One of the most talked about innovations in the legal fraternity these days is the entry of artificial intelligence (AI) that is set to transform the legal industry. The industry historically and traditionally reliant on human interface has been witnesses widespread and rapid changes to its ecosystem, in the last few years. Although, virtual conferences and virtual hearings were being utilized by lawyers, the same was restricted to a certain set of matters, and then came the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing everyone and restricting us to stay indoors, leading to instantaneously adopt to a virtual work environment. The next breakthrough has come in with the transformative artificial intelligence spreading its application to the legal industry.
The artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT has taken the world by storm since its November 2022 launch. Another high-profile demonstration that bolstered conversations of generative AI’s legal capabilities came when the latest iteration (GPT-4) recently passed a bar exam. According to the results of a survey released by LexisNexis in March 2023, 84 percent of respondents in the legal field believe generative AI tools will increase their efficiency, while a majority believe it could advance and revolutionize the entire practice of law.
In many sectors of the economy, this was simply generative AI’s public debut. The potential applications for AI in the legal world are immense. AI can help conduct due diligence in corporate mergers and significantly aid legal education and knowledge acquisition in complex and fast-moving areas.
The term artificial intelligence can be a bit misleading, at least when it comes to application in the legal field. Perhaps a better description would be cognitive computing. At its core, AI is the science of teaching computers how to “learn, reason, perceive, infer, communicate, and make decisions like humans do.” Machine learning and law operate according to strikingly similar principles: they both look to historical examples in order to infer rules to apply to new situations.
The law touches every corner of the world and businesses. Day to day activities undertaken by us, whether we recognize it or not, each of us operates against the backdrop of the legal regime and the implicit possibility of litigation.
The law is in many ways particularly conducive to the application of AI and machine learning. Within the field of law, a few areas stand out as particularly promising for the application of AI. Exciting progress is already being made in each of these areas. AI is just beginning to come into its own in terms of its use by lawyers and within the legal industry.
Use of AI in legal industry
Contract Review
Contracts are the lifeblood of our economic system; business transactions cannot get done without them. Yet the process of negotiating and finalizing a contract is today painfully tedious.
Each side’s lawyers must manually review, edit and exchange red-lined documents in seemingly endless iterations. The process can be lengthy, delaying deals and impeding companies’ business objectives. Mistakes due to human error are common—no surprise given that attention to minutiae is essential and contracts can be thousands of pages long.
Companies are developing AI systems that can automatically ingest proposed contracts, analyze them in full using natural language processing (NLP) technology, and determine which portions of the contract are acceptable and which are problematic.
Some AI teams are building machine learning models to predict the outcomes of pending cases, using as inputs the corpus of relevant precedent and a case’s particular fact pattern.
As these predictions become more accurate, they will have a major impact on the practice of law. For instance, companies and law firms are starting to use them to proactively plan their litigation strategies, fast-track settlement negotiations and minimize the number of cases that need actually go to trial.
A related use is in litigation finance. AI is supercharging litigation finance by enabling investors to develop more sophisticated, data-driven assessments of which cases are worth backing.
Legal research was historically a manual process, with lawyers consigned to searching through physical caselaw volumes to find relevant precedent. In recent decades, with the advent of software and personal computing, this process has gone digital; lawyers now generally conduct research using computer programs and software. Yet beyond rudimentary search functionality, these legacy solutions do not possess much intelligence.
Due Diligence
Due diligence involves undertaking review of large volumes of documents, to review a contract, conduct legal research or performing electronic discovery functions. To this end AI legal software are proving to be helpful and time effective.
Legal Analytics
AI provides for the data points from past case laws, and also provides judgements and precedent law to be used by lawyers in their present cases.
Intellectual Property
Tools of artificial intelligence help in providing the insights into the IP portfolios i.e. search and registration of a trademark, Patent, Copyrights etc.
Electronic Billing
AI legal software also helps lawyers and Law Firms in preparing the invoices as per the work done by them. It makes for accurate billing for the work done by a lawyer. Thus, helps both lawyers and clients.
AI’s aid to legal industry
The development of AI technology provides an opportunity for lawyers to improve their efficiency, reduce costs and focus on more strategic work. AI can handle mechanical and routine tasks like document and contract review, legal research and data analysis. This can ultimately lead to increased productivity and profitability for law firms. Extensive knowledge base means lawyers can easily delve into the latest legal decisions across multiple jurisdictions, for example, even without the resources of larger firms. These technologies can eliminate much of the “drudge work” associated with legal research, document drafting, and other central tasks, and allow lawyers to focus on adding what only they can: judgment, context and understanding.
Efficiency Improvements
One of the most time-consuming tasks in litigation is extracting structure, meaning, and salient information from an enormous set of documents produced during discovery. AI will vastly accelerate this process, doing work in seconds. Another aspect is the drafting of pleadings to be filed before a court. AI can be used to very quickly produce initial drafts, citing the relevant case law, advancing arguments, and rebutting (as well as anticipating) arguments advanced by opposing counsel. Human input will still be needed to produce the final draft, but the process will be much faster with AI. Generally, AI will make it much more efficient for attorneys and lawyers to undertake various tasks.
