Why Lawyers Aren't Taking Full Advantage Of AI Tools

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are already powerful tools on their own. Forbes notes that both technologies are seeing significant interest in business applications. However, one industry that is slow to adopt these new technological tools is the legal profession. The slow adoption of new technology could have a severe impact on the long-term success and profitability of a law firm, especially if other firms decide to adopt the approach first.

In a study done by Bloomberg Law, as much as 54% of respondents mentioned that they didn't use AI or machine-learning tools in their daily work within the legal profession. AI sees relatively slow adoption within the field since practitioners regard the law as a heavily-read area of expertise. Understanding the nuances of law requires comprehension of multiple perspectives, making it unsuitable for an automated solution. Despite this, legal firms have adopted AI for use in document review and e-discovery. The problem that this poses is that legal firms aren't truly grasping the potential the technology has for making the business more profitable.

Can AI Play Nice With the Legal Profession?

Thomson Reuters notes that AI has the potential to make an impact on the business of law beyond being used for simple search functions or contract revisions. The key to this adoption is the development of a specific type of machine learning called Natural Language Processing (NLP). Through NLP, a company could utilize its AI helper more effectively by teaching it to categorize things and make for even more in-depth cross-referencing. Ideally, with the right training, an NLP-based Ai could theoretically offer all the relevant information about a case or topic by merely reading a few words about it.

Considering the Bottom Line

Adopting technology like AI and machine learning is in the best interests of a legal firm. While at the moment, AI can't replace a website design company, it can do a lot to help out the company's bottom line in other ways. More efficient processing and search functions mean that lawyers need to spend less time searching for the materials necessary to mount a defense or press a charge. The adoption of legal technology by companies led to increased profits for those firms, signaling that in the future, companies might find themselves in the position of having to embrace new technology or be trampled by their competitors that do.

Generally, law firms are quick to use technology, even though they may be very slow to adopt it. However, it's crucial for a company to separate the hype of a brand new technological innovation from what it can actually do. AI is useful, but its use only comes with proper training. The use of a technology that can save hours, even days in research time is worth investing the effort into improving. Law firms tend to have traditional leadership that shuns new technology unless its benefits are proven to them beyond the shadow of a doubt. The lack of enthusiasm in embracing new technology can lead to slow adoption rates as companies aren't willing to risk money and time on unproven technology.

Finding Excuses

While it's likely that the legal profession will adopt Ai and machine learning, to date, more of the people who are likely to benefit from these innovations are busy finding ways to avoid using the technology. Many lawyers blame a lack of time to familiarize themselves with the system, with some respondents to the Bloomberg Law survey stating that their company just wasn't knowledgeable enough about technology to consider adopting it. The problem with that response is that if the companies don't introduce the new technology, then there is no way that the lawyers would ever become familiar enough to use it. As with many things in the legal profession, excuses usually win out over practical application.

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