Image
courtesy
of
NetDocuments.
AI
tools
have
established
themselves
as
a
mainstay
of
legal
technology,
but
determining
the
best
way
to
incorporate
generative
AI
into
a
legal
workflow
can
be
challenging
—
especially
for
firms
who
are
just
beginning
to
explore
how
to
utilize
the
technology.
NetDocuments
has
spent
the
last
year
guiding
clients
through
the
process
of
implementing
and
even
building
out
AI
tools
that
match
the
unique
needs
of
different
practice
areas
and
work
styles.
This
and
her
40
years
of
legal
experience
allows
Michelle
Spencer,
Lead
Product
Marketing
Manager
at
NetDocuments,
to
offer
recommendations
regarding
how
attorneys
can
make
the
most
of
AI
capabilities
without
experiencing
some
of
the
headaches
that
come
with
adopting
a
new
and
rapidly
evolving
tech
tool.
She
shared
several
of
those
recommendations
in
a
recent
interview
with
Above
the
Law.
A
Tech
Adoption
Like
Any
Other
While
the
tech
innovations
offered
by
generative
AI
shook
the
legal
industry
as
a
whole,
NetDocuments’
experience
with
automation
and
machine
learning
proved
to
be
a
solid
foundation
upon
which
the
organization
could
begin
building
more
complex
AI
tools
designed
specifically
for
the
legal
space.
“One
of
the
things
we
did
early
on
was
we
started
talking
to
people,
knowing
that
OpenAI’s
ChatGPT
was
going
to
be
the
biggest
and
best
thing
to
start
but
also
knowing
that
law
firms
have
much
greater
confidentiality
and
privacy
requirements
than
most
businesses,”
Spencer
says.
Due
to
those
requirements,
consumer
grade
tools
come
with
risks
that
negate
using
them
for
client
work.
Addressing
those
security
concerns,
being
able
to
develop
perfected
reusable
prompts,
and
easy
access
to
precedent
content
with
which
to
ground
AI
prompts
are
critical
parts
of
the
formula
for
success.
She
sorts
the
AI-based
tools
available
in
the
legal
tech
space
into
three
broad
categories
based
on
the
content
access
needed
and
problems
to
be
solved:
general
business
processes,
legal
research,
and
client
work
product
and
service.
Improving
meetings
or
calendaring
is
one
thing,
but
if
you’re
trying
to
do
client
work,
you
need
a
tool
suited
for
that
work.
“Our
product
sits
solidly
in
that
client
work
product
and
service
zone,
and
that’s
why
we
were
able
to
develop
a
formula
for
success
for
our
customers
leveraging
their
content
stored
in
our
platform,”
she
adds,
referring
to
NetDocuments’
PatternBuilder
MAX
AI-enabled
document
and
automation
platform.
“Just
like
how
legal
research
gives
you
access
to
legal
precedents,
your
past
work
product
gives
you
precedent
for
how
you
want
things
to
look
and
what
content
needs
to
be
extracted
to
best
leverage
that
past
work.”
What
Can
AI
Do
For
You?
Spencer
knows
that
the
huge
number
of
AI-based
tools
in
the
legal
tech
market
can
be
daunting,
especially
for
those
leading
the
charge
to
implement
AI
tools
in
their
own
organization.
She
suggests
that
rather
than
asking
what
AI
is
capable
of,
attorneys
should
start
by
asking
what
specific
tasks
or
processes
it
might
be
the
most
beneficial
to
delegate
to
an
AI
tool
in
the
context
of
their
particular
organization.
“Every
firm
does
things
slightly
differently,
and
every
jurisdiction
has
slightly
different
requirements,”
Spencer
notes,
adding
that
knowledge
of
the
wide
variety
of
needs
different
attorneys
motivated
the
NetDocuments
product
team
to
build
in
a
high
degree
of
customizability
for
the
organization’s
AI
tool
suite.
“We
not
only
provide
9
(and
counting)
out
of
the
box
apps
with
broad
functions,
but
we
also
have
the
toolkit
to
build
your
own
apps
or
to
customize
those
apps
for
a
specific
practice
area
or
for
your
jurisdiction
or
clients,”
she
says.