Skill Development and enhancement
For lawyers, getting the most out of AI tools will involve far more than just pushing a button. AI is most effective when it is used to complement human skills, and the people who learn how to leverage this collaboration well will get the most mileage out of AI tools. This will require developing new skills, including knowing how to choose the right AI tool for a particular task, knowing how to construct the right queries and evaluate the relevance, quality, and accuracy of the responses, and being able synthesize the overall results into a cohesive, actionable picture. Lawyers will also need to be attentive to ensuring that any use of AI tools is done with appropriate attention to protecting confidentiality. Towards this training would need to be imparted so that lawyers and law students can adapt to this new environment.
Broadening Access to Legal Services
AI also has the potential to dramatically broaden access to legal services, which may be expensive for many individuals and small businesses. AI will make it much less costly to initiate and pursue litigation. More generally, drafting a well-written complaint will require more than a single click, but in some scenarios, not much more. These changes will make it much easier for law firms to expand services to lower-income clients. While this may be advantageous to many, there will be people who exploit the nearly frictionless ability to automatically generate legal complaints to rapidly flood court systems in multiple jurisdictions with frivolous AI-written lawsuits. These plaintiffs will be expecting that in the resulting numbers game, a sufficient number of defendants will quickly settle, thereby making the enterprise profitable. It may be necessary to update laws regarding vexatious litigants to impede these sorts of abuses. However, it cannot be doubted that access to justice and legal services would become easier and more accessible.
Challenges of AI in law
AI has certain teething issues and otherwise on account of its application in the legal field.
AI has an unfortunate habit of making stuff up. There have been instances wherein AI has produced seemingly authentic and intellectual responses to legal queries, however, upon verification it was discovered that the same did not exist. The existing AI model can produce wildly inaccurate information for which users ought to rely on the same at their peril.
Experiences like that underscore the need for reliable tools customized to meet lawyers’ very specific requirements. Open-source models that draw widely on the mass of information available to all worldwide can be wrong.
AI is not yet capable of handling more complex tasks such as deal structuring, negotiation, advocacy and representation in court. The use of AI in the legal system also raises questions about accountability, especially in case of errors committed by AI systems that do not have meaningful human oversight and review.
Copyright concerns around AI training data and information databases remain controversial and there have been instances of companies accused by others of stealing their proprietary data. While open-source models draw on whatever users submit and on publicly-available information, lawyers have a professional duty of confidentiality to their clients, meaning that they must ensure that search terms or briefs, for example, are not shared or become identifiable.
Confidentiality and data privacy
AI systems generally rely on large amounts of data to learn and make predictions. Such data may include sensitive information, such as personal or financial data. AI algorithms that require this type of data to train effectively may create problems for organizations to comply with data protection laws.
Bias in AI systems
Potential bias in AI systems whilst training can affect and alter the outcome. The results from AI can simply reflect current social, historical imbalances stemming from race caste, gender and ideology, producing outcomes that do not reflect true merit.
Lack of legal training & licence and accountability
AI systems, unlike trained attorneys, do not have to acquire a license to practice law and therefore will not be subject to ethical standards and professional codes of conduct. If an AI system provides inaccurate or misleading legal advice, who will be responsible/accountable for it? The developer or the user? The usage of AI in the judiciary also poses a problem even if judges retain ultimate decision-making authority. It is not uncommon to become overly reliant on technology-based recommendation.
As per a recent news report, a New York lawyer used ChatGPT for legal research and included six case citations in a brief filed with the court. However, opposing counsel could not find any of the cases, and the lawyer had to admit that he didn’t independently confirm their legitimacy. The judge imposed sanctions on the concerned lawyers and their law firm was fined to pay $5,000 in total. Therefore, lawyers should be cautious when using generative AI for legal research.
Concerns regarding competition
It is possible for AI to operate independently of its coders or programmers through its self-learning capabilities. However, this could potentially result in technological and economic disparities that have yet to be fully examined. Such disparities could lead to the misuse of data and potentially disrupt the framework established set out by anti-trust and competition laws.
AI and Indian Legal ecosystem
Today, AI is unsettling nearly every profession and industry. The Indian legal sector has seen very little innovation in terms of technology and lawyers these days still comfortable and relying on the methods and solutions that were designed years ago. AI can play a big part in changing the way lawyers operate and the law is looked at in India. The usage of AI in the legal sector in India at the moment is being limited to aspects such as automated contract review, legal research, transcription services.
