In the halls of justice, a new technology has emerged to reshape the landscape of the legal industry: artificial intelligence (AI).
With its ability to analyse vast amounts of data and extract actionable insights, AI is revolutionising how legal professionals approach their work.
To shed light on this topic, we asked the experts..
Our Experts:
- Stephanie Boyce, Past President of the Law Society of England and Wales
- Eunice Buhler, General Counsel at B2B software marketplace G2
- Simon Briskman, Partner, Technology at Fieldfisher LLP
- Steven Burrows, Director, Derivatives & Structured Finance at Fieldfisher LLP
- Kira Unger, CEO at PocketLaw
- Tara Waters, Partner and Chief Digital Officer at Ashurst
- Rebecca Jobling, Senior Practice Development Lawyer at Lewis Silkin
- Sarah Pearce, Partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth
- Ben Maling, Senior Associate, UK and European Patent Attorney at EIP
Stephanie Boyce, Past President of the Law Society of England and Wales
“For the many people who struggle to get legal support technology could help to make accessing legal services easier and more affordable in some instances. We have heard the Master of the Rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos speak enthusiastically of an integrated online civil justice system and the use of technology to allow legal rights to be cheaply and quickly vindicated.
“Whilst lawtech has not yet been as disruptive to our lives or profession as fintech there is no denying that AI has the potential to make justice more accessible, cheaper and quicker. However, the most developed legal AI tools on the market at the moment are all directed at legal professionals (tools to help with due diligence (eg Diligen) or analyse litigation patterns (LexMachina, run by LexisNexis)).AI and lawtech will continue to improve lawyers’ ability to focus on the more challenging matters, and less on the repetitive tasks. But the true disruption in the legal industry will be through innovation of low cost and free AI tools which increase access to justice. Indeed this is essential if AI is going to close, and not just further widen, the justice gap.Legal regulators need to issue some much needed guidance sooner rather than later.”
Eunice Buhler, General Counsel at B2B software marketplace G2
“Like most industries, AI can add significant value to the legal space. Today, in-house legal practitioners have access to dozens of tools that integrate AI, most often in contract lifecycle management systems. These tools can summarise contracts and offer suggested contract language, which can save large amounts of time. They can support anomaly detection too, by helping attorneys identify how certain contract terms depart from their standard forms.
“AI has also been part of the legal discovery process for a long time, helping attorneys filter through thousands of pages of discoverable material with greater speed and precision. Additionally, we’re seeing several AI software tools being tailored specifically for law firms. These tools are used to accelerate the work of a more senior attorney by producing a work product akin to that of a junior associate — resulting in a more cost-effective business model for both the firm’s clients and the firm itself.
“Ultimately, regardless of how good AI tools may become, AI will never truly replace the lawyer. In fact, the lawyer’s job is going to be one that is even more powerful because lawyers will be utilizing their higher-level thinking skills more strategically as they build off of the product that AI produces. Successful integration of AI in the legal field will require a balance between leveraging its benefits and addressing its challenges – which include those around compliance, bias, data privacy, and others.”
Simon Briskman, Partner, Technology at Fieldfisher LLP
“Firms that don’t adopt this won’t go out of business immediately, they’ll just slowly grind into being less efficient over time.
“I always liken the AI revolution to the industrial revolution. If we went back to the Luddites smashing up the looms and were able to say to them, ‘here are the jobs you great-grandchildren would have if you would just let the industrial revolution happen’ do you think they would really see future as so bleak? People are rightly worried about jobs going and transition but what really happened over time is the human role in the job market changes.”
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Steven Burrows, Director, Derivatives & Structured Finance at Fieldfisher LLP
“Banks are using neural networks to come up with more tailored hedging solutions through instruments like interest-rate swaps and equity derivatives, enabling them to offer better pricing to clients.
“This is typically referred to as “deep hedging” and it works by using machine learning techniques to analyse an array of different data types, such as historical trading data, transaction cost data and liquidity data, to produce an optimal hedging strategy for a particular transaction or portfolio.”
Kira Unger, CEO at PocketLaw
“AI is indeed transforming the legal sector, but not by rendering lawyers obsolete as some have predicted. Instead, it has the potential to automate certain tasks, such as contract generation or legal research, enabling human lawyers to focus more on strategic or more complex legal judgment calls and topics. Meanwhile, the explosion of AI across other industries, is creating increased legal work as regulation and compliance typically falls behind the adoption of new technology.
