Introduction
President’s Review Spring 2020
I
am one month away from the end of my second year as President of MLS. I will be handing the Presidential chain of office to my successor at the AGM in April 2020. My first President’s column in September 2018 focused on challenges to the legal profession and the way we work. Fortuitously, the theme of the last Bill of my Presidency is Artificial Intelligence (AI), so it is therefore fitting that this column should also focus on the role of AI in the legal profession. Clever machines replacing workers has captivated and caused apprehension in equal measure for decades. In recent years, the pace of change and development in the world of technology has meant even the most luddite individuals can no longer ignore the advances that have been made. Some areas of law and legal services often consist of repetitive, collected information and a service which is delivered on a one to one basis that is, by its nature expensive. This has led to much debate and speculation by those who favour automation that in the near future, legal matters will mainly be dealt with by machines. This will greatly reduce costs and change the nature and structure of law firms as we know them. Under this model the systems will not only deliver automated tasks but they will self develop and improve as they perform the tasks. The question that comes to mind immediately is, will there really be such a total change in the legal profession as many are predicting? From research it seems AI in the legal sector is prominent in six main areas*: ■ Due diligence – Litigators perform due diligence with the help of AI tools to uncover background information. Contract review, legal research and electronic discovery is included here. ■ Prediction technology – An AI software generates results that forecast litigation outcome. ■ Legal analytics – Lawyers use data points from past case law, win/loss rates and a judge’s history to be used for trends and patterns. ■ Document automation – Law firms use software templates to create filled out documents based on data input. ■ Intellectual property – AI tools guide lawyers in analysing large IP portfolios and drawing insights from the content. ■ Electronic billing – Lawyers’ billable hours are computed automatically.
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A distinction has to be drawn ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ AI. The aim of hard AI is to work in the same way as the human brain, which involves being flexible, adaptive and perceptive. Soft AI reproduces defined set tasks which enables the output of soft AI to be easily measured. Currently all working forms of AI found in the legal sector are soft AI. Researchers are keen to emphasise that we are a long way from seeing ‘strong’ AI systems capable of replicating human thought. AI will not be able to deal with situations that require imagination, inspiration or value judgments. AI is being used on aspects of legal behaviour we can reproduce well enough to make the lawyer’s life easier and tasks faster to complete. Aided by technology, lawyers can be more creative and prolific. It is therefore with a great sense of satisfaction that two years after my first President’s column, I am able to maintain my position that embracing AI by law firms can only be a positive thing. ■
Alberta Tevie
President Middlesex Law Society *Edgar Alan Rayo, February 2020.
www.middlesexlawsociety.org.uk
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