring partners Howard Glazer and Melissa Bender and director of technology innovation Sergey Polak, was originally published in Corporate Counsel on October 29, 2025.
It’s no secret that Al is a transformative technology that is beginning to reshape industries. Investment management is no exception, and a recent collaborative survey by Corporate Counsel and Ropes & Gray is bringing to light the priorities, drivers, concerns, and progress of Al adoption for investment managers.
Most striking about the survey data may be the speed of adoption, with nearly 75% of in-house counsel surveyed saying they are using Al in their organizations’ operations, and the rest reporting early-stage pilots or exploration of Al initiatives.
It’s also something Ropes & Gray’s attorneys are seeing firsthand, with a laser-like focus on the technology, “Al is fundamentally transforming the business landscape, creating new opportunities and challenges for investment managers, private equity firms, asset managers and public companies,” said Howard Glazer, partner and head of Ropes & Gray’s private equity transactions practice.
However, investment managers face concerns and barriers when considering the use of Al. According to the survey results, security of the tools and product indecision are top of the list. To allay these, clients can leverage Ropes & Gray’s experience. When clients are unable to invest time and money vetting and configuring software tools, Ropes & Gray can advise them.
‘There are an overwhelming number of tools and products available,” said Melissa Bender, a Ropes & Gray asset management partner and co-head of the firm’s private funds practice. “We help clients both understand what these Al software tools can and cannot do and evaluate which tools best meet their needs. In some cases, clients may choose not to license software tools themselves but will instead look to Ropes & Gray for implementation.”
“We’re able to use these tools in the most effective ways to help them,” said Sergey Polak, director of technology innovation at Ropes & Gray. “We advise our clients in considering both the technical risks and the legal risks. On the technical side, we do very detailed due diligence on these tools.”
As is true across Ropes & Gray, the firm’s asset management attorneys and the technology team often work hand-in-hand assisting clients. “Our cross-practice teams deliver deep expertise across every angle of Al use, risk assessment, tool evaluation, and investment, helping clients leverage Al for their own competitive advantage,” said Glazer.
Enhancing operational efficiency, strengthening compliance and risk functions, and staying competitive with peers are leading reasons in-house counsel cited as primary motivations to implement Al.
In the heavily regulated asset management sector clients need to ensure that their compliance policies are current as they implement these tools, Bender said. “But the tools themselves can also help clients meet their regulatory compliance obligations.”
Ropes & Gray’s private funds regulatory team recently used an Al tool to build a database of SEC exam requests and is building a similar database for disclosure documents. The disclosure database will allow clients to compare their disclosure documents across several products to ensure they are consistent and that what they are doing is best-in-class, she said.
Clients are very interested in what their peer firms are doing, particularly in terms of their fund agreements and broader market terms. Historically, that data could be pulled, but it was a manual process often involving significant time and expense. By using Al, Ropes & Gray and its clients can very quickly access benchmarking information, Bender said.
