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‘Artificial Intelligence is this generation’s internet, and its Netflix is yet to come.’ 

44% of legal tasks can be automated by AI, according to a Goldman Sachs study, and ³ÉÈËÓ°Òô’ market research shows that 61% of lawyers are using or plan to use generative AI. 

In July’s session for in-house senior counsel, James Moore, Co-founder of Flex Legal and Matthew Leopold, Head of Brand and Insight at ³ÉÈËÓ°Òô continued the discussion on generative AI and the law, focussing on the benefits of integrating AI in legal settings. 

Use of AI and Key Concerns 

Sophie Gould, Head of Development at Flex Legal started off with polls set up by ³ÉÈËÓ°Òô, looking at use of AI and key concerns. James Moore noted that more people are adopting AI in their roles since December 2023. 54% of the organisations had rolled AI into product. 

AI: embrace it to stay in the race 

James, who has background in software engineering, finds it exciting when a big innovation comes along. Comparing the development of AI to the mobile phone and the internet, James highlighted that the ‘Netflix’ era of GenAI in the mass market is yet to come. Embracing it will only create huge value for firms and in-house legal teams and we’ll see big companies and firms fall if they don’t, and smaller firms grow if they do. What James ultimately emphasised, is that AI is here to stay and that it will only grow.  

The free Insider programme, by ³ÉÈËÓ°Òô can help legal professionals stay ahead of the curve and understand how legal AI can transform the work of legal In-house teams.  

Giving us a quick demo on the latest version of ChatGPT, James added the day’s shipping forecast and asked AI for a summary of it. Other than summarisation and translation, an interesting use case was creating three tweets for social media. James demonstrated the educational use of AI, asking it to generate multiple choice questions to be used in training. Sentiment analysis showed AI analysing the tone of a review. Other key use cases included information extraction with getting structured data, and chatbots and virtual assistants.  

Enabling AI in your organisation 

James provided a comprehensive governance framework to enable AI in an organisation, focussing on ethical guidelines, compliance of use with laws and regulations, accessibility to a diverse range of users, performance monitoring and improvement, adequate staff training, and lastly, a dedicated body to govern the implementation of the framework. Implementation tips included annual reviews to make necessary adjustments and clear performance metrics to ensure effectiveness.  

James also mentioned that 82% of in-house counsel said that they expect to be made aware of when their firms are using AI and 49% expect their law firms to be using generative AI in the next 12 months.  For further reading, see ³ÉÈËÓ°Òô’s guide on Using generative AI to power your company's ESG agenda. 

‘The Lawyer Who Changed’ 

Matthew Leopold took us back to 1880s Victorian London, with the case of ‘The Lawyer Who Changed’. Mr Holmes was approached by an associate, incredibly concerned that her general counsel, who used to work his juniors through the night, was now letting them leave on time. This was, of course, attributed to the implementation of AI. Comparing AI to the knowledgeable Dr Watson, Matthew noted how, like Watson, AI does not replace, it empowers and enables us to do our jobs. Matthew explained that a Goldman Sachs study shows that 44% of legal tasks can be automated by AI.  A ³ÉÈËÓ°Òô market research study conducted in Q1 2024 shows that compared to 39% in July 2023, 61% of lawyers are using or plan to use generative AI.  

Staying on theme, Matthew compared a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research which stated that the steam engine created a 41% productivity change, to a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) which found that AI will lead to a 37% step change. A steam engine level revolution is essentially taking place right now.  

How Lexis+ AI minimises risks 

There are, of course, risks associated with AI in legal settings, and Matthew highlighted the benefits of Lexis+ AI, and its ability to minimise risks.  

Four key elements of Lexis+ AI include: 

• conversational search (it feels like you are talking to a trusted colleague with extensive legal knowledge) 

• drafting communication with clients with the ability to alter tone based on the role of the sender 

• summarising cases 

• reviewing and analysing uploaded documents 

Lexis+AI can minimise the risks associated with AI, because it is grounded in one of the world’s largest repositories of accurate and exclusive legal content from ³ÉÈËÓ°Òô. No generative AI tool today can deliver 100% accuracy, regardless of who the provider is. Unlike other vendors, however, Lexis+ AI delivers linked citations to source documents so lawyers can quickly validate the sources, according to a recent article from Serena Wallen, Senior Director of Product Management, ³ÉÈËÓ°Òô.

Learnings from the session 

The key takeaway from this month’s session is that we are in the midst of ‘an industrial level revolution’. AI will only further develop, with changes and enhancements over time. This is the time for companies and legal firms to embrace AI, and its ability to reduce workload for legal professionals. As James explained, an effective governance framework will allow seamless implementation of AI into your organisation.   

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Join us for the next session - Post Office Scandal - what lessons to learn 

Date: Wednesday 25th September 2024 

Time: 10:00 – 11:00 

Format: Virtual event 

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