Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have taken many industries by storm. In a recent McKinsey survey, 72% of respondents across all industries have adopted AI for at least one business function, up from 55% in 2023.1 This increase has been driven in large part by generative AI (gen AI), which saw usage jump from 33% in 2023 to 65% in early 2024.
The legal profession is no different; forward-thinking firms leverage AI directly, regardless of their inclinations toward the technology.
Below, we’ll break down some of the most impactful ways legal professionals are using AI, what kinds of benefits they’re seeing, and the challenges they’re contending with. Then, we’ll take a look at what the future holds for AI in the legal profession and offer tips for how to prepare for it.
AI and Generative AI Legal Use Cases
Just as it is in other industries, AI is reshaping the legal industry by giving attorneys and other professionals greater access to important data. At a base level, models can be trained to automate routine tasks. Core functions of these models, like deep learning and natural language processing (NLP), allow AI to recognize speech and patterns, powering swift and accurate transcription.
AI can also facilitate law firms’ general business functions. Marketing and outreach campaigns can be created and optimized with deeper and broader insights into audience data. Similarly, AI can be utilized to streamline day-to-day legal tasks, with models centered around litigation technology. And chatbots can make customer engagement more impactful and efficient, benefiting clients and firms.
Here are some of the most impactful ways in which firms are using AI and gen AI.
The Impact of AI on Legal Research and Discovery
The most widely-used and longest-standing use of AI in the legal profession to-date is in research and discovery. Notoriously, legal research and discovery offers many of its own challenges in attempting to pull the right digital data for a legal case. AI has transformed legal research by enabling legal professionals to analyze vast amounts of data, enhancing the efficiency of document review.
And, in more targeted uses, AI in legal research and discovery powers:
- Relevance assessment and prioritization
- Refinement of search patterns and optimized returns
- Automated data collection, filtering, processing, and review
- Summarization of relevant documents and sets of data
- Clustering of data into actionable groups and sequences
- Recognition, identification, and analysis of patterns
- Visualization and presentation of complicated data
- Identification and labeling in photos and images
With specific training, AI models can also be used to customize and optimize research results to the specific context surrounding a case, including jurisdiction, judge, opposing counsel, or jury.
Power Deep, Efficient Contract Analysis with AI
A more targeted use case, beyond finding and processing useful data, is leveraging AI to analyze documents and produce insights that power decisions. One of the more common examples is contract analysis, which AI powers by processing both a given contract or set thereof and any other available information about past deals. AI tools can quickly isolate and summarize the most important details of legal contracts, such as compensation or high-leverage clauses, and compare them against industry standards—or outliers—enabling better decision-making.
Another benefit of contextual contract analysis is the ability to predict how a given deal could play out over the future through projection. These factors can be triangulated with information on how comparable deals have played out in the recent past to create accurate risk figures.
Generative AI and Legal Document Drafting
One of the central reasons gen AI specifically has driven AI’s growth across industries is its ability to create. While other AI tools have long been able to power intake and analytical functions, the newer crop of generative AI solutions can actually automate parts of the legal writing process.
Beyond aiding research before and during the drafting process, lawyers can put AI to use in creating summaries that form the basis of their arguments. They can call upon gen AI to outline a case or fit a given set of data into a commonly used framework. AI can also be used to review and edit documents for clarity and accuracy, ensuring no facts are misrepresented, as well as stylistic elements like flow and concision for public-facing documents in which they matter.
One hyper-specific legal use case is AI-assisted deposition preparation, which reduces time spent and improves results with greater customization at scale than non-AI approaches.
Benefits of AI and Generative AI for Legal Professionals
AI and generative AI tools give lawyers—and, by extension, their clients—unparalleled access to data and data-driven insights. They allow for a greater volume, diversity, and complexity of facts to be considered, from a wider variety of approaches and more swiftly than ever before.
As such, the biggest benefits of generative AI for legal professionals are:
- Accuracy – AI gives legal teams more data on which to base their analyses and decisions, along with a fuller picture of context, such as historical precedent and counterarguments.
