How can smaller law firms turn AI into a competitive edge? In episode 26 of Osprey Approach’s Empowering Law Firm Leaders podcast, legal AI specialist Uwais Iqbal outlines the mindset, preparation, and smart investment decisions that help SMEs unlock real impact—without big-firm budgets.
Osprey Approach announces that the latest episode of its Empowering Law Firm Leaders podcast is now available to watch and listen to on YouTube, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
Building strategic differentiation with AI
In episode 26, Uwais Iqbal – founder of Simplexico and former senior data scientist at Thomson Reuters and ThoughtRiver – joins Amy Bruce, marketing director at Osprey Approach, to share how SME law firms can build strategic differentiation with AI. Drawing on a decade of experience in legal AI, Uwais shares the mindset, methods, and investment choices that help firms achieve tangible outcomes.
This latest episode includes:
- Inspiring use cases of AI in SME law firms
- How SMEs can leverage AI on constrained budgets
- How to prepare before investing in AI
- Readiness vs maturity
- Spending tech budgets wisely
- Future AI trends for the legal sector
Uwais reframes AI as a partner to legal expertise, not a replacement, and says:
“AI is not competitive to what lawyers are doing, but it’s very complementary,” he explains, highlighting opportunities to ease administrative burden so lawyers can focus on complex reasoning and client work. When used purposefully, he says, AI has the potential to become “a strategic point of differentiation,” helping firms improve service delivery and create new value for clients.
Uwais believes that preparation is key and urges firms to first educate their teams, then map use cases for AI adoption across the business and prioritise those aligned to strategic goals. Getting specific prevents wasted spend. He adds:
“What we’ve seen is that firms are deploying budget… but they’ve not really done the groundwork.” With the right foundations starting with organised data, SMEs can move quickly, scale impactful projects, and avoid the sunk costs seen in larger firms.
Looking ahead, Uwais predicts a maturing ecosystem of platforms, practice-specific tools, and custom solutions that turn firms’ expertise into scalable products. SMEs, he believes, “have the biggest return to make on the technology if they approach it in the right way.”
Watch the full interview now
Watch the full interview with Uwais Iqbal now to discover more insights on building strategic differentiation with AI. Uwais also shares exclusive advice on why SMEs can benefit more than large law, the lessons learned from big-firm AI deployments, and how smaller practices can turn constraints into competitive advantage.
Upcoming guests
Future episodes of the Empowering Law Firm Leaders podcast series will feature returning guest Simon McCrum, who will discuss his new book The Perfect Partner, plus David Langdon, implementation consultant and author of Beyond the features, along with further industry experts sharing practical strategies for modern law firms’ long term success.
Osprey Approach: We make running a law firm easier
Osprey Approach provides an all-in-one, legal accounting, practice, and case management software solution to SME law firms. With over 30 years’ experience in the legal software sector, our software solution and dedicated partnership helps make running a law firm easier.
Osprey Approach is a fully integrated solution that provides legal accounting, time recording, billing, client management, business intelligence, client portal, configurable sector-specific workflows, document production and case management features and functionality.
Osprey’s powerful and comprehensive, multi-device software has helped thousands of lawyers to run a profitable firm and deliver excellent client care. Integrated with Microsoft Office Applications plus other key legal software providers such as Lexis Smart Forms, InfoTrack, DocuSign, Perfect Portal and TextAnywhere, Osprey helps you manage every facet of your legal practice.
