Lawyering In The AI Era – A Hit Or Miss?

Despite all the buzz created today around the fusion between artificial intelligence (AI) and the legal sector, the truth is that the seniority of this fusion often slips many people’s minds. A lecturer at Columbia Law School asserts that there is nothing new under the sun about the combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and law, pointing out that machine learning (ML) has been used in court proceedings since 1980 – 30 years after its emergence.

Fast forward, and some legal firms are using Harvey, an AI-powered tool that assists legal professionals in carrying out legal research and crafting legal documents. AI can improve a couple more areas, such as research for copyright infringements, trademarks, and patents, to name a few. Clearly, it’s safe to say that these aren’t replacing human legal lawyers, since complex processes such as personal injury claims require the experience and skill of a seasoned legal expert to prove negligence. But, as humans advance alongside technology’s evolution and traction, it’s equally pertinent to recognize that AI will help improve areas in this area of law and beyond, helping streamline time-consuming tasks like the navigation of the case and assisting participants in puzzling out the burdensome red tape inherent to this sector.

Introduction to AI and law

People have difficulty coming to grips with the irrelevant fear that AI will replace human know-how in legal law, render legal careers obsolete, and end legal studies for their vanishment of use. Faculty titles and students are already up there working to grab the nettle of all the implications of AI in the legal system, the consequent advantages, and the inevitable risks.

Evidently, such a technology that disrupts all industries and is already forcing people to upskill in order to remain relevant in the workforce will impact the legal sector. Yet, and as you’ll get to learn, it’s often not in the unsubstantial ways that pessimistic individuals and rookies believe it will.

The application of AI to law

To understand how AI, which is already entrenched within our society, can interfere with AI careers and the law governing our daily lives, it’s essential to first gain some sense of its application in this vast area of knowledge. As stated before, AI can search for different previous cases, penalties for infringements, relevant precedents, and more types of information within already-indexed data. It can monitor vast volumes of statutes and case law to spot helpful instances, scan databases to procure info valuable to claims or cases, assist due diligence by finding needed documents, and facilitate the establishment of the litigation liability and the lawsuit’s valuation.

Shortly, AI is approaching its new role as a valuable lawyer ally. Looking at how ChatGPT4 scored 298 out of 400 in a simulation bar exam last year, it’s safe to say that the robot’s prowess exceeds expectations. This colossal achievement has many notes on how one should prepare to pass these tests. Test takers are expected to either go hard or go home when learning to ace these tests, as OpenAI’s chatbot model is inevitably making many feel a sense of competition in sight.

New courses are already being explored

Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia Universities are already navigating civil rights, algorithmic bias, self-driving vehicle accident liability, and the legalization of AI apps and platforms. Furthermore, nothing stops law students from consulting AI bots when prepping for tests and crafting papers.

Some courses regarding the plagiarism issues in such papers are already gaining traction. Faculties keep coming to grips with the implications of AI and the inevitable access of these bots when engaging with at-home learning and brushing up on previous matters. It’s incredible how easily a low-skilled user can find the specific answers they’re looking for in diverse law areas, such as litigation assessment, within a few clicks. For those unfamiliar with the domain, simply inserting queries and asking the bot to provide answers in an easily digestible form that rookies to the law can understand also drives excellent results.

AI has already changed how people think of and practice law, altering the legal profession as we know it and the courts’ procedures and adjudication forms. Professors and students are grasping a new lifestyle where AI is becoming ubiquitous.

The jury weighs in

Given all the legal, social, and ethical dangers that artificial intelligence can’t possibly present in and out of the juridic area, governments have no choice but to buckle up and puzzle out the legal maze. EqualAI CEO and president Miriam Vogel who also partakes in the committee advising the Biden Administration on AI matters emphasizes that current laws offer several guidelines on the technology’s utilization. Employee discrimination based on race or colour remains illegal, no matter if it’s an algorithm or human HR manager that commits the injustice. However, such issues are somewhat outdated as AI creates room for whole new problems to seep in.

Legislators are already on it, with some US states banning the use of facial recognition in law enforcement. California, for instance, obliges enterprises to notify customers when their interactions are carried out with a robot. Meanwhile, President Biden released an order that compels giant AI ventures to disclose info about the prospective perils of their offerings to the government. On the other hand, the European Union may soon ratify sweeping legislation on AI’s utilization, affecting everyone conducting business with links to the area.  

Students shouldn’t feel threatened by AI’s expansion

AI’s impact on legal education and lawyers differs from context to context and is being gradually assessed as we progress into a new existence. While many fear a potential replacement of human work due to AI’s ability to outsmart and outshine some professions, it’s far-fetched to think such a dystopian scenario can hold. The future lies in law practices that will get streamlined and improved by AI, and under no circumstances conducted by bots from A to Z.

AI cannot replace lawyers for numerous obvious reasons. For once, the law isn’t just about pattern recognition and data but also necessitates human traits, such as persuasion, ethical judgement, and empathy. These are anything but legal knowledge matters.

AI can help sort out info, but can’t do what a seasoned law expert can do, lacking the capacity to grasp context. As we’ll learn in time, AI can assist a process’ efficiency, but not undermine or substitute human expertise and intelligence.