“A prevailing challenge within the legal industry is the ‘Fear of Messing Up’ or ‘FOMU’, as we navigate the intersection of AI and law. The stakes are high, and the margin for error is minimal. This means that the legal industry, originally slow to adopt digital solutions more generally, is naturally taking a more cautious approach to AI.
“In essence, AI is influencing the legal industry profoundly, but instead of reducing the need for lawyers, it’s transforming their roles. By automating low-impact, repetitive tasks, it empowers legal professionals to focus on high-value strategic work, something we are already seeing our customers benefit from by using PocketLaw.”
Tara Waters, Partner and Chief Digital Officer at Ashurst
“The legal industry has been set alight by generative AI—no technology has captured the imagination of lawyers in particular over the past six months.
“Still, most legal providers are taking a measured approach; the potential of generative AI is huge but there is a significant gulf between potential and practical application. As the industry grapples with this new challenge, it’s clear that the impact will go beyond finding shortcuts to getting work done. From how future lawyers are educated and trained, to the way a firm’s collective knowledge is pooled, maintained and shared, to how firms value and charge for their services, many fundamentals of the way law firms and lawyers operate will be challenged in the coming years.
“It would be too easy to fall prey to the scaremongering headlines, but there is an existential threat on the horizon that for the first time feels real.
“At the same time, there are a multitude of ways that AI might finally fulfil the promise of technology as an agent of efficiency and value creation, the means by which we are truly able to focus humans on the tasks that only humans can or should do and bringing meaning back to practitioners.”
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Rebecca Jobling, Senior Practice Development Lawyer at Lewis Silkin
“Law is a profession that lives and breathes words: forever scrutinising, assembling and finessing. Generative AI’s natural language abilities could make it a natural bedfellow. However, still in its relative infancy, it poses significant challenges for lawyers.
“Publicly accessible models, like ChatGPT, lack the guardrails to protect client confidentiality, meaning that input data could be regurgitated for other users. Reports of an unfortunate attorney in the US, who cited non-existent cases, illustrate the dangers of ‘hallucinations’ in a profession where accuracy is key.
“Trained on a finite amount of data at a specific time, and subject to platform creators’ biases, these tools are not ‘all-knowing’ or wholly non-discriminatory. The potential for AI algorithms to disadvantage certain groups, and where liability might lie for AI-made employment decisions, such as sifting CVs, are of particular concern for employment lawyers.
“That said, the potential impact on the profession is enormous and will likely revolutionise how lawyers work, from legal research to contractual analysis and drafting, with commercial products with the capacity to overcome the above risks being developed at pace (even if qualified assistants remain necessary).
“AI will also impact how the law must develop. Existing rules are being stretched to keep abreast of technology – and The EU AI Act just one example of global regulators playing catch-up.”
Sarah Pearce, Partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth
“AI is affecting most if not all industries and it is the use of such AI within the industry that varies – and used appropriately, that’s a positive thing, despite much of the media scaremongering we have seen of late. AI allows for the automation of multiple repetitive tasks, something that can be easily adapted for use within the manufacturing industry but also, in more office-based industries, to assist with administrative functions.
“While this has caused concern amongst those fearing “machines” will replace their jobs, the efficiency and productivity gains for businesses can be remarkable. The retail industry has also been quick to use AI to improve customer experience, offering chatbots and virtual assistants on their websites, some even deploying AI technology to provide virtual changing rooms for example. The healthcare industry looks set to be one of the most significantly affected industries with AI being used in medical research, disease diagnosis and the development of personalised medication.”
Ben Maling, Senior Associate, UK and European Patent Attorney at EIP
“As the digital world is ever-more everywhere, increasing numbers of our clients are facing complex issues around IP in software and data. The emergence of generative AI, and the promises it holds for companies across all industries, have only served to complicate the situation, with novel IP questions arising around training data, program code, AI models and the outputs they generate.
“It is against this backdrop that we launched Codiphy, our new legal advisory service for companies navigating the IP, legal and regulatory minefields around software, data, and AI. We believe that by aligning technical, legal and commercial expertise under one roof, we are uniquely well-equipped to support clients in these areas, as the law is left playing catch-up with the unprecedented pace of innovation.”
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
