Artificial intelligence and automation are transforming the legal industry by automating routine tasks and providing lawyers with new tools for legal research, contract analysis, and prediction of legal outcomes. However, lawyers may be concerned about the impact of AI on their profession, such as the potential for job displacement and the need to acquire new skills to work with AI. There are also ethical concerns surrounding the use of AI in decision-making, such as the potential for bias in the data or algorithms used to train AI systems.

Some useful ways that automation and AI is helping the legal industry:

• Automation of routine tasks: AI and automation can automate many routine and time-consuming tasks, such as document review, contract analysis, legal research, and due diligence. This can save lawyers a significant amount of time and allow them to focus on more complex and strategic work.
• Predictive analytics: AI can help lawyers to predict legal outcomes and provide insights into legal cases. By analyzing large amounts of data, AI algorithms can identify patterns and make predictions about the likely outcomes of legal disputes. This can help lawyers to make better decisions and provide more accurate advice to their clients.
• Improved efficiency and accuracy: AI and automation can help to improve the efficiency and accuracy of legal work. For example, AI algorithms can analyze large volumes of documents much faster than a human could, and with greater accuracy. This can help to reduce errors and increase the speed of legal work.
• Cost savings: AI and automation can help to reduce the cost of legal services by automating routine tasks and reducing the need for human labor. This can make legal services more accessible and affordable for clients.
• Improved access to legal services: AI and automation can help to improve access to legal services by providing tools and resources that can be used by individuals and small businesses. For example, online legal services that use AI and automation can provide legal advice and documents at a fraction of the cost of traditional legal services.

If AI and Automation are used to provide faster data analyses, contract review and research, then legal firms using these tools will be able to provide faster turn-around and ultimately decrease the cost of legal services.

AI discussion does beg the question, will AI ultimately replace lawyers? Unlikely. The legal profession requires a range of skills and expertise that cannot be replicated by AI such as judgement, empathy, creativity and advocacy. It may however considerably streamline the creation and costs of standardized document services such as simple contracts. All the above examples enhance the work of lawyers, not replace it. If lawyers can be more accurate, the industry and the services it provides as a whole will improve.

Here are some solutions that use machine learning and natural language processing algorithms to analyze large volumes of legal data and provide insights into legal cases, include:

• ROSS Intelligence: ROSS Intelligence builds AI-driven products to augment lawyers’ cognitive abilities. ROSS Intelligence is a legal research tool that uses AI to help lawyers find relevant case law and statutes. The software can answer natural language questions and provide recommendations based on previous cases. https://www.rossintelligence.com/
• Kira Systems: Kira is a patented machine learning software that identifies, extracts, and analyzes content in your contracts and documents with unparalleled accuracy and efficiency. Easily find and use trusted information from your contracts and documents. Kira Systems is an AI-powered contract analysis tool that can help lawyers to identify key provisions and clauses in contracts. The software can extract information from large volumes of contracts and provide insights into common provisions and clauses. https://kirasystems.com/
• Lex Machina: Legal Analytics combines data and software with individual attorney review in order to provide a winning edge in the highly competitive business and practice of law. Every day, the engine scans millions of pages of litigation information to create valuable insights on courts, judges, law firms, lawyers, and parties. This information has enabled legal professionals, for the first time, to anticipate the behaviors and outcomes that different legal strategies will produce. This software can analyze large volumes of data from previous cases and provide insights into the behavior of judges, parties, and lawyers. https://lexmachina.com/
• Luminance: Luminance is the world’s most advanced technology for legal process automation and document review. Founded and developed by mathematicians from the University of Cambridge in 2015, Luminance’s artificial intelligence reads and forms a conceptual understanding of legal documents in any language. From this understanding, Luminance can help with a vast range of tasks: from taking a first-pass review of any incoming contract to automatically flagging contractual anomalies; from highlighting areas of non-compliance to be remedied, to labelling clauses or applying advanced Al-driven ECA and TAR within Discovery matters. Luminance is an AI-powered document review tool that can help lawyers to identify relevant information in large volumes of documents. The software can identify patterns and anomalies in the data and highlight areas of potential risk or opportunity. https://www.luminance.com/
• eBrevia: eBrevia enables to extract key provisions and data points from thousands of documents in minutes – and say goodbye to the grind and inaccuracy of manual contract review. eBrevia is an AI-powered contract analysis tool and can identify clauses, provisions, and legal concepts and provide insights into the risks and opportunities associated with the contract. https://www.dfinsolutions.com/products/ebrevia

These are just a few examples of the many legal AI software solutions that are currently available. As the technology continues to develop, we can expect to see even more sophisticated AI tools that will help lawyers to work more efficiently and effectively.

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