Artificial intelligence (AI) finds strong use cases in areas crowded with documents. Law firms take the front row in this list. Lawyers spend most of their time gathering and organizing information rather than analyzing the information. AI in law firms can do the hard work for lawyers and help them focus on things that truly deserve their intelligence and expertise. Goldman Sachs found in their study that Artificial Intelligence can automate almost half (44 percent) of work in the legal profession. In this blog, let’s explore how you can leverage the power of AI in the legal profession.
Transformation with AI in law firms
There is some history of AI in law practice. This story takes us back to the 17th century. German polymath and one of the grandfathers of Artificial Intelligence, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, said, “It is unworthy of excellent men to lose hours like slaves in the labor of calculation which could safely be relegated to anyone else if machines were used.”
As a lawyer, Leibniz imagined a machine called the great instrument of reason would be able to resolve disputes among people by synthesizing rational thoughts. The idea of leveraging AI in law was started four decades ago. Fast forward to now, we are in the AI era.
Artificial intelligence is empowering lawyers to perform their jobs more efficiently. AI brings a paradigm shift in law practice by automating tasks such as legal research, documenting, document review, and customer service. Let’s explore these aspects in detail.
Find facts faster with AI in legal research
A non-lawyer on Reddit asked how much time lawyers spend on research in a day. Lawyers in the community responded to this question with varying answers. One criminal defense lawyer spends two hours a day on average. An administrative law professional said he dedicates one-third of his time to research. Another professional answered that a junior associate at a large defense-side law firm would spend half of the billable time on legal research. The numbers vary, but legal research takes up a significant amount of a lawyer’s time in a day.
Legal research is critical for building a strong argument. You need to learn all the facts related to the case and identify the point of law in the issue. As part of your research, you need to go through volumes of information about regulations, statutes, case laws, and more. Once you gather all the relevant information, you need to analyze it and create insights that will help you build your argument.
As the Reddit members replied, the research process is time and resource consuming. Based on the area of law and your experience, you may spend several hours to several days on legal research. By deploying AI-powered solutions, you can save time and money on legal research while performing research effectively.
AI solutions enhance the efficiency of legal document analysis by quickly flagging relevant documents and employing machine learning algorithms to find similar ones. This accelerates the research process and reduces your workload by filtering questionable documents. AI is not an alternative to legal research, but it enables faster and more efficient research. Using AI solutions, you can scan extensive databases and analyze information in minutes, which would otherwise take several hours.
AI not only saves you time but also provides you with access to the latest information. So, you can identify relevant precedents and legal principles through machine learning algorithms, ultimately strengthening legal positions.
AI in legal document review – A second set of eyes
Legal document review is a critical and time-bound process. As a lawyer, you deal with many legal documents such as NDAs, credit agreements, employment contracts, license agreements, patents, etc. The objective of document review is to identify potential risks. You should help your clients edit the contracts and negotiate better terms. However, document review should be done faster, given the time and cost constraints.
Pressed for time, you may review only some important parts of the documents. In this process, you may miss potential landmines in the unreviewed portions of the documents. Anomalies in legal documents can cost your clients a fortune.
You need quick eyes that can read documents faster and identify anomalies and potential risks for your clients. This is where AI can show a significant impact. Government and private entities are already using AI in their contract review processes to boost efficiency and productivity. These examples will clearly explain how you can leverage AI in legal document review.
JP Morgan Chase implemented a contract intelligence system called COIN in their law firms to review credit agreements and contracts. The system would process 12000 contracts in seconds, which would otherwise take 360,000 hours when done manually. The banks reported that COIN used 150 attributes of credit contracts to classify and categorize clauses in the agreement based on wording and location.
The US Patents and Trademark Office (USPTO) has implemented an AI-based search system called Similarity Search. The AI system helps patent examiners fetch references from domestic and foreign patent documents and non-patent literature within seconds. USPTO reported that Similarity Search effectively enhanced its examination process.
AI for legal document management
As a lawyer, you might be recreating the same documents, such as non-disclosure agreements, for different clients. You might be using shortcuts like Find and Replace on Microsoft Word to speed up your work without having to draft the entire document. However, how fast can you do this manual task?
You might be spending at least five hours a week on manual documenting.
You might have also faced a situation where you didn’t find the relevant document and had to draft the document again. This is a result of poor document management.
When preparing legal documents, you must be careful with your words, sentences, and grammar. Failing to use proper language will make your document look unprofessional and damage your reputation. As we discussed in the legal document review section, time is critical. Delays in documenting can kill the deal. An IDC study found that lawyers spend more than 11 hours a week on challenges related to document creation and management.
AI plays a significant role in legal document management. You can leverage AI in law for generating, storing, categorizing, and reviewing legal documents. For example, Generative AI tools like ChatGPT can swiftly generate initial drafts of legal documents like contracts, briefs, and demand letters. Generative AI can also make language suggestions to make your legal document look more professional. AI can use tagging and profiling to efficiently store and categorize your legal documents so that you can find them easily when you need them.
AI is replacing hours of manual work with automation done in seconds. This translates into huge savings for your law firm and your clients.
Virtual assistants – Serve your clients better with AI in law
Customer service plays a pivotal role in the legal profession, as it directly impacts the client’s experience and the overall success of legal practice. Client satisfaction is closely linked to referrals and repeat business. Satisfied clients are more likely to refer their lawyer to others and return for future legal needs. Thus, outstanding customer service can lead to a strong client base and sustainable practice growth. Client service also encompasses accessibility. Timely responses to inquiries and flexibility in scheduling appointments are crucial for making legal services more accessible and accommodating for clients.
When it comes to enhancing customer service within law firms, the integration of virtual assistance through AI technology offers you a valuable set of tools and capabilities. With these innovations, you can truly elevate the level of service you provide to your clients.
Imagine the improved efficiency in responding to client inquiries and concerns. AI-powered virtual assistants can offer instant and accurate responses to common questions and issues. This means you can provide timely assistance to clients, ensuring they receive the information they need precisely when they need it.
AI in law – the road ahead
Utilizing AI in law firms boosts efficiency, enhances accuracy, reduces costs, and improves client experience. On the other hand, using AI tools in legal practices also attracts questions about potential risks. You must remember that AI is not a replacement for human intelligence in any field. It is only a complementary technology that strengthens man-machine collaboration. Law is not just about logical thinking. It involves ethical and emotional angles, which are innate qualities of human beings.
While Artificial intelligence automates a lot of work in law firms, you should always keep a human in the loop to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the AI systems. Because AI systems are not always accurate. They are prone to errors. For example, ChatGPT or Bard can give false information. You cannot use the exact information in your legal documents. Because a single word can cost a billion dollars for your clients.
Keeping all these challenges and risks in mind, you should implement AI solutions in your law firms with utmost care. First things first, you must identify the right use cases for AI in your law firm. Taking the help of a trusted technology partner will help you implement AI successfully.
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