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*Summary: AI is revolutionizing the legal industry by automating tasks like document preparation and legal research, allowing lawyers to be more efficient, focus on more strategic work, and provide maximally informed services. This not only improves efficiency but should also result in cost savings for clients by the time that is saved. However, while AI technology is powerful, it’s not foolproof. Over-reliance can lead to inaccuracies and poor judgment, highlighting the need for a skilled attorney who can effectively integrate AI with extensive experience. Your next legal decision shouldn’t be left solely to algorithms or outmoded lawyering; it requires a nuanced approach combining both technological and seasoned human intelligence.*

What many view as the Industrial Revolution of the 21^st century – artificial intelligence – is not sparing the legal industry. AI is already disrupting the traditional frameworks of legal practice, from the highest levels of litigation and transactional work product to more mundane but time-consuming activities such as correspondence, discovery and due diligence, contract preparation and document management.  Yet, the great promise of AI may also come at a great price. As we stand on this precipice, understanding the benefits and risks inherent to this technological frontier is essential for lawyers and clients alike.

The Promises: Submarining vs. Snorkeling. The law is like a vast ocean. It is full of complex rules and regulations, and it can be difficult to navigate. AI is like a powerful submarine that can help lawyers explore this ocean more efficiently. Without AI, lawyers would have to swim, snorkel and scuba through the ocean, manually searching for information and generating work product. This is often a slow and tedious process. AI can automate many of these tasks, allowing lawyers to focus on more strategic work. For example, AI can be used to undertake legal research instantaneously, draft documents and analyze large datasets, identifying patterns and trends that are difficult to spot manually. This can save lawyers and clients a significant amount of time and money. It can also help lawyers improve the quality of their work, enable them to focus on more strategic tasks and avoid making mistakes, and thereby provide higher quality work product and results to clients at a lower cost.

For Lawyers: Transcending the Mundane. AI technologies harness natural language processing and machine learning to revolutionize labor-intensive tasks, such as drafting correspondence and aspects of contracts, reviewing documents, undertaking and reviewing discovery and even drafting legal briefs. Imagine the human effort it takes to sift through thousands of pages of information to locate a crucial piece of evidence or a crucial piece of information determining the value of a transaction.  With AI, this becomes a task of mere hours, not days or weeks. Imagine the knowledge and prowess required to draft a litigation brief which applies complex legal authorities to detailed facts. By automating such tasks to an extent and at some point perhaps entirely, AI can maximize the ability of lawyers to do what they do best: strategize and apply their experience and judgment to advocate, counsel and negotiate for their clients.

For Clients: Time and Cost Efficiency.  As a submarine directed by human captains, AI can navigate the ocean of law and legal challenges with lightning speed and quality results.  It is a powerful tool that can save lawyers time and effort so that clients obtain services and work faster at comparatively lower costs, especially for clients paying their lawyers on an hourly fee basis.  In short, AI is a valuable asset that can help lawyers generate higher quality work faster and achieve results more economically for clients.

The Imperative for AI-Savvy Counsel: Virtuoso Meets Orchestra. Picture a virtuoso musician; impressive on their own, but transformative when paired with an orchestra. The modern lawyer is that musician, and AI is the orchestra. Their ability to integrate, harmonize, and orchestrate will be the measure of their effectiveness in a landscape teetering between tradition and innovation.  Thus, choosing the right legal counsel goes beyond expertise and reputation; it should encompass technological acumen. A lawyer empowered by AI becomes a formidable asset, akin to a master chess player with a supercomputer, capable of leveraging AI’s power with human discernment.  The lawyer versed in AI and capable of applying its power in the practice of law is the virtuoso, and AI is the orchestra; the ability to harmonize between the two is what will distinguish exceptional services from more traditional but average work.

Navigating the Depth Charges: Understanding the Limitations of AI in the Law

Illusion of Infallibility. While AI may streamline operations, it is not foolproof. In healthcare, AI misdiagnoses or treatment can lead to catastrophic outcomes. Translate that into legal terms – missing a crucial contract clause or concept of law could lead to less competent and potentially irreversible results.  Thus, over-reliance on AI’s supposed ‘infallibility’ can be perilous.  One recent example comes to mind: I was curious about an area of law with which I was not familiar and sought an answer using a particular AI application.  The AI engine provided me with an answer to my question – the answer that the AI “knew” I was hoping to hear and, when I asked for authorities to support the answer, the AI engine provided me with case law that never existed in reality even though the form and substance of the legal citation was so precise and true to form (though not substance) as to appear a legitimate authority.  However, when I tried to find the court decision that the AI had cited, it did not actually exist.  This is called an AI hallucination – a confident response that is completely fabricated.  When I confronted the AI engine with its mistake, it acknowledged that I was correct, admitted that no such case existed, and then apologized for its error, essentially saying it was just a language model trying to provide me with the information I was seeking.  Had I not had the insight and experience to ascertain if the case provided was legitimate, I might have made the terrible mistake that less knowledgeable lawyers recently made, for which they were sanctioned.

The Burden of Misplaced Confidence.  The promise of swift and efficient resolutions may lure lawyers and clients alike into putting undue trust in AI-driven legal services. Picture a layperson blindly following a GPS into a dead-end; that’s the risk lawyers and clients take when they forsake human expertise for AI’s algorithmic judgment, potentially overlooking legal nuances that could be detrimental to their cases.

The Balanced Way Forward: Equilibrium Through Integration.  Striking a balance between AI’s efficiencies and human expertise requires an integrated approach. Like a master painter blends colors to create a masterpiece, the astute lawyer employs both machine-generated data and experienced human judgment to create a cohesive legal strategy and higher quality work product. Utilize AI for initial drafts and data-crunching but let experienced human talent shine at negotiation tables and in courtrooms.

Your Next Legal Strategy Could Be Your Most Formidable Asset or Your Achilles Heel

As we navigate this thrilling yet fraught intersection of law and technology, the winners will be those who learn to balance human vs. technological scales wisely.  It’s a nuanced play between human and machine, where neither should upstage the other. If you find this landscape as compelling as it is challenging, I invite you to engage further in this dialogue. Your next strategic decision in legal matters is too critical to be left to chance, a mere algorithm or poor legal judgment and/or lack of experience. Choose wisely.

Disclosure: This blog post was written with substantial assistance from the generative AI engine known as ChatGPT4.  In the past, a piece like this would have taken me the better part of a day or longer to write. Using ChatGPT4, I accomplished my goal of completing this blog post in approximately ninety minutes, including the time to program the AI engine to mimic my experience, tone and goals.  This is the promise AI holds for attorneys and clients alike.  But pitfalls loom – an inexperienced attorney can misuse AI and generate work that contains errors and risks great loss for attorneys and clients alike.  Like any powerful piece of technology, it is most effectively deployed by an intelligent, experienced and discerning attorney.