Changes in the way legal services will be delivered in the future have been observed over the past decade. They are inevitable and cumulative. The terrible effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are likely to accelerate the pace of these changes exponentially. Clients under economic pressure will certainly put increasing pressure on the billing leverage and profitability model of large law firms. Clients under pressure to reduce internal and external costs will turn to AI developers and solution providers to achieve more efficient, fast, and cost-effective results than law firms can offer. In other words, clients will increasingly try to avoid as much as possible even the involvement of an increasingly irrelevant intermediary, the law firm. As a result, law firms on the other side of the fence will face tremendous pressure to reduce overhead, especially expensive real estate, which has proven largely redundant during the pandemic. Traditional law firm models are not well suited to deal with these changes. To survive this tidal wave of change, companies must be flexible and look for new billing models based on new ways to demonstrate value. You need to consider new business models and hiring models.
Candidates for future lawyers must be able to demonstrate emotional intelligence and a deep understanding of how technology can help improve outcomes for clients. These qualities and skills will be at least, if not more, valuable than law school grades. The tipping point for the provision of legal services is imminent. Weak nerves that want to cling to old models are unlikely to survive for long. 5. Andrew Ng, What AI Can and Can`t Do Right Now, Harv. Business Rev., November 9, 2016, available at hbr.org/2016/11/what-artificial-intelligence-can-and-cant-do-right-now. Corporate legal spending in the U.S. for traditional law firms remains unchanged year after year, while spending on in-house legal services and other legal service providers is exploding.2 In-house counsel and these new legal service providers (and, to a lesser extent, law firms) are increasingly using AI in ways that undermine both the importance of legal advice and clients` ability to collect data, establish performance and payment metrics, and manage and control the external law firms they traditionally turn to for advice and representation.
The first part of this article briefly describes what AI is and how it can (and will) be used to solve problems and offer solutions that benefit customers. Part II will explore the different types of AI platforms that are already in use or at an advanced stage of development to provide clients with substantial legal assistance in a way that was previously reserved for a large number of (mostly younger) lawyers. Part III examines how AI is likely to affect both the future role of lawyers and the impact of AI on the likely structure and composition of law firms. This section also examines how these changes, in turn, affect the hiring needs of law firms, the hiring models they will use, and the ways in which legal education, before and after licensing, must change if the law is to survive as a profession. Part IV will address the ethical, legal, regulatory and risk management issues that law firms face today when adopting or deploying AI platforms or solutions for their clients. Finally, Part V examines whether other service providers, professional and other (including, but not limited to, developers of AI solutions), have economic and commercial advantages that allow them to replace lawyers and law firms. You have credibility, and your sources and quotes have been checked. This security is unmatched, but being able to check your opponent`s work product with the same care is a close second. Did they accidentally (or otherwise) miscite a case? Did they make claims that were later repealed? You may not have noticed, but you did. And all thanks to AI, which has become the gold standard of legal research.
Another area where AI is already widely used in legal practice is legal research. Practicing lawyers may not even know that they are using AI in this area, as it has been seamlessly integrated into many research departments. One such service is Westlaw Edge, launched by Thomson Reuters more than three years ago. The keyword or Boolean search approach, which has been the hallmark of the service for decades, has been complemented by semantic research. This means that machine learning algorithms try to understand the meaning of words and not just match them with keywords. Another example of an AI-powered feature from Westlaw Edge is Quick Check, which uses AI to analyze a draft argument to gain additional information or identify relevant authorities that may have been overlooked. Quick Check can even detect when a cited case has been indirectly resolved. 3. Taylor Kubota, deep learning algorithm does as well as dermatologists in identifying skin cancer, Stanford News (January 25, 2017), news.stanford.edu/2017/01/25/artificial-intelligence-used-identify-skin-cancer/. When analyzing how AI can benefit your law firm and law firm, make sure you think holistically and identify potential benefits. (You may find benefits specific to your industry or law firm that we haven`t mentioned in this article.) The legal industry is commonly known as one of the slowest industries to adopt innovative technologies, and most law firms naturally prefer to follow, rather than lead.
But, as time has shown us, the deeper we sink into our heels, the deeper we sink. So let`s take a look at what types of legal jobs are being replaced by AI and how legal departments and law firms can prepare for disruption. For example, while AI can assist in the correct selection of documents for a case, technology is far from supporting client advice, negotiations, or even the preparation of briefs – lawyers are not being replaced from their primary duties. However, technology can be used as a tool to make court appearances more efficient. As technology advances, the same concern is emerging in the legal industry as in many others: Will AI and automation replace human intelligence and make the profession obsolete? Artificial intelligence takes prediction to the next level. AI can analyze similar cases with similar facts and provide statistical analysis to accurately predict the outcome of the dispute. This tool allows lawyers to confidently advise their clients on how and to proceed with litigation.