Law Firm Partners Say Performance Reviews Are Broken. Can AI Fix Them?

A new generation of law firm-specific AI tools promises to make associate evaluations fairer, faster, and more focused.

For many law firm partners, writing associate reviews is one of the most dreaded items on their to-do list. It’s not because they don’t care—quite the opposite. They know performance reviews shape careers, determine compensation, and influence whether promising talent stays or leaves.

Let’s be honest, the process can be frustrating. Partners are expected to recall a year’s worth of work, write personalized feedback from scratch, and do it for an entire team, all while juggling deadlines and billable hours. What should be a meaningful leadership moment quickly turns into a paperwork drill. Outdated systems, built-in bias, subjectivity, and last-minute scrambling slow the process down and make it harder to get it right. The result? Frustrated and overwhelmed partners, disengaged associates, and missed chances to coach, retain, and grow the firm’s future leaders.

But the cost goes far beyond frustration. When reviews are inconsistent or delayed, top performers go unrecognized, struggling associates slip through the cracks, and attrition creeps in. It’s a silent drain on morale—and the business. The ripple effect shows up in missed deadlines, client complaints, low engagement, and rising turnover. In a market where talent is everything, firms can’t afford to get this wrong.

The Solution: AI-Powered Tools Built for the Legal Workplace

Artificial intelligence is stepping up where old-school performance reviews fall flat. Forget relying on memory or gut instinct, AI brings a smarter, data-driven approach that does the heavy lifting. It pulls together feedback, spots patterns, and even helps draft evaluations. The result? Partners can spend less time reconstructing feedback and more time doing what actually matters: mentoring associates, leading teams, and serving clients.

Enter OneRetain, a legal talent platform built specifically for law firms. With its OnePerform and OneCoach tools, the platform uses AI to overhaul how firms manage reviews, making them more fair, consistent, and efficient.

These tools help partners stop drowning in paperwork and start spending more time developing their people.

How OneRetain Is Transforming the Review Process for Partners

✍️ Integrated Writing Assistant

OnePerform includes a real-time AI writing assistant that helps partners draft narrative feedback and goal statements. It pulls data from prior projects, reviews, and performance history, so you’re not starting from scratch. The output is accurate, personalized, and editable. It can also provide a comprehensive and objective overview of employee performance, summarizing achievements and suggesting talking points for discussions.

🎤 Voice-Enabled Review Entry

On the go? Partners can now complete evaluations using voice-to-text directly from their smartphone. It’s quick and natural and helps partners complete reviews without blocking out hours on their calendars.

📊 One Dashboard, All the Data

Instead of fragmented notes, OnePerform compiles a 360-degree view of an associate’s performance, including peer reviews, engagement scores, project feedback, and even emails and chat platforms. This provides partners with a comprehensive, bias-resistant view of how each associate is actually performing.

⚖️ Standardized, Competency-Based Reviews

Firms can apply their own competency frameworks or choose from OneRetain's templates. OnePerform uses firm-specific competency models or templates to evaluate associates against clear, role-specific expectations. This ensures everyone is measured consistently, no matter the partner, practice group, or location.

🔁 Year-Round Development with OneCoach

Performance doesn’t stop with a form. OneCoach offers real-time coaching prompts, development ideas, and feedback insights throughout the year. Partners can turn brief check-ins into valuable growth conversations—and track progress over time

Why It Matters: Equity, Transparency, and Retention

Law firms today face more pressure than ever to retain top talent, support career growth, and ensure fair treatment. Partners are expected to lead, mentor, and manage, but rarely have the tools to do it well.

That’s where AI makes a difference. With OnePerform and OneCoach, law firms can:

Eliminate bias from evaluations

  • Align reviews with firm values and expectations

  • Reduce the time burden on partners

  • Provide associates with actionable, timely feedback

  • Improve morale, performance, and retention

In short, AI turns performance reviews from a check-the-box task into a strategic leadership opportunity.

Is Your Review Process Helping—or Hurting?

What are the signs that your review process warrants an AI overhaul?

As a partner, ask yourself:

  • Are you spending more time writing reviews than having conversations that matter?

  • Do your reviews reflect an associate’s full year, or just your last impression?

  • Are you confident your feedback is fair and consistent across your team?

  • Do your reviews drive growth, or just close out the year?

  • Are you hearing in exit interviews:

    • “I never really knew where I stood,”

    • “Feedback always came too late,” or

    • “It felt like a popularity contest”?

If this gives you pause, now is the time to reimagine the review process. AI-powered tools like OnePerform and OneCoach can help transform evaluations into what they were always meant to be:

A leadership opportunity to guide, grow, and inspire the next generation of your firm.

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