Legal departments are evolving from being protectors of the law to being engines of economic growth. The leadership of legal functions must adapt to this change by embracing precise data and concentrating on lowering risk and expenses while striking a balance between reward and delivery. Large legal firms and small-to-midsize law offices will turn to Gen AI technology to automate monotonous labor, freeing up attorneys to focus on key projects as caseloads remain low due to the pandemic.
Legal research, billing, and document drafting are just a few of the legal tasks that artificial intelligence (AI) can automate. Lawyers may increase productivity, enhance client service, and prioritize assignments with the aid of Gen AI. Corporate legal departments may decide to hire firms based on performance and competitive pricing models, and AI-enabled tools may encourage them to handle more work in-house. This will probably reduce the billable hour even more.
Many of the procedures used by legal departments will be automated, which will lower risk and increase productivity. Legal teams will have more time to concentrate on more significant projects if they adopt automation. Nonetheless, there will always be a need for attorneys to perform the four fundamental human abilities that AI is unable to: judgment, empathy, creativity, and adaptation. This will enhance and add to AI solutions. Building these skills should be the main goal of legal departments.
Legal departments must lead departmental performance metrics that include income production, risk and expense reduction, and partnership. They must have access to data analytics in order to evaluate their internal procedures as well as the performance of their personnel and contracts. Deal completion times can be reduced by using online tools for detailed contract examination. This revolutionary technique is made possible by the fact that GenAI can evaluate and synthesize large volumes of texts in addition to automating repetitive operations.
A new generation of legal clients will expect access to the same tools and services that have contributed to the success of business-to-consumer (B2C) enterprises as legal service providers embrace the user-centric client experience pioneered in that market. The amount of time it takes lawyers to do high-value tasks like legal research and e-discovery is already significantly decreasing because of generative AI. Many of the documents that are submitted to a court, including contracts and motions, can now be drafted by attorneys.
Pyramidal hierarchies in legal functions will probably flatten as automation techniques are used more frequently and self-service choices are offered more frequently. Leaner teams will be able to concentrate on client communication and strategic thinking as a result. Judgement, persuasion, and strategic decision-making are necessary for legal knowledge. But a lot of repetitive work may be mechanized and carried out by far more precise software than by humans.
Gen AI is redefining customer interactions and pricing structures in the legal sector, among other things. However, a balance between AI and human operations as well as safe IT infrastructure are required because of the hazards of system failures and cyberattacks. A pragmatic, industry-specific professional who can offer more than simply legal guidance is what in-house lawyers are searching for. This is a reflection of the growing need for open, customized, and on-demand services.
Because the legal industry processes a lot of data, robots are the ideal answer. Massive amounts of unstructured data can be sorted, searched for, and formatted by software robots. Software robots, for instance, can locate and compile pertinent information from a vast number of documents into organized forms in order to prepare for e-discovery. Time is saved, and accuracy is increased. It also enables lawyers to concentrate on client care and interpersonal communication.
Machine learning is used in legal analytics to predict legal outcomes and assist legal teams in streamlining their decision-making procedures. It also assists law firms and internal departments in cutting costs by pinpointing inefficiencies, projecting case lengths, and more precisely estimating legal expenditures. Legal teams track attorney performance using legal analytics as well, which includes billing rates and time tracking. This enables managers to take action to enhance performance by providing them with unmatched knowledge about the productivity of their staff members.
Work that is repetitive and rule-based in many legal fields is ready for automation. Automating legal tasks that are customized or call for discretion is not an option. Use legal automation to free up your staff so they can concentrate on high-value, high-impact tasks. Start drafting hundreds or even thousands of NDAs annually using Juro in the time it takes to complete one by hand.