Ian Lopez, Legaltech News
Firms and legal departments are
embracing it. Vendors are focusing on it. The time is ripe for AI to alter the
legal profession.
Artificial intelligence’s (AI) entrance into any
profession often features an odd mixture of ominous predictions from affected
workers and executives extolling the virtues of ‘innovation,’ ‘change,’ and
whatever other flashy, vague adjectives apply to the situation. Yet between the
hype and horror lies a more moderate, less sexy truth that proceeds on a slower
trajectory than vocal pro-and-opponents would have you believe.
The
future has a way of creeping up on us, and the same can be said (unsurprisingly) for its
movement into the legal industry. For while many were debating how much AI
could really help legal tasks, let alone just what
exactly AI actually is,
technologists, vendors and lawyers with foresight were eagerly moving forward.
And before we knew it, the adoption of AI-infused legal technology began its
transition from the exception to the norm.
A recent
adapter of AI technology is UK law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which
recently inked a deal with Kira Systems (who also has deals with Clifford
Chance and DLA Piper) to employ its technology for document review.
Specifically, Kira’s technology allows the firm to, as Legal
Weekdescribes, “search
and analyze contract text,” and is applicable “across a number of different
areas including due diligence, general commercial, corporate, real estate and
compliance.”
Speaking to Australian
Lawyer, Freshfield
director of legal services Isabel Parker said, “Kira can be configured around
our own custom provisions,” while enhancing “the quality of work” and freeing
her team “to focus on more complex areas of work.” Similarly, the firm’s joint
managing partner Stephan Eilers said the technology “will bring significant
benefits in speed of delivery and cost-effectiveness.”
And while firms line up
to get ahead of the curve, vendors are increasingly prepared to meet their
needs. Exalted by the public as the vanguard among vendors is ROSS
Intelligence, whose
well-known tool for legal research in bankruptcy was described by The American
Lawyer’s Susan Beck as “one of the most potentially transformative new
technologies in the legal field.”
In her profile of the
technology and its founder, millennial lawyer-slash-technologist Andrew Arruda,
Beck chronicles a demonstration held at Von Briesen & Roper, where the
firm’s CEO Randall Crocker noted the tool “operates more intuitively” than
older tools for legal research and that it allows his firm and other smaller
ones to be more competitive on the global stage.
The competitive
advantage introduced by AI technology is a frequent conversation topic among
firms and vendors alike. Writing in The
Global Legal Post about the ways AI is already used to bolster some
legal teams ahead of others, Neota Logic managing director Greg Wildisen notes
that Foley & Lardner deployed an AI-powered mobile app (FCPA App) for
“clients’ sales to self-serve payment questions anywhere, anytime” while
Littler Mendelson has an app (ComplianceHR) to answer HR questions (this is
part of a series of apps released by the firm). He also describes advantages
offered to legal practitioners by using AI, such as faster legal advice, better
staff retention, greater lead generation, new revenue streams, and the ability
to “differentiate service offerings.”
Considering the number
of firms and departments employing AI, one might be lead to believe that the
legal industry is ahead of or on par with many others. While this seems
contrary to the popular perception among those well-versed in legal
professionals’ use of technology, there are some that argue the industry is
ahead of others.
Citing a study by
CenturyLink, Neil Rose writes in Legal
Futures, “5 percent of
senior IT decision makers in law firms have adopted predictive coding and 48
percent machine learning technologies, compared to 30 percent and 38 percent
respectively in non-legal sectors.”
CenturyLink’s head of
digital transformation Jamie Tyler told Legal Futures that in the legal sector,
the IT teams’ view toward AI tends to be “forward-thinking and well-reasoned.”
He adds that CIOs for legal teams tend to possess “a more in-depth
understanding of both the capabilities and limitations of predictive coding,
machine learning and artificial intelligence systems compared to CIOs generally
across all sectors.”
With the ever-increasing
amount of vendors in the legal space employing AI solutions, it makes sense that
CIOs are in-the-know. While ROSS tends to dominate headlines, Legaltech News’
Ricci Dipshan recently profiled other emerging leaders in the space: Lex Machina, which currently stands at the forefront
of analytics; Riverview Law’s Kim, a virtual assistant that, in its most
advanced edition, can predict case outcomes and offer alternative approaches;
LawGeex, which specializes in contract review; @Legal Discovery, a technology
assisted review (TAR) tool; and the much-discussed RAVN Extract Direct, which
(you guessed it) extracts information from documents for analysis.
Furthermore, global
giants are getting behind the technology as well. Recently, IBM announced that
Promontory Financial Group will be training its AI platform Watson in
regulatory matters. As reported by The
American Lawyer, IBM
said, “More than 20,000 new regulatory requirements were created last year
alone, and the complete catalog of regulations is projected to exceed 300
million pages by 2020, rapidly outstripping the capacity of humans to keep up.”
Unsurprisingly, by most
estimates, the age for technology is here, and AI is playing an integral role.
And while many will spend time debating the capabilities of such technology,
its implications on the workforce, and whether to adjust billing models that
have fueled law as long as it has existed, legal professionals, take note: get
in now and get ahead of the curve.
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