Opinion: Unleashing the Power of AI - Revolutionizing the Legal Landscape

This article by Inspire Law discusses the notable impacts on the legal industry that the growth of AI might engender

The AI craze shows no signs of slowing down. Since the start of 2023, attention around the globe has been turned to AI as we watch it forge a path for society towards new norms. From revolutionizing legal research to streamlining courtroom proceedings, AI is forging a path towards efficiency, accuracy, and unprecedented possibilities. This article dives into the various ways in which the growth of AI will revolutionize and change the legal industry, as well as the crafts of those within the field.

Automating back end procedures and processes

The first trend that the legal industry will likely see is an increased implementation of AI in back end procedures and processes, marking what might be a pivotal entry point for AI to make its initial profound impact in the legal field. In terms of which procedures might be impacted most, one stand out area would undoubtedly be the research process for any legal case. It’s no secret that back end research is tedious and massively time-consuming, with Bloomberg claiming that litigators take an average of 20 hours of work to research, as it ranks number 1 on the list of most time-consuming tasks a lawyer might be occupied with.

AI, particularly through the advancements in Natural Language Processing (NLP), has emerged as a positive force for change in the legal industry. NLP, which excels at understanding and interpreting human languages, has become a crucial component of AI's influence in legal research and analysis. By analyzing and summarizing vast volumes of documents, NLP significantly streamlines the work for lawyers by providing relevant information, key clauses, and concise summaries. For example, in areas like due diligence and contract analysis, law firms and lawyers can save significant time and improve efficiency - proving to be a crucial source of time and cost saving for the industry. It’s worth mentioning that in the next few years as AI continues its rapid trend of refining and polishing its craft, it will reach a stage whereby human lawyers will no longer be able to even remotely compete with it on this front of research and analysis. As previously pointed out in our article ‘Will the legal industry fall prey to AI?’, human lawyers will ought to transition to more specialized, front-end work such as communicating with clientele, in-person litigation and more to prove their traits in the dynamic legal scene.

Lexis+, launched in 2020, is one of the many examples of a creation of AI in Law. It offers services to law firms using advanced features like NLP, integrated data visualizations, and Shepard's Citation Service, which is widely recognized as the best citator in the legal industry.*

The advent of platforms like these has revolutionized legal research, marking a significant milestone for the industry. Over the past few decades, the progress in legal research and scholarly investigations has been remarkable, transitioning from cumbersome physical case files to efficient AI-powered research mediums - clearly displaying AI’s transformative nature.

*Sourced from: https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/insights/legal/b/thought-leadership/posts/the-power-of-artificial-intelligence-in-legal-research

A shift in the way lawyers work with clients + a raise in standards for Law firms

Fundamentally, AI will alter the way lawyers work, as well as the way they communicate and work with their clients. The wide-scale implementation of AI and technology into the business model of law firms is inevitable at this point, and once fully integrated, I believe that many physical or face to face appointments will be shifted to a digital medium facilitated by AI.

Think of mass learning platforms such as Coursera or Masterclass - they capitalize on algorithms to understand the preferences and inclinations of clients (or users) of their platforms before recommending suitable courses for these individuals. These algorithms, having been put through deep learning, have formed strong neural links and tend to be remarkably accurate in understanding the likes and dislikes of a user. This could certainly be extrapolated into the legal field, whereby algorithms can also be used to find out more about the client’s preferences, inclinations and goals. Granted this would probably not fully replace the work of lawyers speaking to clients about their unique circumstances, such search filtering AI technologies could definitely be of big help to law firms in sourcing the right personnel for different cases.

Aside from pure AI, the improvements in telecommuting platforms such as Zoom and Skype expedited by working conditions during COVID-19 also means that a lot of lawyer-client interaction will naturally be shifted to the digital space. Cloud-sharing platforms will be of increasing demand to share softcopy files, extracts and information with one another in legal proceedings. Such implementation of online services will make client experiences more seamless and convenient, and the trajectory will certainly point towards clients preferring law firms that have the best utilization of tech - which poses a novel dynamic to competition between law firms. Law firms can no longer afford to rest on their laurels when it comes to investing and implementing state of the art technologies into their services, as that would more than likely cause them to lose precious market share and legal demand. Gartner’s newsroom posits that legal technology spending has already increased 1.5 times from 2.6% of in-house budgets in 2017 to 3.9% in 2020. Moreover, it predicts legal technology spending will increase to approximately 12% of in-house budgets by 2025, a threefold increase from 2020 levels.* Interestingly, most research studies on tech’s impact on the legal realm has corroborated in their findings that clients unequivocally prefer firms that have the most efficient client portals, with client satisfaction rates increasing by up to 30% when law firms provide 24/7 access to case files through secure client portals.*