One of the biggest disruptions that can be caused by AI in law is that in the field of legal research. The Indian legal system is vast and constantly changing and with the use of AI, lawyers can get unparalleled insight into the legal domain within seconds. Currently to get legal research done a significant number of man-hours are required and this significantly reduces the profit-making ability of a law firm, however, with AI the entire legal fraternity can be balanced. It can provide lawyers with highly efficient and advanced tools helping lawyers become better in advising clients or litigating.
Since 2021, the Supreme Court of India has been using an AI-controlled tool designed to process information and make it available to judges for decisions. It does not participate in the decision-making process. Another tool that is used by the Supreme Court of India is SUVAS (Supreme Court Vidhik Anuvaad Software) which translates legal papers from English into vernacular languages and vice versa.
Legal framework to regulate AI
With a surge in usage of AI, there is a growing need to have exclusive legislation for the regulation of AI, for eliminating in-built or acquired bias and to address ethical concerns while using it. Autonomous AI systems can lead to unpredictable behavior causing loss or damage to individuals. Intricate questions must be resolved to establish how courts determine liability.
There are white papers, guidelines and policy in jurisdictions such as UK, USA and EU which target algorithmic impact assessment and elimination of algorithmic biases. The European Parliament recently adopted amendments to its proposed Artificial Intelligence Act. The amendment proposes to include a ban on the use of AI technology in biometric surveillance except for law enforcement, subject to judicial authorization, and for generative AI systems like ChatGPT to disclose AI-generated content.
Currently, there are no specific laws in India with regard to regulating AI. The Ministry of Electronics and information Technology is the executive agency for AI-related strategies and had constituted committees to bring in a policy framework for AI. The Niti Ayog has developed a set of seven responsible AI principles, which include safety & dependability, equality, inclusivity and non-discrimination, privacy and security, transparency, accountability and the protection and reinforcement of positive human values. The Supreme Court and high courts have a constitutional mandate to enforce fundamental rights including the right to privacy. In India, the primary legislation for data protection is the Information Technology Act and its associated rules. Additionally, the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill has been introduced by MEITY, although it is still awaiting formal enactment. If this bill becomes law, individuals will have the ability to inquire about the data collected from them by both private and government entities, as well as the methods utilized to process and store it.
Establishing accountability for technology-related errors in the legal field can be a challenging task. The implications of errors made by AI systems shall have huge ramifications affecting the life and liberty of individuals. However, proactive measures can be taken by legislators and industry experts from legal or other fields to set clear lines of responsibility and to ensure accountability when using AI in their practice. Until new liability regimes for AI are enacted, AI liability cases to be decided under current legal and regulatory rules.
AI will augment lawyers’ work, not replace it
Nowadays there is a burning question among the lawyers that whether introduction of AI in legal sector would replace the lawyer and legal analyst or the AI-based solutions and platform would increase the efficiency and productivity of Firms and Lawyers.
The legal sector has seen the introduction of many new solutions where technology has improved the efficiency of lawyers, contract analysis, trademark search software, legal research software and much more. None of the AI-based software or program target to take a lawyer’s job and all the AI based software and programmes are increasing the authenticity, accuracy of research and analysis and the same are more result oriented now.
Clients hire an lawyers for their knowledge, experience, and ability to interpret and apply legal precedent. While AI may be able to identify relevant statutes, regulations, and case law, there is a human aspect of law practice that provides guidance to clients that AI is not likely to replace. If properly developed, AI can be another means by which attorneys can increase their productivity, and obtain optimal results for clients.
Generative AI which predicts text based on the existing information that it is trained on, simply can’t replace human lawyers when it comes to taking the law in new directions. The legal profession is highly driven by analysis, decision making, and representation which cannot be automated. AI-based software and programmes can reduce a lawyer’s time and effort considerably and can help the lawyers and firms give a more authentic and result oriented suggestion to their clients.
Even with widespread adoption of AI, lawyers will still be vitally important. AI can’t make a convincing presentation to a jury. The technology can’t fully weigh the factors that go into the many strategic decisions, large and small, that get made over the course of any litigation matter. It can’t replace the human element of relationships with clients. Thus, AI is an aid to the lawyers not a replacement.
Conclusion
The technology is moving so quickly, it’s so new that all of us in the industry, even those who are AI experts, are trying to figure it out. The lawyer of the future will focus on using technology to augment human expertise that can’t be replicated in even the most sophisticated AI models. This is machine learning-enabled judgment, and it includes the ability to contextualize the law – to tell the client what to do – in the full circumstances of their business, the market and society.
AI should be used as a supplement to the legal system rather than a replacement for humans in the coming years. A careful and well-informed approach is needed to ensure that the benefits of AI in the legal system are realised while minimising the potential risks and negative effects. There is a need to regulate the use of AI and develop adequate safety measures to keep its spread in check. It is also important to determine the liability in cases where AI based applications provide flawed and faulted information and advice.
In the end, lawyers are responsible for their work and must ensure that their client’s interests are protected. While AI can assist law firms in improving efficiency, it cannot substitute a lawyer’s expertise and experience.