AI’s Role in Legal Practice Grows

AI legal tools are helping lawyers automate workflow and work more efficiently. However, as AI integration into legal practice continues, a faction of professionals are concerned about potential risks and ethical issues. As such, there is a need to understand this novel technology and learn how to balance its benefits and risks.

Although AI has been around for decades, its advanced capabilities have led professionals to question whether they can ethically adopt the technology into their practice. While some remain skeptical of AI in the legal space, others are embracing it to enhance their productivity and cut costs.

How AI is Changing Legal Practice

In recent years, AI and related technologies have allowed lawyers to expedite workflow traditionally left to interns, paralegals and entry-level associates. A task like legal research was reserved for legal associates, and it was very time-consuming, but AI legal tools powered by machine learning can now sift through high volumes of documents to find the right information in the blink of an eye. AI-powered text generators are also used to produce first drafts of legal briefs.

However, besides the positive effects, AI can also negatively impact the profession. For example, its ability to create deepfake images and videos can result in disinformation or the spread of misinformation, which is a significant concern for IP lawyers.

Additionally, since generative AI relies on massive data sets, private data can be stolen and used for the wrong purposes. In fact, there have been many class action lawsuits alleging privacy violations linked to generative AI tools.

How AI Legal Tools Are Impacting Litigation

In today’s fast-paced world, practicing lawyers must make informed decisions and develop robust strategies quickly. To accomplish this objective, some litigators have turned to AI. Below is a further breakdown of how litigators are embracing automation:

Digging Up Relevant Case Laws

AI has seen lawyers using technology to sift through volumes of case law and summaries the data more meaningfully. Since machine learning-powered AI can process more data than a human, litigators can be more confident in the quality of their research.

AI-powered case law research tools employ powerful language learning models to make associations and connections that professionals might not think of instantly. This way, lawyers can rest assured they have not left any stone unturned.

Cutting Litigation Costs

Supporters of legal automation have pointed out that AI has the potential to offer greater access to justice for litigants with lean resources. Since machine learning can help litigators speed up the due diligence process by analyzing cases efficiently, the risk litigants need to take is significantly reduced.

As such, the technology can free up financial resources to be used in otherwise overlooked matters.

Visualizing Data Trends to Predict Case Outcomes

AI-powered litigation analytics tools can play a pivotal role in helping a lawyer decide whether to file a motion. Before the advent of these tools, litigators would task junior associates and paralegals with finding all summary judgment motions rules by the judge in question to determine the probability of them being granted or denied a motion.

While the traditional approach was tedious and time-consuming, AI can aggregate data available on PACER and provide an answer in an instant. Although these analytics tools won’t predict how the judge will decide a case, they can provide insights into how the judge will likely determine a motion, influencing how they advise a client on strategy.

What Are Statistics Saying About AI in Law?

According to a 2023 report by Bloomberg Law, 42% of lawyers who participated in the survey reported using AI personally just to try it out. Only 14% had used generative AI for legal tasks, such as research and drafting correspondence.

The report showed that law firms are more actively engaged in counselling clients on generative AI than adopting it themselves. Law firms have responded to generative AI in the following ways:

• Developing internal policies on engaging external AI technologies – 36%
• Having internal talks on how to better understand the technology – 53%
• Restricting the use of generative AI – 31%
• Investing in or purchasing generative AI technology – 11%
• Advising clients on adopting AI in their business – 30%
• Encouraging the use of AI for automated legal workflows – 7%
• Developing internal AI legal tools – 7%

For law firms and in-house lawyers who have adopted the technology, there are disparities in how they use it. Here is a breakdown of the top 10 ways legal professionals are engaging generative AI, according to the Bloomberg Law report:

• Conducting legal research – 53%
• Drafting communications – 58%
• Reviewing legal documents – 34%
• Drafting legal contracts – 23%
• Summarizing legal narratives – 42%
• Redlining contracts – 11%
• Conducting due diligence – 21%
• Reviewing discovery – 15%
• Estate planning – 2%
• Preparing case filings – 8%

Ethical Risks of Adopting AI in Law Practice

While 69% of the Bloomberg Law survey respondents believe AI in legal tech can be used ethically, the survey also found that most lawyers are moderately or extremely concerned about several AI issues. Areas of concern include:

• Data and privacy;
• Deepfakes;
• Hallucinations and accuracy of AI-generated text;
• Job security;
• IP; and
• Model bias.

With such serious ethical issues, the modern-day lawyer has to balance the efficiencies of AI legal tools with compliance to ascertain that the use of this technology is compatible with their professional ethical obligations.

Industry Guidance on the Ethical Use of AI

Some states in the US have enacted or proposed AI laws and regulations. Additionally, bar associations and regulatory bodies across the US have taken significant strides to address the ethical concerns of lawyers adopting AI.

States like Florida and California have provided guidance on applying AI legal tools by focusing on how lawyers can apply current ethical rules to using such novel technologies. The California Bar’s Committee on Professional Responsibility & Conduct (COPRAC) recommended that the California Bar’s Board of Trustees adopt recommendations regarding AI in law, which includes the creation of a resource that explains how the current Rules of Professional Conduct can be applied to AI in legal tech.

According to COPRAC, it is the lawyer’s ethical responsibility to disclose the use of generative AI to the client, review all AI-generated output for accuracy and be aware of possible bias. 

Other bar associations have created task forces to study AI before implementing significant changes to ethical rules – and this shows a commitment to thoughtful advancements in integrating AI into the legal profession.

Source: Bloomberg Law

References:

2024 State of Practice Report by Bloomberg Law

For more Legal News Updates around the World, follow Us at Global Law Expert News