Ed.
note:
This
is
part
of
a
series
detailing
Gen
AI’s
impact
on
the
legal
profession
from
our
friends
at
Thomson
Reuters.
For
a
further
deep
dive
on
Gen
AI,
download
The
Business
Case
for
AI
at
Your
Law
Firm
here.
Every
significant
new
technology
brings
threats,
disruption
—
and
opportunity.
AI
arguably
brings
the
most
potential.
This
was
confirmed
in
a
Thomson
Reuters
survey
in
early
2023,
which
had
a
number
of
interesting
findings
—
particularly
that
82%
of
law
firms
and
corporate
legal
departments
said
they
clearly
saw
legal
use
cases
for
AI,
and
that
more
than
half
said
that
legal should be
using
AI.
What
are
the
clearest
use
cases
for
AI
in
legal?
There
are
numerous
ways
that
legal
professionals
could
be
putting
AI
to
work
right
now
—
using
AI
to
recapture
revenue,
help
to
reduce
cost
centers,
and
find
ways
to
add
value
to
existing
client
relationships.
In
everyday
legal
matters,
AI
can
massively
accelerate
searches
for
key
wording
or
clauses.
It
can
be
used
to
get
a
first
draft
down
—
particularly
helpful
as
it’s
always
easier
to
start
with
a
page
that
has
content
on
it,
rather
than
a
blank
one.
It
can
be
used
to
summarize
key
issues
or
causes
of
action
in
a
case.
It
can
also
help
you
with
ideas
and
make
suggestions
—
perfect
for
where
you
have
a
sense
of
what
you’re
looking
for.
How
will
AI
benefit
legal
professionals?
It
depends on
the
size
of
your
practice
and
the
seniority
of
your
attorneys.
Small
firms
or
departments
may
benefit
more
immediately,
because
they
can
get
even
more
from
their
new
associates.
Searching
documents,
legal
research,
and
writing
draft
contracts
—
typical
responsibilities
for
junior
attorneys
—
are
tasks
that
can
be
streamlined,
automated,
or
simplified
with
generative
AI.
So,
by
using
it,
new
associates
will
be
free
to
move
to
more
strategic
work
more
quickly.
This
points
to
a
clear
benefit:
solo
attorneys
and
smaller
firms
will
find
that
using
generative
AI
innovatively
enables
them
to
take
on
matters
they
couldn’t
before,
including
expanding
into
new
practice
areas,
which
can
help
grow
their
business. In
fact,
one
survey
respondent
said
that
it’s
the lack
of
volume
of
legal
talent
that
is
holding
their
firm
back
—
and
that
in
a
few
years,
with
AI
technology
fully
installed,
they
could
go
head-to-head
with
other,
bigger
firms.
At
the
other
end
of
the
spectrum,
more
senior
attorneys
in
larger
firms
or
departments
should
be
thinking
strategically
about
AI
use
cases
—
considering
what’s
a
good
fit
for
the
firm,
its
clients,
or
the
business
—
and
raising
awareness
of
the
efficiencies
that
the
tools
could
deliver
to
lower
costs
or
boost
growth.
Helping
to
implement AI
could
actually
be
an
important
career
booster,
as
it
will
help
position
the
practice
and
every
legal
professional
in
it,
for
the
future.
Reasons
to
be
cautious
Unsurprisingly
for
the
legal
profession,
there
were
plenty
of survey
respondents
who
were
more
cautious
—
24%
said
legal
should
not
be
using
AI,
and
25%
didn’t
know. For
example,
there
are
concerns
around
accuracy,
privacy,
and
confidentiality.
Generative
AI
can
easily
create
content
that
has
inaccurate
information
in
it
—
and
has
been
prone
to
“hallucinations.”
It
also
opens
up
questions
around
whether
client
disclosure
is
required,
and
to
what
extent.
Additionally,
other
broader
issues
such
as
institutional
resistance
to
understanding
of
new
technologies
—
especially
when
it
comes
to
convincing
older
attorneys
of
its
potential
value.
In
the recent
webcast,
Andrew
Fletcher
was
asked
a
question
on
the
minds
of
many:
is
generative
AI
truly
ready
for
primetime
in
legal?
“It
depends.
Are
we
looking
to
automate
something,
or
augment
something?
Those
are
two
really
different
things,
especially
when
it
comes
to
legal
professional
work,”
said
Fletcher.
“Automation
is
done
with
caution
because
you’re
focusing
on
the
outcome
being
100%
correct.
Augmentation
is
about putting
tools
in
the
hands
of
experts
who
make
decisions
based
on
what
tools
tell
them.
And
this
is
absolutely
ready
for
primetime.”
Time
and
experimentation
will
make
users
more
comfortable
with
generative
AI
tools,
along
with
in-built
data
confidentiality
and
permission
policies.
Soon
it
will
probably
be
common
use
within
legal,
just
as
online
legal
research
and
electronic
signatures
are
today.
Will
AI
take
over
legal
work?
This
is
one
question
that
often
comes
up, and
the
answer
is
no.
Legal
AI
tools
have
been
specifically
designed
to help
attorneys
do
their
work.
The
legal
profession
has
adopted
many
technologies
over
the
years
and
hasn’t
disappeared
—
on
the
whole,
the
legal
professionals
that
adapt
and
adopt
early
will
be
the
ones
to
do
things
faster,
better,
and
more
efficiently
sooner.
For
many
legal
departments,
generative
AI
is
the
technology
they’ve
been
waiting
for. These
tools
enable
legal
professionals
to
focus
on
the
more
interesting
work
of
lawyering,
while
still
having
control
and
command,
and
can
free
them
from
the
low-grade
administrative
tasks
that
no
lawyer
likes
to
do
—
and
clients
don’t
want
to
pay
for.
AI
can
actually
be
a
launchpad
to
do
more
and
do
better
for
your
customers
and
clients
—
which
is
why
it’s
such
a
perfect
partner.