How generative AI will change the work of lawyers

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT are changing everything about how knowledge-based work is done. This means that lawyers and other legal professionals can benefit by increasing their productivity and reducing the time they spend on mundane, repetitive tasks.

In fact, a recent study by LexisNexis found that half of all lawyers believe generative AI will revolutionize their business, and 92% think it will have at least some impact.

Of course, these professions also face unique challenges when it comes to using this technology. Confidentiality is often paramount in the legal world, and small mistakes on the part of AI tools can have a significant impact on people’s lives.

So, should legal professionals take advantage of the opportunity? This article details the transformative impact that generative AI will have on legal work, and how lawyers in society will benefit as this technology becomes more commonplace. , explores how the roles of lawyers, solicitors, clerks, judges and barristers are likely to change. .

Exploration, fact-finding, research

One task that generative AI excels at is reading and making sense of large reams of documents. Most lawyers are too familiar with this type of work and are probably willing to leave it to a machine.

But the real value is in what you can do with the time saved. Spending time with clients to truly understand their problems is a more valuable use of human expert time, and AI won’t be able to beat us for some time.

In this legal field, you can use generative AI to find relevant laws and court decisions on regulatory pages, search databases of case law and case law, and review evidence.

You can then transfer what you have learned into a format that is useful to those who use it, whether they are young lawyers, experienced judges, or just laymen who need to understand how the law affects them. can be converted very quickly to

It can also be used to create documents, contracts, and letters. These are all jobs that need to be done, but they eat up a lawyer’s time. Soon, finding a lawyer who doesn’t use generative AI to automate these routine tasks may be as difficult as finding an accountant who doesn’t use a calculator.

Last year, I wrote about the work being done by the California Innocence Project. Generative AI has reduced the time humans spend drafting letters and summarizing complex documents, freeing up time to fight miscarriages of justice.

According to a study by LexisNexis, lawyers themselves believe the top use cases are research (65 percent), followed by document creation (56 percent), document analysis (44 percent), and email creation (35 percent).

Risk assessment and due diligence

Another thing generative AI does well is predictive analytics. This means it will be easier for lawyers to make data-driven decisions. It is often the lawyer’s job to weigh the likelihood of a successful lawsuit against the cost of settlement.

Traditional AI has been used for this type of legal prediction for some time, but adding generative AI to the mix democratizes the technology and makes it usable by professionals with little data science knowledge. It will be.

However, there are ethical and business concerns here. Lawyers need to be transparent with their clients about the decisions they are making with the help of AI. Furthermore, this type of predictive analysis requires a huge amount of data, and it is important that the data is accurate and unbiased.

Of course, generative AI can not only predict risks, but also create them. Lawyers often have access to highly confidential information about their clients and others involved in the cases they work on. Inputting this kind of information into public AI tools can obviously cause serious problems.

Fortunately, private AI systems are becoming increasingly common, including those that can be securely deployed on-premises or in a private cloud. Lawyers, like other professions where privacy is of paramount importance, are likely to eagerly adopt these solutions.

access to law and justice

Generative AI also has the potential to improve access to law and justice by helping lawyers communicate with clients and those in need. Chatbots can help answer many basic questions people have when legal issues arise, often without the need for personal data. Easily identify questions that require human experts to answer and direct users to the best experts.

These improve the ability of lawyers to convey information to clients quickly and efficiently, allowing them to keep clients up to date on the latest developments in their cases. For example, you can quickly summarize a complex court decision and explain it to a variety of groups.

However, it is important that constant monitoring is applied to ensure that the response is appropriate and that there is no breach of confidentiality.

What tools are available?

A variety of specialized tools are already available that can perform many of the day-to-day tasks discussed here, as well as ChatGPT, Microsoft Co-Pilot, Bard, and more. Here are some examples:

Harvey is an AI chatbot specialized in law.

ExParte – A platform that uses machine learning plus natural language processing to predict litigation outcomes.

Casetext – AI legal assistant that uses generative AI to review and prepare documents and conduct legal research.

Deepjudge – AI-powered legal search engine.

The changing role of lawyers

When researching, writing, legislating, interpreting, and debating law, people are always an important part of the process. However, this does not mean that generative AI will not change its role, just as waves of breakthrough technologies such as the printing press, computers, and the Internet fundamentally changed its role in the past.

Lawyers who can successfully manage this transition will find their roles become more human-focused. Their priority is to understand their clients and their legal issues in a human-to-human manner. This helps build professional relationships and trust in a way that machines can never replace.

Less time is spent on mundane and essentially repetitive tasks, and more time is spent on education and upskilling. Lawyers need to keep their knowledge up to date, and this can mean honing their technology skills to make the most of the tools that are made available to them. Some may instead choose to hone their “softer” people skills, such as communication and creativity.

However, almost everyone, not just lawyers but professionals in general, is expected to be familiar with regulatory and compliance issues surrounding the use of data and AI. Specifically, you need to understand all regulatory requirements regarding the use of personal data in your business areas and the importance of being open and transparent about how you use data and AI.

One thing is for sure: the successful lawyers and legal professionals of the next decade will not be the ones who choose to bury their heads in the sand as this wave of innovative technology washes over them.

Those who can strike a balance between exploiting the potential to drive efficiency and growth and overcoming (many) challenges will be on the path to a future-proof career. Sho.

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