Introduction
Everybody wants to talk about data as if it is a magic ingredient that instantly makes AI smarter, decisions faster, and businesses more profitable. But data does not become valuable just because it exists. For legal teams, value comes when information can be found, trusted, used, and defended. That is why information governance is not a side project for compliance. It is the foundation for legal intelligence, operational efficiency, and AI readiness.
The reality is simple: the weaker your information governance, the more limited legal intelligence will be. On the contrary, a strong information governance management enables a more strategic, defensible and faster legal function. And at the age of AI centered work, if teams want it to deliver meaningful results, they must think about information governance first.
What is information governance
Information governance is the set of rules, ownership structures, and operational controls that manage information across its life cycle. That includes how information is created, classified, accessed, retrieved, retained, and disposed of. It is not only about storage. It is about accountability.
The problem is that enterprise information is increasingly scattered across collaboration platforms and business applications. AI adds another layer by generating more content at scale. When that happens, information governance cannot remain a theoretical framework. It must become practical, embedded, and enforced.²
A clear way to understand a modern information governance strategy is to focus on the quality benchmark required for AI readiness. As per Gartner, information must be accurate, pertinent, and trusted.¹ Those three elements are what turn information into something usable and reliable.
But what does this mean in practice?
Accurate
Information is correct, current, and not duplicated or outdated, which entails it has been reviewed prior to being stored. For legal teams, accuracy is the difference between working from the right contract version versus an old draft that creates risk.
Pertinent
Information is relevant and useful for a defined purpose. Pertinent information is classified properly, connected to the right matter, entity, contract, or policy, and defined by the broader business strategy.
Trusted
When information is trustful people can rely on the source, integrity, and security of it. Such information has clear access rules, audit trails, and consistent policy application.
A note on this pillar: It prevents AI systems from generating misleading outputs based on low quality inputs. In short, trusted information is crucial for the safe use of AI and reliable legal intelligence.
In other words, information governance is the mechanism that turns scattered information into an usable asset.
Why general counsel should be involved in a company’s information governance strategy
Legal teams are uniquely positioned to influence and co-lead information governance. After all, they already manage many of the rules that matter most.
General counsel and legal teams are well suited to be part owners of information governance for four key reasons:
1. GCs drive compliance and defensibility
General counsel, compliance and legal define requirements around retention, privacy, litigation holds, regulatory exposure, and risk. Strong information governance depends on retention rules that are consistent, auditable, and defensible. When governance fails, legal risk increases and responses become slower and more expensive.
2. They differentiate high value and high risk information
Legal teams know where the most sensitive information lives, which systems contain contractual risk, and where privacy exposure is hidden. A strong information governance strategy starts by prioritizing what matters most and compliance and legal experts are well suited to define that priority list.
3. They are information lifecycle experts
Who touches information at each step of its lifecycle? Legal teams do, usually handling information from creation to storage, retrieval, and disposition. They manage how information is requested, reviewed, produced, and deleted under pressure. That makes legal a natural contributor to information governance, because legal understands what breaks when information is not structured and controlled.
4. Legal, compliance and GC have a direct stake in AI readiness
AI is already embedded in legal work, and it will only expand, but, the value of AI depends on data quality. If information is inaccurate, irrelevant, or untrusted, AI outputs will be unreliable. It is risky and inefficient, nothing legal teams want. For legal teams, information governance is therefore a requirement for responsible AI and for scalable legal intelligence.¹
Ownership is key to building strong information governance
Modern information ecosystems are often too decentralized for a single function to govern effectively, especially with collaboration tools and AI. Strong information governance requires shared ownership across IT, data leadership, security, and compliance, with the CIO ensuring governance is embedded into systems and workflows, the CDO aligning governance with AI readiness and business value, and security and privacy leaders maintaining protection and auditability so information remains trusted.² Team work makes the mission easier, but someone has to own information governance in itself, and we believe GCs should own it.
It (information governance) requires someone who can think broadly about risk, deeply about process, and realistically about how the business actually works.
Rupali Patel Shah, Head of Legal Solutions, DiliTrust
General counsel sit in the perfect position to understand all the pillars mentioned above, they understand both internal and external dynamics related to business performance and legal and regulatory risks.
Information governance is the gateway to legal intelligence
Legal teams looking for smarter operations and better AI outcomes should stop treating information governance as a background compliance exercise. Information governance is the infrastructure behind legal intelligence: the ability to turn enterprise information into insight, action, and defensible decision making.
Firstly, a robust information governance strategy allows for teams to spend less time searching and validating information and more time advising the business. Secondly, if such information is embedded, AI becomes more reliable and risk becomes more controllable. Lastly, when information governance is shared across leadership, enforcement becomes consistent and scalable.
For general counsel, stepping into information governance leadership should not be seen as extra work, but strategic positioning.
Footnotes
¹ Gartner, 3 Principles for Effective Information Governance (ID G00829404), 26 Aug 2025, available on demand.
² Gartner, Quick Answer: 3 Emerging Trends in Information Governance (ID G00833209), 25 Jun 2025, available on demand.
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