Will AI Replace Lawyers?

In the early 1990s, a new technology called "the Internet" was quickly becoming available. It was a giant leap and it totally revolutionized how we worked and interacted.  

Today a similar giant leap in technology is happening with artificial intelligence (AI).

AI is rapidly transforming numerous industries, including the legal field. AI-powered solutions streamline workflows, automate mundane tasks, and enhance efficiency, saving both time and resources. However, a new wave of AI is taking the world by storm - ChatGPT.

This recent and cutting-edge conversational AI model is revolutionizing how we engage with technology and each other. ChatGPT generates human-like responses to questions posed in plain language. No programming is necessary. You simply ask it a question, and it provides a detailed answer.

Or you can define a "prompt" that establishes a situation or parameters you'd like to explore. Such prompts can be simple or fairly intricate.

 An example of a simple prompt would be: 

"What are some tips for maintaining a healthy work-life balance?"

But a more intricate prompt will likely yield better results. A more detailed example of the above prompt might be:

"Examine the myriad factors that play a crucial role in attaining and sustaining a healthy work-life balance, such as effective time management techniques, establishing clear boundaries between professional and personal life, the importance of self-care practices like exercise and mindfulness, and the prioritization of personal aspirations alongside career goals. Delve into the challenges and opportunities presented by the increasing prevalence of remote work and the influence of technological advancements on contemporary work environments. Additionally, discuss the psychological and physical benefits of a balanced lifestyle. In this constantly evolving professional landscape, provide practical strategies for individuals and organizations to foster a supportive and balanced work culture."

There are whole books, online forum libraries, and social media that are springing up that are dedicated to building highly detailed prompts that result in rich and complex responses that are rapidly changing how we work.

ChatGPT stands for Chatbot Generative Pre-trained Transformer. Its foundation is the large language model (LLM), a computer algorithm that can process immense amounts of data and learn language patterns. LLMs like ChatGPT are trained on massive amounts of information, articles, Wikipedia entries, books, internet-based resources, and other input. Generative AI models can then identify patterns and structures within that data and respond to human inquiries with new and original content in a very human-like way.

Possible Uses in a Legal Practice: 

Incorporating such AI into legal technology platforms will offer numerous benefits for legal professionals in analyzing data and automating mundane tasks.

The following are some specific examples where a law firm could professionally put a ChatGPT-style AI to use to enhance their legal practice.

1. Document review and analysis: AI can assist lawyers in reviewing and analyzing large volumes of documents, such as contracts, case files, and legal briefs. It can help identify relevant information, flag inconsistencies, and summarize key points, saving time and reducing the risk of human error.

2. Legal research: ChatGPT-style AI can help lawyers conduct legal research more efficiently by quickly searching through statutes, case law, and legal articles databases to find relevant information and authorities. It would be able to proofread and correct errors faster than any human.

3. Drafting legal documents: AI can assist in drafting legal documents, such as contracts, pleadings, and memoranda, by generating template-based documents or suggesting appropriate language based on input from the lawyer.

4. Preparing for depositions and trials: AI can help lawyers prepare for depositions and trials by generating potential questions for witnesses or suggesting lines of inquiry based on the case documents and legal strategy.

5. Case strategy development: ChatGPT-style AI can help lawyers develop case strategies and identify potential arguments or defenses by analyzing case facts and relevant legal precedents.

6. Legal compliance and risk assessment: AI can assist lawyers in assessing potential legal risks and ensuring compliance with regulations by analyzing internal documents, policies, and procedures.

7. Client communication: AI can help lawyers draft and respond to client inquiries more efficiently by generating template-based responses or suggesting appropriate language based on the client's questions and concerns.

8. Time and billing management: AI can assist lawyers in tracking billable hours, managing client budgets, and generating invoices, helping to streamline the billing process.

9. Provide Insights: Artificial intelligence can also do more than make existing legal processes more efficient. Unleashed on corporate data, AI algorithms can produce insights that radically improve the way key functions are performed.

But there are problems: 

Despite its promise, a ChatGPT-style AI has limitations. It remains a work in progress, and its outputs are not always accurate or reliable. As such, it cannot readily replace human lawyers and ethical considerations must be addressed when using AI to handle legal matters. Security, client privacy, and privilege concerns must also be considered when sharing data with ChatGPT. 

