Not so long ago, Artificial Intelligence was used only in STEM industries and science fiction.
While the perception of AI as a super-smart robot taking over the world is slowly fading, there is still a strong feeling that AI is not affecting certain industries.
Professions that heavily rely on natural language and human analysis are often the first to reject AI’s merits. They cite innate human judgment and intuition as an irreplaceable requirement.
However, Artificial Intelligence has already transformed many sectors. Tech experts agree that the technology will continue its major impact on the daily work of legal professionals and transform the legal sector in an exponential way.
Madeline Dunn, a legal journalist, predicted earlier this year that AI would be one the main instigators for change in the UK’s law firms over the next five-years.
She wrote an article for legaljournal.com stating that “UK law firms are starting to embrace evolving technologies to improve efficiency.” AI will play an important role in the future of law, whether it’s predictive coding software to speed up e-disclosure, tools like Lex Machina for legal research, or Uhura AI for document assembly.
“It will also participate in the development of and roll-out online dispute resolution (ODR). iCan Systems was the first company to use a robot mediator to resolve a dispute in 2019. This will be a growing trend in small financial claims. According to the Law Society, 67,000 legal jobs could be replaced by automation by 2038. This will revolutionize legal processes.
AI is becoming a more common tool, from streamlining due diligence to predicting court cases’ outcome, to streamlining due diligence. We will be exploring a few ways that AI is being used to the advantage of the industry.
Due Diligence
Lawyers have a primary responsibility to verify facts and figures in order to fully assess a client’s legal situation. This diligence is essential to inform clients in a rational manner about their options and possible legal actions, while also being aware of the risks.
Although intensive due diligence can yield long-term shareholder returns and is likely to be profitable, it can also be time-consuming, laborious, and full of human error. There are many factors that increase the chance of making mistakes, such as late nights, heavy workloads, and environmental distractions. Last-minute changes to deal structure may also cause solicitors to neglect due diligence.
An increasing number of law firms are turning towards AI to help them combat this problem. There are hundreds upon hundreds of programs that can accurately verify due diligence contracts. These programs can highlight, retrieve, and probe for relevant information to examine.
Software can be programmed so that it automatically shares information with other team members, responds to compliance and risk management requirements, and populates contract management systems with the retrieved data.
eBrevia, a tech company, is using AI to streamline document review processes. It uses “natural language processing” as well as “machine learning” in order to retrieve textual information from legal documents and contracts. The software claims to reduce manual review time by as much as 90% and eliminate human errors that are easy to miss.
Helen Bradley, an AI researcher, says that this type of tool not only improves law firms’ client relations but also attracts young and newly qualified solicitors.
As part of a panel discussion on legal AI, she stated: “Law firms need to be using it these day, not only because clients demand it, but also to hire high-quality talent. Junior lawyers don’t like to spend their time in data rooms doing non-legal tasks.
We want our juniors to be t