Could A.I. Change Law as We Know it?

AI is becoming a massive part of our lives. Every industry and profession are being touched by artificial intelligence, and the legal sector is no exception. In many ways, there are lots of opportunities for people to integrate this technology into their business, get ahead of their competitors and streamline processes that, in the past, have been time-consuming and often subject to human error. But this new technology also comes with huge implications: just last week, the CEO of OpenAI (creators of the popular online AI tool, ChatGPT), Sam Altman, testified to the US senate that AI needed regulation. Good or bad, AI appears to be here to stay – and legal business can find inventive ways to integrate this technology into their practices and activities.

Using AI can be a key tool in freeing up lawyers and legal professionals to focus on more important business, like meeting and building relations with clients. AI can handle many difficult admin tasks: it may be most famous for producing written text and impersonating famous people, but there are other things that it can do to simplify the increasingly complex field of law. AI can automate tasks like setting reminders for meetings or court appearances and track important documents, removing the possibility for human error. It is also a great research tool: AI tools already exist that are designed for this very purpose. LexisNews, Westlaw and Ravel Law can all search legal databases for cases, statutes and regulations, saving valuable time looking through labels and files. Using algorithms and language processing, it can even be used to simplify complex legal jargon, which I’m certain would save a lot of time explaining things repeatedly to potential clients!

Chatbots are probably the most well-known form of AI: you may even have used ChatGTP yourself. But Chatbots are becoming a more common form of customer service as well. Those little pop-ups that you get at the bottom of the screen on websites asking if you’d like any help? They are increasingly being run by A.I. Like with social media comments and messages, Chatbots prevent staff from getting bogged down in responding to enquires, as it can respond much more quickly and efficiently than even the most experienced customer service manager. These services are also available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, meaning that customers can pose a question any time of day, and get an immediate response. Another way AI can simplify the work of legal professionals is in optimising your marketing. This is in no way replacing experienced marketing employees (otherwise I’m out of a job!), but it is about using AI to enhance your existing strategies. It can target and track potential clients, gather information about them, and allows your marketing team to target them with personalised adverts. One of the senior partners of Lander and Rogers, Tim McDonald, recently spoke to the Financial Times about their business’ use of AI, saying that, if they didn’t learn how to integrate it into their business, they would be left behind by their competitors.

However, like all technology, there are downsides, both in terms of potential applications and technical limitations. In the same Financial Times article mentioned above, Sara Rayment of Inkling Legal Design, who works with law businesses on AI use, mentions there is a concern among lawyers about sharing their knowledge and experience with AI tools, and that knowledge being available to a wider audience more freely than if their services were employed. And, of course, if AI was used to conduct research and document tracking, this could be concerning for paralegals and junior lawyers, who often find themselves doing exactly this kind of leg work. A recent report from Goldman Sachs speculated that up to 44% of legal work could be replaced by A.I. (only one sector, office and administrative support, was higher). Ongoing concerns like this about AI are common: as I mentioned at the beginning of this article, legal regulation could, one day, be an issue. But, more fundamentally, the technology itself isn’t perfect, and is in an ongoing process of development. In the Financial Times article, David Wakeling (head of markets innovation group at law firm Allen & Overy) commented that the AI software they were using still needed checking before anything was used, as it would sometimes produce things that they described as nonsense.

While it isn’t yet a ‘magic bullet’ that can be used to solve all your problems, AI is a tool that legal businesses can take advantage of. There’s lots of things that it can do, and, if businesses are smart, it can simplify processes, free up staff for more complex duties, and allow things to be done much faster and much more cost-effectively. However, there do remain concerns and issues with it, and it is up to business to weigh up the risks and benefits before they commit to its use. Whatever happens with regards to AI, it will change the legal sector. It just remains to be seen what impact that will have on a sector that is seen as one of the most important in the world today.

Further Reading:
If you are interested in reading further about A.I., and its implications for business, you can read the Financial Times article I referenced here: https://www.ft.com/content/1aa...
See also an article by Analytics Insight, looking at various applications of A.I. in the legal sector, which formed the basis of this article: https://www.ft.com/content/1aa...
Another useful article on the subject was published by the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/0...
If you want a more detailed examination of A.I. and the legal sector, The Law Society published a comprehensive Horizon Scanning report called ‘Artificial Intelligence and the Legal Sector’ back in 2018. It is a little out-of-date, but breaks down the discussion around A.I. and the pros and cons of its use really well: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/...