While a ChatGPT-style AI offers numerous benefits for lawyers, there are other potential pitfalls and challenges associated with its use in a professional legal context:

1. Inaccurate or misleading information: ChatGPT-style AI might generate incorrect or misleading information, leading to legal advice or documentation errors. This is particularly concerning in the legal profession, where accuracy and attention to detail are crucial.

2. What is real?: AI tools pose a potential cybersecurity threat and could be used to mimic emails, voicemails, and propogate phishing scams or deepfake videos or audios.

3. Overreliance on AI: Lawyers might become overly reliant on AI, which could result in a loss of critical thinking skills and the ability to exercise professional judgment. Lawyers need to maintain their expertise and not rely solely on AI-generated output.

4. Data protection and confidentiality: Using AI to handle sensitive client information raises concerns about data protection and client confidentiality. Lawyers must ensure they use AI tools that adhere to strict privacy and data security standards.

5. Ethical concerns: The use of AI in the legal profession could raise ethical issues, such as questions about the unauthorized practice of law and the responsibility of lawyers for AI-generated work product. Legal professionals must consider these ethical implications when using AI tools.

6. Bias in AI algorithms: AI systems may inadvertently perpetuate or exacerbate existing biases, as they are trained on historical data that may contain biased information. This could lead to unfair outcomes or reinforce existing disparities.

7. Malpractice risks: If AI-generated advice or documents contain errors or omissions, lawyers could potentially face malpractice claims. It's crucial for lawyers to thoroughly review AI-generated work to ensure its accuracy and completeness.

8. Technology limitations: ChatGPT-style AI may need help with complex or highly specialized legal concepts and situations, requiring human expertise to interpret and apply the law accurately.

9. Resistance to change: The legal profession is known for its conservative culture, which might make adopting new technologies like ChatGPT-style AI challenging. Lawyers may also face resistance from colleagues, clients, or regulatory bodies when implementing AI tools.

10. Leave out your personal details: If you are using a public ChatGPT-style AI you should be concerned about privacy, so make sure to leave out personal or corporate details or don’t use these tools at all.

11. Don’t share confidential data. Most organizations have specific guidelines or restrictions about sharing confidential data. If this is the case, don’t use these tools at all.

12. Hallucinations: Sometimes, while trying to predict patterns from their vast training data, these tools can just make things up. This is a major problem. If you are using AI make sure to thoroughly fact check the output before using it.

This technology should be viewed as a tool to complement and enhance a lawyer's work rather than a replacement for human expertise and judgment. Users should exercise caution and verify output to ensure its accuracy and reliability in a legal context.

Interested legal professionals can access ChatGPT through a stand-alone chat interface or sign up for ChatGPT Plus, a subscription-based service. Additionally, many legal technology companies are incorporating AI or similar forms of ChatGPT into their software, providing innovative solutions for legal professionals.

While the specific AI models and implementations may differ, this is a hot new area for lawyers and many legal software tools are adopting conversational AI or natural language processing technologies similar to ChatGPT. Some examples of such tools in this rapidly expanding market include:

1. Microsoft 365 Copilot - is an AI assistant embedded in Microsoft Office. It is designed to assist users with generating documents, emails, presentations, and more. It appears in the sidebar as a chatbot. 

2. Kira Systems: Kira Systems leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze and extract relevant information from contracts and other legal documents, streamlining the document review process.

3. Legal Drafting with Microsoft Copilot: Working with Microsoft, Thomson Reuters has developed a contract drafting product, combining its legal products and content with Copilot for Word. This solution delivers a draft working document that professionals can use their expertise to finalize.

4. Ironclad: Offers "AI Assist," a beta tool that generates redlined versions of contracts using preapproved clauses.

5. LawGeex: LawGeex uses AI to automate contract review, comparing new contracts against predefined criteria and flagging any discrepancies or potential issues that require attention.

6. CaseText: CaseText's AI-powered research assistant, CARA, analyzes legal documents and retrieves relevant case laws, statutes, and legal articles based on the context and citations within the document.

7. Lexion: Features a Microsoft Word plug-in that assists users in drafting, negotiating, and summarizing contract terms.

8. LegalSifter: This contract review and analysis platform combines AI and human expertise to review contracts quickly, identify potential risks, and provide recommendations.

