How Your Law Firm can Take Advantage of Artificial Intelligence

November 27, 2018

Artificial intelligence, commonly referred to as AI, has altered nearly every aspect of human life.  AI even has the potential to improve your law firm in a number of ways yet the average attorney is understandably unaware of how to implement it.  Though AI will never completely replace attorneys, it can dramatically enhance productivity at your law firm.  Here’s how to make the most of AI.

 

 

AI in the Context of Law

 

AI liberates attorneys to focus on highly complex legal work as well as court appearances and client interactions.  After all, there is no sense having attorneys or paralegals perform repetitive activities when they can be automated.  AI even has the potential to handle the boring process of “boilerplate” in legal contracts.  This is possible as the majority of law is centered on precedent and court/judge/opposing counsel predictability.  There is no sense investing your valuable time completing such processes and repetitive tasks when AI can streamline them with comparable ease.

 

In the context of business law, AI has proven to be quite the effective guide for gauging the specific provisions a contract should include when a fully customized version is necessary.  AI also has the potential to provide alert notifications ahead of important contract dates such as renewals, options, etc.  Such notifications really do make it that much easier to manage agreements with ease.  However, the primary goal is to pinpoint risks and issues with contracts and how they should be revised so clients are not negatively impacted.  AI also helps attorneys and business professionals draft contracts without specific clauses, based on each idiosyncratic situation.  This automation liberates attorneys to zero in on essential points pertinent to legal documents and unique to each individual situation. AI ultimately makes it easier to work out problems with as few issues as possible in a timely manner.

 

AI software designed for attorneys is built to ensure legal terms are consistent while also pinpointing variations with caveats to legal practitioners.  As an example, if a party desires a legal term referenced in a certain manner throughout the entirety of a contract, this implementation must prove accurate and timely.  AI will ensure there is consistency across the entirety of your legal contracts in the exact manner you and your clients desire.

 

 

AI can Reduce Costs

 

AI has the potentially to significantly decrease litigation costs.  To be specific, the prudent use of electronic discovery during legal cases can greatly reduce billable hours to collect essential facts, establish a fact pattern and set a time frame.  As an example, consider the time it takes attorneys to proof documents.  It would be much quicker to run the document through AI software.  This time conservation ultimately saves your law firm money.  Spend for AI programs and it will not be long until this technology pays for itself through cost reductions and improved efficiency.