- Efficiency – AI automates rote tasks, such as information gathering and sorting, and it facilitates more complex ones, like analysis, making for a swifter overall legal process.
In practice, these benefits amount to more time to devote to high-level operations rather than rote tasks.
For example, one early adopter of legal AI interviewed by Forbes estimates that even generic, out-of-the-box solutions can save at least two hours per week.2 Bespoke models, developed and/or trained on the specific kinds of cases a given firm uses, can easily free up five to ten.
Challenges and Considerations of AI in Legal Settings
Despite the obvious advantages that can come with careful use of AI, it is not without concerns that need to be taken seriously. Implementing AI in legal settings presents challenges, such as ensuring that legal AI tools align with a legal firm’s intellectual property practices and confidentiality standards. Three of the biggest risks or issues, according to LexisNexis, are the need for human oversight, the risk of confidentiality, and the obligation to communicate AI use to clients.3 Oversight can be a risk because firms may not account for the resources needed to properly implement AI tools. Confidentiality and disclosure require careful use of sensitive case materials and AI tools, which in turn necessitate in-depth training and support.
The best way to avoid AI’s possible downsides is to implement it carefully, such as through compliance with emerging AI tool management frameworks like ISO 42001. LexisNexis’s analysis also raises the possibility that, given lawyers’ mandates to provide competent representation, ethical rules and best practices might eventually mandate (or at least encourage) the use of AI.
Future Trends in AI and Generative AI for Legal Professionals
Moving forward, AI and generative AI tools will continue to see their usage increase throughout every industry, and the legal industry is no different. In fact, law firms have the potential to be leaders in terms of leveraging these technologies to the utmost of their abilities and guiding others on best practices to use AI effectively while steering clear of emerging regulations.
Looking ahead, AI will automate an increasing amount of rote tasks. We can expect greater accuracy in language recognition, along with more efficiency and better overall performance in both basic business functions (e.g., chatbots) and operational ones (e.g., legal research and case preparation). However, these will be accompanied by a more robust need for screening and/or training for incoming and existing personnel. Clients, too, may need greater education and support on how AI tools can benefit them for greater buy-in and efficiency for all parties.
All firms should be contemplating when and how—not if—they’ll be implementing AI.
How to Integrate AI and Generative AI into Your Legal Practice
Legal professionals who aren’t using AI should start sooner rather than later. Firms already leveraging AI tools should look for further opportunities for optimization and additional tools they can leverage.
Here are some practical steps and best practices for integrating AI tools into legal practices:
- Assessing needs and possibilities – Analyze current legal processes and procedures to identify the biggest potential gains from AI tools and prioritize implementing those.
- Future-proofing integrations – Design and implement with current and future compatibility in mind, optimizing for accessibility across all hardware and software.
- Reviewing and adjusting – Take stock of how well legal AI tools are performing and make adjustments as necessary, including abandoning or replacing tools that aren’t working.
- Training and supporting staff – Ensure all personnel who will use or otherwise be impacted by AI are provided training and resources to use it effectively and safely.
Working with a trusted advisor to select, implement, and leverage AI tools is the best way to maximize their benefits while preventing and mitigating any potential downsides.
Implement Generative AI Effectively Today
AI generally and generative AI specifically are here to stay, both within the legal profession and in all other industries it touches. The attorneys and legal professionals best positioned to grow alongside this technology are those who are accustomed to using and getting the most out of it, both for themselves and their clients. That all starts with careful, effective implementation.
Sources:
- McKinsey & Co. The state of AI in early 2024: Gen AI adoption spikes and starts to generate value. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai
- Forbes. Early Adopters Of Gen AI In Law. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomdavenport/2024/06/01/early-adopters-of-gen-ai-in-law/
- LexisNexis. AI and Ethical Concerns for Legal Practitioners. https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/insights/legal/b/thought-leadership/posts/ai-and-ethical-concerns-for-legal-practitioners