“Specific
clients
have
specific
ways
that
they
like
things
done,
so
you
can
tailor
any
of
our
out
of
the
box
apps
or
build
your
own
that
matches
your
specific
process,
preferences,
and
the
needs
that
you
have.”
How
To
Introduce
AI
Tools
To
Your
Legal
Work
According
to
Spencer,
laying
the
groundwork
for
bringing
AI
tools
to
an
organization
is
half
the
battle
of
implementation.
“Start
with
getting
your
safety
nets
together,
getting
people
up
to
speed
with
the
knowledge
they
need
and
getting
policies
in
place
to
protect
the
firm
—
and
the
people
from
themselves,”
she
suggests.
“What
are
the
accepted
uses?
The
prohibited
uses?
What
tools
are
okay
to
use?
What
tools
are
not
okay
to
use?
Really
giving
that
guidance
and
then
ensuring
that
when
you
do
start
testing
tools,
getting
those
guardrails
in
place
like
how
your
inputs
and
outputs
are
being
used,
where
data
is
being
stored,
the
data
and
privacy
compliance
framework.”
The
good
news
for
attorneys
who
are
just
beginning
to
dip
their
toes
into
the
world
of
AI
is
that
NetDocuments
utilized
its
close
relationship
with
Microsoft
to
build
tools
on
the
latter’s
Azure
OpenAI
platform,
which
Spencer
notes
is
well
regarded
for
its
security
practices.
“Law
firms
trust
and
depend
on
Microsoft
all
day,
every
day,
and
that’s
why
our
platforms
already
tightly
integrate
with
all
of
the
M365
products.
It
was
just
a
natural
fit
for
us
and
Microsoft,”
she
says.
Spencer
also
recommends
that
attorneys
advocating
for
AI
tools
continue
to
listen
to
those
in
their
organization
who
are
wary
of
AI
—
especially
if
those
hesitations
are
voiced
by
individuals
who
have
a
great
deal
of
experience
in
the
legal
space.
“Trust
the
people
who
have
been
in
legal
for
a
long
time
who
understand
the
industry
really
well
and
know
the
industry’s
needs,”
she
says.
“There’s
a
lot
of
rushing
to
get
this
new
thing
or
build
this
new
thing,
but
you
always
have
to
take
that
step
back
with
legal
because
there
are
so
many
potential
issues
around
ethics
and
confidentiality
and
privacy.”
One
issue
that
recently
surfaced
in
the
legal
industry
was
the
sensitive
content
review
done
by
large
language
model
providers,
including
Microsoft.
Because
much
of
the
work
done
by
lawyers
includes
sensitive
content,
NetDocuments
took
the
extra
step
of
getting
their
customer’s
content
excluded
from
this
sort
of
review.
A
Human-In-The-Loop
Remains
Essential
While
AI
technology
has
much
to
offer
the
legal
space,
Spencer
emphasizes
that
the
role
of
humans
isn’t
going
away
anytime
soon.
“That’s
something
we
will
say
all
day,
every
day:
there’s
always
going
to
need
to
be
a
human
in
the
loop.
We
would
never
recommend
that
somebody
use
any
AI
tool
on
the
market,
no
matter
how
good
it
is,
without
having
a
human
review
that
output
to
confirm
it’s
what’s
needed
in
each
specific
situation,”
she
says.
One
way
to
maintain
that
human
level
of
review,
Spencer
offers,
is
to
make
sure
new
attorneys
learn
how
to
complete
essential
processes
without
AI
assistance.
She
cites
the
example
of
an
immigration
attorney
who
built
a
custom
AI
tool
using
the
NetDocuments
toolkit
to
complete
the
relevant
forms
for
applying
for
an
O-1
visa.
“He
does
not
allow
his
associates
to
use
the
app
that
they’ve
built
until
they’ve
done
the
process
ten
times
manually
because
he
wants
them
to
be
able
to
understand
how
the
process
works
and
what
things
they
should
be
looking
for
when
they’re
reviewing
the
AI
output,”
she
explains.
Visit
NetDocuments.com
to
learn
more
and
schedule
a
demo.
To
explore
how
PatternBuilder
Max
can
be
leveraged
for
your
practice
area,
click
here.