Delivering the Law: The impact of AI on legal services

We live in exciting times!

Whether you’ve been in the legal profession for many years, or are fairly new to the practice of law, you will notice that there is a change coming on the horizon…and it’s got everyone talking!

So how can generative AI tools speed up your day-to-day efficiency? What research do you need to do before planning their implementation? And what will be the impact on existing LegalTech?

A recent survey completed by LexisNexis of 1,200 legal professionals revealed that nearly two thirds (62%) of lawyers are already using generative AI tools to improve their day to day workflow. This is being applied in legal drafting, document proofreading, and research. 

Let’s start by identifying some of the challenges facing the legal sector - which can certainly be improved with the adoption of generative AI.

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Why implementing generative AI should be a priority for your legal practice 

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In the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of companies working in each and every sector have turned their attention to improving one thing above all else - time efficiency. 

Never before has the world been so concerned about the amount of time our people are spending commuting, at their desk and with their families. With such a focus on preserving and protecting our people from time waste, stress, and burnout, we’ve begun to question our working processes. 

In the legal profession, things are no different.

In the same survey from LexisNexis, it was reported that:

- 91% felt that the need to save time on their process of documentation drafting was of particular importance.

- 90% said that they wanted to improve the efficiency of their research.

- 73% reported a desire to improve the quality of both internal and external communications using AI tools.

With such a high percentage of legal services businesses planning to, or already starting to use generative AI tools across drafting, research and comms, it’s time to weigh up whether or not the revolution should be arriving at your practice before the end of 2024.

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What should you consider before adopting AI tech?

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Perhaps the most crucial place to start is the careful and thoughtful analysis of day to day operations. Think about where your  business needs the most help. It then makes sense to understand how the available AI tools are able to assist with relieving your team of those particular challenges. After all, implementing the addition of a tool that doesn’t solve an immediate or relevant need would be a waste of time and resources.

Great! You’re saving time with drafting and reviewing tasks with Definely, so how else can you speed up the process of delivery within your practice?

At Definely, we’re keen on keeping things short, sweet, and as efficient as possible. We’re big believers in using AI tools to save time, but we also recognise that time saved is of no benefit when the output requires additional edits and drafts. Legal professionals need to be sure that their “contract copilot” is just as fastidious about precision as they are. 

So what are the pros and cons of using an AI proofreader as an example?

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Let’s talk pros

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Again, while the main focus of any tool is to improve efficiency and save time, you need to make sure that the product you’re using is both fit for purpose and delivers on that crucial promise. Our proofreader, as an example, does just that. 

The addition of AI-powered precision enables you to produce documents that are impressive in spelling and grammar, as well as being specifically programmed to handle the format and idiosyncrasies of legal documentation. You can be sure that the resulting documents are accurate and ready for your clients to review. In addition, it fixes any inconsistencies that might escape even the most carefully trained eye and flags terms used in the document that require an accompanying definition. 

By delivering such well built documents with just one click, professionals can buy back time to spend developing more meaningful relationships with their clients, and turning their focus to other legal matters. 

AI tools as a whole can also enable lawyers to make smarter decisions more quickly, increase the overall productivity of each department, strengthen talent retention, and significantly reduce the working hours of each individual. For example, Definely Vault allows you to conduct a contextual search of your contract repository to find a relevant clause or provision, without leaving what you’re working on.

When you become aware of your specific need and consider the pros of implementation, it can be easy to overlook the various cons associated with using AI and GenAI tools. So before you race ahead to sign yourself up, let’s look at the other side of the coin.

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What else should you take into account?

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The uptake of AI and GenAI tools within the legal profession has reportedly been slower than other sectors. 

Why is that an emerging trend?

A big obstacle for law firms today is the question of inaccurate or nonsensical documentation generated by GenAI software, otherwise known as “hallucinations”. We also need to mention other concerns such as data hygiene and security. In addition, it’s important to address privacy when it comes to the data being input into generative AI tools. 

We must also consider disillusionment. A Bain & Company survey demonstrates GenAI software falling short of expectations — with one of the main reasons being choosing low quality vendors with inaccurate data. How the models that underpin GenAI products are trained is essential. GenAI models trained on inaccurate or incomplete data often fail to meet performance expectations. This can lead to slower processing times, higher error rates, and overall inefficiency, which frustrates users and diminishes trust in the technology.  

While generic content or content that is not specific to each individual client could be safely input into these tools, it’s worth recognising that there is an increasing risk of a data breach. Clients will not want their commercially sensitive or personal data to be used in training publicly available AI software. Finally, we need to be considerate of existing data or “selection” bias. As the data being input is often generated by human opinions and collected research specifically and published to prove a particular outcome, we have to consider that the output may also reflect this “bias”.

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Where do you go from here?

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With so much information, it’s likely that you have a lot of reading ahead! So what can we do to help? 

Did you know that LegalTech is our speciality? 

We provide a complementary software suite that takes care of your legal documentation. Create, draft, proof, and review with our simple to use software which operates as a plugin directly to your existing MS Word workflow. 

What’s more, there’s no need for IT to get involved with complex setups or lengthy demos, so you can get to work on saving yourself time for the things that really matter. 

Get in touch with our team today; we’d love to hear from you.