One notable illustration of a digital service is the transformation of client onboarding, where biometric verifications have become the preferred method for clients to access their portals and store their data securely. This replaces the previously laborious and time-consuming client onboarding process employed by law firms, which involved physical meetups, manual data entry, and the transfer of extensive paperwork. For instance, law firms can now leverage advanced technologies such as facial recognition or fingerprint scanning to streamline the onboarding process, ensuring a seamless and secure experience for clients while reducing administrative burdens. This shift towards digitization not only enhances efficiency but also improves data accuracy and minimizes the potential for errors in the client onboarding stage.

Sourced from: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-02-10-gartner-predicts-legal-technology-budgets-will-increase-threefold-by-2025

https://verify365.app/study-shows-legal-tech-can-significantly-improve-law-firm-efficiency/

Redefining what it means to be the industry’s crème de la crème

As briefly touched upon, with the wide scale implementation of AI into the processes of the legal industry, not only will the proceedings of legal interactions, how court cases are facilitated be influenced, but the competition between lawyers and law firms will naturally also reinvent itself. We will now see a trend tending towards lawyers who are able to embrace and smartly integrate AI into the way they work, for example being tech-savvy enough to utilise the legal portals to meet their clients’ needs the best.

With the widespread implementation of AI in the legal industry, the definition of what it means to be the best lawyer is undergoing a significant transformation. It is no longer solely based on traditional legal expertise but also requires the ability to effectively utilize and embrace AI technologies in their craft. This paradigm shift not only impacts the procedural aspects of legal interactions and the facilitation of court cases but also reshapes the competition among lawyers and law firms.

In this new landscape, the most successful lawyers will be those who can skillfully integrate AI into their workflow. This entails being tech-savvy and proficient in utilizing legal portals and other AI-powered tools to meet their clients' needs more effectively. The ability to leverage AI's capabilities, such as advanced data analysis, natural language processing, and predictive modeling, will enable lawyers to gain deeper insights, improve research efficiency, and provide more accurate and informed legal advice.The embrace of AI also opens doors for innovative legal services and business models. Lawyers who can leverage AI to streamline processes, automate repetitive tasks, and enhance overall efficiency will have a competitive advantage. This shift will not only require technical proficiency but also an understanding of how AI can be strategically integrated to deliver better outcomes for clients.

Furthermore, the integration of AI will foster a new collaborative dimension as to how lawyers work in sync with technology, bringing about enhanced results in the process. This collaborative approach will involve understanding the capabilities and limitations of AI, effectively interpreting and utilizing AI-generated insights, and ensuring ethical and responsible use of AI technologies in the legal profession.

On the flip side, technology’s ubiquity in the legal industry might also expose the shortcomings of lawyers and tempt some into taking shortcuts that are uncalled for.In May 2023, Steven A Schwartz, an experienced attorney with over three decades of legal practice, employed the assistance of ChatGPT to search for relevant precedents and comparable cases. In the initial case, a man filed a lawsuit against an airline, claiming personal injury. To support their argument and justify the progression of the case, Mr Schwartz team presented a brief containing references to multiple prior court cases as precedent.

However, the legal representatives for the airline subsequently communicated with the judge, expressing their inability to locate several of the cases mentioned in the brief.

The airline's lawyers raised concerns about the authenticity of six submitted cases, noting that these decisions seemed to be fraudulent, featuring fabricated quotes and invalid internal citations. It turned out that these cases were all fabricated, from the information failure experienced by the chatbot service, ChatGPT.

My Conclusion

We must assess AI, automation, and technology with objectivity and recognize their significance. Currently, they serve as tools to guide us across industries, but over time, they will become integral components shaping the future of the legal industry. This trajectory shows no signs of deceleration, demanding that lawyers, law firms, and industry leaders dynamically adapt their perspectives on law and the delivery of legal services.

If AI's powers are harnessed with society's best intentions in mind, this evolution holds the potential to propel the legal industry to unparalleled heights for the forthcoming generation of lawyers. The legal landscape is poised for an exciting journey, extending well into the coming decades. At Inspire Law, we are thrilled to document each stride along this path and share it with you, our esteemed readers.

This Opinion Piece is written by Inspire Law's Founder and Lead Writer, Tristan Kang.