By: Joslyeen Mitri
Did I spend 3 grueling years in law school, just for a computer program to rob me of a job? The answer: no, but they may be your coworker.
Artificial intelligence has not only assisted the legal profession, it saved it. In the early 2000s, hopeful graduates entered the legal world with eyes wide open, but much to their surprise, most of their tasks included copying and pasting, document summarizing, and assembling document binders. Thus, artificial intelligence was born out of necessity, not only to improve the quality of life for attorneys but also to satisfy the monetary pressures of clients.
In 1956, John McCarthy first coined the term artificial intelligence as “the ability of machines to perceive, to reason, to plant, to act, and more the ability of a machine to learn”. There are two types of artificial intelligence—hard and soft. Hard artificial intelligence is focused on having machines think like humans, while soft artificial intelligence is focused on machines being able to do work that traditionally could only be completed by humans. The main difference between hard and soft artificial intelligence is that soft artificial intelligence doesn’t necessarily involve machines thinking like humans. Over time, as expectations of artificial intelligence were lowered and research efforts became narrowly tailored, a shift towards ‘soft’ artificial intelligence applications took place, focusing on providing intelligent tools and problem-solving resources to humans.
The purpose of technology has been to aid humans in automating time-consuming labor in an effort to increase efficiency. In an attorney’s day-to-day tasks, they spend an immense amount of time skimming through hundreds of books, judgments, and cases. Artificial intelligence relieves lawyers of the drudge work in order to save them billable hours and mindless effort, therefore allowing them to focus on the true purpose of their job. In addition to increasing the efficiency of attorneys, data analytics are also used to track legal insights of judges. This technology can be used to rapidly sift through hundreds of court dockets, motions, and any publicly available record in a matter of minutes. Moreover, the technology can compile a vast number of variables including how long a claim was in court, types of motions passed, precedents relied on by judges, and consequently provide recommendations and estimates. Data analytics can also determine how long a case will take, the likelihood of a win, and determine which claims are less likely to win in court in front of a particular judge. These advancements in technology could give law firms an advantage over competitors who solely rely on legal research. Likewise, as legal services become more affordable with the use of artificial intelligence, attorneys could offer services to a wider array of clients who may otherwise not be able to afford an attorney.
In almost every industry, billion-dollar businesses have been built in the past two decades to enhance productivity and workflows. A few examples include Hubspot (marketing), Workday (finance), NetSuite (accounting), and LinkedIn (talent). The glaring exception has always been the legal industry, seeing little innovation in recent years. “It may even be considered legal malpractice not to use artificial intelligence one day, it would be analogous to a lawyer in the late twentieth century still doing everything by hand when this person could use a computer”, said Tom Girardi, renowned civil litigator. By integrating artificial intelligence into the legal industry, it will almost guarantee that the legal space achieves the corresponding efficiencies that technology delivers to other industries.
Although Elon Musk warns that artificial intelligence is a bigger threat to humanity than nuclear weapons, an attorney’s profession will never be entirely automated. Artificial intelligence serves a need in the legal community by automating a number of high-volume, recurring tasks that take attorneys’ focus away from meaningful work. With a tool as powerful as artificial intelligence, attorneys remain competitive in the market by possessing an increasing number of skills that will change law firms entirely. As the technology becomes more prevalent, law firms must begin building their own engineering departments to fully take advantage of the increased pace this technology provides.
While artificial intelligence has saved the morale of attorneys, a superfluous number of compiled data could present an implicit bias and force attorneys to rely too heavily on suggestions by the technology. Tasks like advising clients, writing briefs, negotiating deals, and appearing in court were beyond the reach of the program. Technology has yet to replicate the unique skills an attorney possesses, such as their advocacy expertise, negotiation skills, and ability to structure complex deals. Law firms are notoriously slow in adopting new technologies. Traditional law firm business models are based on first-year associates racking up billable hours doing M&A contract review and would, therefore, be doomed by the advent of artificial intelligence.
Law firms and legal professionals will soon become obligated to integrate artificial intelligence in order to remain relevant and able to compete in the trade. The capabilities of using artificial intelligence throughout the legal industry are endless. As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, it will unlock optimal opportunities to transform and revitalize the field of law.
Student Bio: Joslyeen Mitri is a second-year law student at Suffolk University Law School and a Staff Member of the Journal of High Technology Law. Prior to law school, Joslyeen received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Corporate Finance and Accounting from Bentley University.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHTL or Suffolk University Law School.
