Artificial Intelligence and the Legal Field: Keeping You Informed About the Evolving Legal Landscape

Technology is intended to make life easier for people, but what happens when that technology gets smart enough to potentially replace people? It was once the subject of science fiction films, but AI is real and is delivering a real shake-up in the legal industry.

Lawyers typically fall into one of two camps when you discuss AI. The first recognises its potential for increasing efficiency, automating manual processes and delivering a significant business benefit. The second are more cautious, worried that AI may displace them from their roles or expose them to a host of regulatory compliance and data security issues.

To truly understand the potential for artificial intelligence in the legal field, it is necessary to explore both points of view. The Law Society's Horizon Report makes for valuable reading and delves into the possible consequences, both positive and negative, of embracing AI in the legal industry.?

1. Pro-AI. AI can revolutionise the client experience.

Chatbots can handle initial enquiries, directing clients to the lawyer best placed to handle their case, ensuring that each new lead is converted quickly and efficiently.

AI can be used to expedite research, quickly scanning previous cases to predict outcomes and automate routine documentation. It can also be used to draft documents, including contracts, reducing the administrative burden.

AI can automate repetitive functions, freeing up lawyers to concentrate on fee-earning tasks. When used effectively, it can supplement human intelligence, reduce operating costs, process clients' cases more efficiently and secure greater levels of profitability.?

2. Against AI.

When a chatbot does not understand a client's needs, confuses them or routes their communications incorrectly, it can result in significant delays, damage to a firm's reputation and a temporary reduction in productivity.?

AI can replace many admin functions, resulting in changing organisational structures as fewer junior and non-legal staff are required. Although this would initially result in cost savings, it could have long-term implications for succession planning due to an insufficient pool of junior workers primed and ready to progress up the career ladder as experienced lawyers retire.

To work effectively alongside AI, lawyers need to add technological skills to their repertoire, and where firms are unable or unwilling to fund such training, mistrust is likely to run rife, which can create a spike in attrition rates.

As AI technology becomes more powerful, it is very likely that safeguards will need to be implemented to protect sensitive data from accidental breaches and cyber attacks. Effort will also need to be expended to ensure that the data generated by AI is factually correct, ethical and lawful.?

Most importantly, AI cannot understand and empathise with clients in the same way as a human lawyer can. Should AI be allowed to dominate the industry to the extent that this relationship is lost, it could have devastating consequences.?

In conclusion, there are many benefits to implementing AI technology in the legal field, but it is crucial that a thorough risk assessment is undertaken to understand the implications of doing so. Leadership teams must analyse the potential impact of introducing AI into their workplace, canvass the opinion of their workforce, mitigate the identified risks as far as possible and introduce the technology in a way that supports and supplements their human workers but does not oust them.

When AI is introduced sensibly with appropriate guardrails and used with caution, it can help law firms to achieve greater responsiveness, improved client outcomes and a healthy financial forecast.?

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