Tom Borman, LawFuel contributing editor
There is more being written about AI and legal tech developments in the law than ever and as the pace of words continues its onslaught, the key emerging realism is that law firms are rapidly changing in the services they offer and the way they are delivered.
Legaltech developments and AI are making an increasing mark upon the profession and lawyers are adapting to a wide range of issues ranging from cybercrime to generative AI developments to provide more diverse advice on a wider range of issues.
Traditionally, law firms have been organized around specific legal departments such as litigation, corporate, family and employment or regulatory work.
But no more.
As existing legal risks become more complex and new risks emerge, many law firms are establishing specialized practices focused on areas like legal technology and generative AI, reflecting the need for legal expertise in rapidly advancing technologies.
They are also employing technology experts to lead the charge on legaltech developments.
To remain competitive, law firms must embrace new technologies and firms know that lawyers well-versed in these areas are far better able to deal with the new technology issues they are confronting with greater frequency. Firms need to embrace firm-wide adoption of AI and legaltech practices to remain competitive.
The Gen AI Issue
The widespread adoption of generative AI tools like ChatGPT in workplaces has created a whole raft of new legal challenges related to data privacy, copyright infringement, regulatory compliance, and potential discrimination. All of which help create new opportunities for law firms to develop their services and to embrace AI themselves.
Innovative approaches are being developed by companies to test AI systems for compliance, accuracy, and vulnerabilities with such developments as ‘AI cross-examination’ where AI models are questioned in the form of cross examination to test vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
Similary, there is greater work being done between lawyers and data scientists and technologists to check and examine AI models to ensure they are robust and accurate, which includes using AI to actually test the AI its
Regulatory Risk Management
The regulatory environment is becoming increasingly complex, with more regulations and more aggressive enforcement and AI-powered regulatory tools have lead to law firms also developing legaltech tools that can sort through the maze of regulatory documents.
These processes involve providing relevancy scores to documents based on the needs of clients and automating summaries, providing translations, identifying risk and exposure issues and the like.
Shifting Business Models
The integration of AI and other technologies in legal services is prompting a reevaluation of traditional billing practices for lawyers, who are moving from hourly rates to technology-based costing methods.
Lawyers are needing to demonstrate efficiency to clients through the proper use of AI tools.
A recent article in the Financial Times noted a comment from Hogan Lovells partner Sebastian Lach who noted that clients were wanting the efficiency of AI when assessing and providing services – in areas involving complex and voluminous documentation for instance – and it meant a major alteration to the business model.
“We’re seeing a huge shift in our business model. Because, if you think about it, this is also a shift from hourly rates to technology cost, which is massive, because you have to rethink the whole model,” Lach said.
The new business models emerging mean firms need to continue to increase the ongoing training of staff in AI and many firms are customizing their AI education initiatives with flexible learning pathways that accommodate individual preferences and roles, focused on the firm’s strategic objectives.
AI is forcing changes right across the legal management and practice. And it is only accelerating.
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