9. WestLaw Precision with Generative AI: Westlaw will be adding AI capabilites to their legal research platform - Westlaw Precision.

10. Clearbrief: This is an AI platform that can be used by judges, courts, and hundreds of law firms, including large global firms. With Clearbrief, lawyers, paralegals, and judges can select text from any document and view underlying factual evidence to prove it. 

11. Alexsei: leverages AI technology to produce research memos and improve legal research results.

12. RAVN: RAVN's AI platform is incorporated into iManage and provides information retrieval, extraction, and organization from unstructured data, enabling legal professionals to streamline document management and analysis.

Further, law firms are adapting to this changing work environment, and these new technologies will likely enhance and change how lawyers work rather than replace them. Indeed law firms are actively looking at this technology and finding ways to use it. For example, recently, the global law firm Allen & Overy announced that they have implemented their "Harvey" chatbot, which leverages ChatGPT technology for document creation, legal research, and more. 

But does it replace attorneys?

Recently, ChatGPT was recently used to take the Uniform Bar Exam, and surprisingly, it passed! Researchers involved in the testing were surprised at the quality of the responses. Not only that, but it scored fairly well on the LSAT.

Clearly, this is a technology that is moving quickly, and as intelligent technologies like ChatGPT make advancements into law firms, the question begs to be asked: can an intelligent computer do the work of an attorney?

Rather than replace an attorney, It is more likely such intelligent computing capabilities will allow attorneys to focus on more complex and higher-value works, and it will more likely replace or enhance specific tasks, not whole jobs. While such AI tools can answer simple questions, they cannot replace the accuracy and experience of a human lawyer.

Using a ChatBot:

ChatGPT, Bing and Bard are currently among the most popular A.I. chatbots. Though they are easy to use asking questions can sometimes produce unhelpful, vague, or even incorrect answers. There’s an art to framing your queries in order to generate the most helpful answers.

Here some tips to get started:

• Act as if: Start your prompt by asking the Chatbot to emulate an expert. For example, typing “Act as if you are an expert on metallurgy” will guide the Chatbot to model itself as someone in that profession. It doesn’t actually understand what it means to be an expert, but it helps the Chatbot to draw on specific patterns within its training data and provide a better more tailored response.

• It’s an Intern: Treat the Chatbot as if it were an intern and tell it what it got wrong so it can learn to provide a correct answer.

• Be detailed and be specific: A weak prompt will generate a weak and generic response. The more specific and detailed questions you use, the better the results will be.

• Don’t give up: Be patient and treat your session less like a Google search and more like a conversation that requires time, discussion, and guidance and you will get better results.

Where is this all going?

While AI tools such as ChatGPT can be useful time-saving tools for drafting legal documents or letters, they are not (yet) reliable enough to replace human judgment. A lawyer who relies on this technology to summarize 400 pages of case law may risk missing important details or inadvertently make mistakes. But that’s now. This technology will mature, and increasingly it will be more reliable and less risky.

The integration of AI tools like ChatGPT into legal practices has the potential to reshape the industry. As more legal technology companies adopt ChatGPT and similar AI tools, the benefits and time-saving potential for legal professionals will be immense. However, the technology should be used responsibly, clearly understanding its limitations and the need to protect clients' interests.

A Private Domain AI

As this technology matures, expect to see the rise of private AI Chatbots. Such tools would not be publicly available and would be solely focused on private or confidential data. This would solve the problem of privacy and confidentiality that this technology currently has.

AI as a Team Player

So will AI replace lawyers? The answer is no, AI technologies will enhance and change how lawyers work rather than replace them. A telling example of this from the past: in 1997, Chess Grand Master Gary Kasparov was beaten by IBM’s Deep Blue computer. It was harkened as the death knell for chess grandmasters. That did not happen. Indeed, today's chess teams are comprised of both intelligent computers and humans working together to play competitive chess. Similar to this situation, lawyers will find benefits in adapting and working with these new technologies. 

We are at the beginning of a new age of artificial intelligence. AI is being successfully applied to many areas of manufacturing, banking, medical, investing, and legal work, and it will only continue to grow.

This technology is evolving at an exponential pace, and the direction is obvious and clear – it is not a question of whether our technology will be more intelligent, but how fast can we adapt?