Law Technology Today From the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center
Related Articles
It may be some time before we see cities in the sky, experience space tourism, and commute to work in flying cars (a la George Jetson). However, a concept once thought to be far outside the realm of possibility is now on the verge of transforming the modern workplace: artificial intelligence (AI). As technology continues to evolve, tools and applications built on or re-engineered with AI will proliferate.
From chatbots that advise about whether you have to pay your parking ticket, to an algorithm that predicts US Supreme Court decisions, applications using artificial intelligence in tandem with legal service are mushrooming. Here are four trends driving AI adoption in the legal industry.
AI Fueled Automation Already Disrupts the Delivery of Legal Services
Technology is the driver of a “better, faster, cheaper” delivery of certain legal services. Several corporate legal departments and law firms utilize AI for the review and standardization of documents, and the list of potential tasks is increasing. AI’s impact on the legal market is in its nascent stage, but its impact on efficiency, risk mitigation, and dramatic reductions in the time and cost of human review is significant.
Although not specifically dependent on AI technology, globalization and technological advances cultivated the “legal process outsourcing” (LPO) model. LPO relies on labor arbitrage and technology to dramatically reduce the cost of high-volume/low-value “legal” functions (e.g., e-discovery, contract review, knowledge management, compliance, and other routine practices). LPOs have successfully redirected certain repetitive tasks from high-priced law firms, demonstrating that automation technology and process management-together with legal expertise-are all essential components in legal delivery.
Big Data Analytics
There are multiple forms of analysis leveraging Big Data. They include descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics, all of which have a significant impact on the future of law practice. Descriptive analytics uses advanced technologies such as natural language processing and machine learning to mine large volumes of historic legal data and turn it into actionable insights. The primary focus areas for descriptive analytics in law are identifying legal trends over time and analyzing behaviors of participants in litigation. Lawyers can use the information to better determine the likely outcomes of cases, develop winning legal strategies, estimate the value of a case, forecast litigation costs, and make crucial decisions, including whether to settle or proceed to trial.
Many retail organizations use predictive analytics to create a 360-degree customer profile and predict customer behavior. Using a wide variety of data sources, they try to understand their customers so they can send the right message at the right moment, via the right channel. Law firms can use the same type of predictive analytics to gain a deeper understanding of judges and juries. By examining previous behavior in court or the profiles of individual judges, it becomes possible to predict how they will behave in a particular case. The legal tech startup, Judge Analytics, created a platform that offers detailed insights on any judge in the US. This information enables lawyers to deepen their insights on the judges involved in their cases and to develop the best strategy for their clients.
While predictive analytics provides insights into potential futures based on data, prescriptive analytics offers actual advice, and continually refines its recommendations by tracking outcomes of actual decisions and incorporating that information in future recommendations. Predictive and prescriptive analytics require ongoing access to large amounts of data to build and refine the value of their output. Technologists need to focus on intuitive interfaces and pervasive data collection to lower barriers to these powerful methods. As analytics, machine learning, and natural language processing technologies advance, their relevance to daily law firm activities will also grow. With access, that value will accelerate – it is only a matter of time before these technologies become accepted, trusted partners to lawyers and legal teams.
Legal Chatbots
At the time Stanford University student Josh Browder’s “robot lawyer” DoNotPay was introduced in 2016, the legal community had barely heard of a “chatbot.” Since it’s launch, DoNotPay has helped appeal over 160,000 parking tickets across London and New York City. Chatbots have been making a splash and drawing attention in the legal industry.
Legal bots don’t require sleep or vacation and work 24/7 to provide clients with a legal help on demand. When they are used appropriately, including oversight by legal professionals, they are a great way of optimizing specific work processes to save lawyers time and money.
GC and Lawyers Increasingly Serving as CEOs and Corporate Board Members
Today’s GC’s are involved in all business functions and manage many business teams. Attorneys are becoming true business partners, leading initiatives and providing strategic legal and business advice. It’s not uncommon for lawyers to manage parts of or the entire human resources, cybersecurity, and business development departments. Instead of preventing disasters, fighting fires, and assessing risk, GC’s are making critical business decisions, stirring progress, and leading innovation. In the corporate world, that innovation depends heavily on technology adoption.
Legal education will need to resemble business school education, with case studies, leadership training, and active networking. The future law school, law firm, and overall lawyer training approach and curriculum will have to change. Some leading law schools have already started to include technology in their curriculum. Law students would be smart to look beyond their legal education and become tech literate, as their ability to analyze data and operate legal software may be just as important as their knowledge of cases.
AI can improve efficiency and accuracy by automating tedious, repetitive work such as research, document review, or litigation support. It can also learn and make valuable predictions across vast amounts of data that would be impossible for humans alone to consume. It will not replace lawyers or the strategic value they provide, but it will profoundly alter the way legal services are delivered. The real concern is for the leaders of legal departments and law firms who will find their traditional value replaced by competitors who are leveraging AI to maximize data and improve services.
