Corporate law is not what you see on TV. It involves a meticulous process known as discovery, where attorneys sift through millions of documents in remote warehouses or digital communications to prepare for cases.
Law firms have been utilizing machine learning and artificial intelligence tools for over a decade to aid in this process. The introduction of OpenAI’s genAI chatbot, ChatGPT, two years ago made this technology more accessible even to new law school graduates.
Today, it is rare to find a law firm that has not embraced genAI for electronic discovery (eDiscovery) purposes. The technology has proven to expedite the discovery process and reduce workloads significantly.
Despite the lack of formal AI education in legal training, firms are integrating AI into their operations and training young lawyers on leveraging its capabilities effectively while maintaining accountability for its outcomes.
The role of IT professionals within law firms has evolved from handling technical issues to managing AI’s impact on case outcomes, client retention, revenue growth, and talent acquisition. Cleary Gottlieb is a prime example of this transformation.
Cleary has successfully reduced the number of attorneys needed for pre-trial discovery by implementing genAI tools and launching ClearyX – an alternative legal service provider specializing in eDiscovery offshoring and workflow automation.
While genAI may not be flawless in retrieving all case-related documents or creating accurate summaries every time, it still proves effective in reducing costs and workloads overall.
In some instances, customizing large language models can be costlier than deploying human resources; however, genAI remains a valuable asset for most routine tasks within the legal field.
Computerworld recently interviewed Christian “CJ” Mahoney from Cleary’s e-Discovery group and Carla Swansburg from ClearyX about their use of genAI tools. Here are some insights from that conversation:
Original article retrieved from www.computerworld.com