Of all modern professions today, perhaps none is more text dependent than lawyers, paralegals, and other roles in the legal community. In light of the rapid progression of Large Language Models (LLMs) in 2023, we believe AI is well positioned to meaningfully impact the way lawyers complete their everyday tasks. With its ability to analyze vast amounts of data, create copy for legal documents, and even simply draft emails, AI is revolutionizing the way legal departments can operate.
In fact, when announcing their latest version of GPT in March 2023, OpenAI announced that their AI was able to pass a simulated Bar exam with a score around the top 10% of test takers.
As the test results above show, AI is ideal for use cases that require explicit computation (quantitative reasoning) or for comprehension of large quantities of text (verbal reasoning/reading). However, it lags behind in creative or persuasive writing without human review. We believe that AI serves as an excellent assistant to all members of the legal profession who may need a headstart on starting drafts of various documents. Below are some usecases where AI shines today, particularly for legal departments/in-house legal teams.
Enhanced Legal Research
One of the primary functions of the legal department is extensive legal research. Traditionally, this process involved sifting through numerous documents and precedents, which could be time-consuming and prone to human error. AI-powered tools now provide legal professionals with advanced search capabilities, enabling them to retrieve relevant case law, statutes, and regulations within seconds.
While powerful large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT typically rely on public domain information, users can now also integrate their own internal documentation, so that the LLM can learn and pull from existing work. Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms enable AI systems to understand complex legal language and extract pertinent information, drastically reducing research time and increasing accuracy.
Streamlined Document Review
AI-driven technologies, such as machine learning algorithms, have the ability to analyze and classify vast amounts of legal documents with remarkable speed and accuracy. Typically, this type of work was reserved for paralegals and other legal helpers, but now paralegals can utilize AI to increase their own efficiency and productivity. In a world where labor shortages are becoming increasingly common, any efforts to boost productivity are needed and welcomed.
By automating the document review process, legal professionals can focus on higher-value tasks, such as case strategy and client counseling. AI-powered systems can identify relevant information, flag potential risks, and even predict the outcome of a case based on historical data, empowering lawyers to make more informed decisions.
Contract Management
Managing contracts is a critical aspect of legal operations, but it often involves handling a large volume of documents, tracking important dates, and ensuring compliance. AI-powered contract management systems can automate these processes, reducing the risk of oversight and improving efficiency.
AI algorithms can extract key terms, identify potential risks, and generate customized reports. These systems can also provide critical insights into contract negotiation strategies based on historical data, enabling legal professionals to negotiate better terms and reduce legal risks for their organizations.
Companies like Docusign helped usher in the first wave of contract digitization with the innovation of easy-to-use, trusted document signing. Future leaders in this space will continue this trend of simplifying error-prone, human-based work with greater contract management as a service capabilities.
Meeting Management
Most lawyers’ work days consist of a barrage of meetings with little time to follow-through on workstreams. These meetings are pivotal places where lawyers can get to know their clients and receive the necessary information needed to help make informed legal decisions.
Already, leading AI tools like Xembly are helping lawyers to schedule meetings, take notes, and follow through on action items. By simply requesting a Summary for a given meetings, lawyers are able to benefit from an AI-generated condensed written Summary, delegated Action Items, a transcript, and a full video recording that can be referenced at any given time. Collectively, each Summary gives lawyers greater to offer more proactive counsel in meetings with less need to focus on information retention for the future.
Legal Analytics
AI is revolutionizing legal analytics, enabling legal departments to gain valuable insights from vast amounts of data. As most lawyers are not typically trained in rigorous data analysis, these capabilities become even more useful as AI can work alongside lawyers to complement one another’s skillset.
By leveraging machine learning algorithms, AI can analyze patterns, identify trends, and predict outcomes with a high degree of accuracy. Legal professionals can utilize these insights to assess the viability of a case, estimate potential damages, and make data-driven decisions. AI can also assist in predicting litigation outcomes, helping legal teams strategize and allocate resources more effectively. Simply knowing when to settle and when to fight a case can be extremely important for large corporations who deal with countless lawsuits on an annual basis.
Improved Compliance and Risk Management
Compliance and risk management are critical areas in the legal domain, where accuracy and precision are paramount. An AI-enabled monitoring server can help automate compliance monitoring by analyzing large volumes of data for potential violations, ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements. Proactive enforcement of compliance policies, rather than reactive enforcement that only responds to a regulatory warning or customer inquiry, can help earn trust with all kinds of stakeholders and help ensure systems are better protected against internal and external threats.
Enhanced Client Services
AI technology is not only transforming internal legal operations but also enhancing client services. Chatbots and virtual assistants powered by AI can provide instant responses to clients' queries, offer legal guidance, and streamline the intake process. These types of capabilities are already common in the SaaS world where tools like Intercom and Drift have popularized chatbots for customer support.
Replicating this type of success with legal queries will enable legal teams to improve client or employee satisfaction by providing timely and accurate information, while also reducing the workload on legal professionals.
The integration of AI into the legal department is reshaping the legal landscape, enabling legal professionals to work more efficiently, make data-driven decisions, and focus on tasks that require their expertise.
For legal teams seeking to get ahead of the curve, Xembly is positioned to provide immediate value with general support of a lawyer’s everyday working needs in areas like scheduling, note taking, priority management, and email drafting. Get started today at xembly.com.
