It’s a rarity for the great pre-occupations of our age to intersect so closely with that of the legal profession but artificial intelligence (AI) and the prospect of increasingly capable machines taking on swathes of work handled by people is a startling exception.
Continue reading “Comment: Artificial intelligence and the law – mostly believe the hype”
In-house lawyers have been notoriously slow to embrace the tech-backed delivery of legal services, but Legal Business research drawing on responses from more than 600 global clients shows many believe technology will transform the way they work.
Artificial intelligence is big news once again in law and beyond. Legal Business speaks to leaders in the field of advanced automation to assess what it means for the profession.
> How are you today?
* I’m afraid AI will change the legal profession.
> How long have you been afraid AI will change the legal profession?
* Since I started speaking to AI researchers.
> Can you elaborate on that?
* They were telling me about their latest research.
> I don’t understand you.
* Neither did they, that’s why I wanted to see a therapist.
> Tell me more…
Continue reading “Deep Blue sky thinking: The cutting edge of legal AI”
The cutting-edge science in artificial intelligence in law is startling, but does the tech currently offered by commercial legal providers match the hype?
It’s a sign of the times: Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) now has its own ‘robot’. In September, the firm announced it had teamed up with tech company RAVN Systems in a deal to use its artificial intelligence (AI) platform, known as the Applied Cognitive Engine (RAVN ACE).
Continue reading “Applied science and snake oil: AI in practice”
It’s a rarity for the great pre-occupations of our age to intersect so closely with that of the legal profession but artificial intelligence (AI) and the prospect of increasingly capable machines taking on swathes of work handled by people is a startling exception. While there has been much debate regarding the disorientating march of intelligent machines, the discussion is particularly potent in law, based as it is on the application of large, codified bodies of information that are freely available but very expensively applied via the legal profession.
And, as we address in our report on AI and automation this month, the hype looks largely justified. Advances in recent years in machine learning against a backdrop of increasingly powerful networked computers means automation has already driven considerable change in the legal industry in the last decade. Within five years that process will probably be at the level of reshaping the underlying business model of many industry leaders.
Pioneering GCs are taking control of legal spend, armed with the latest tech. Can the rest of the in-house community keep pace?
If conventional law firms have been slow to embrace technology – and they have – their counterparts in-house have been barely moving. But in the last five years signs have emerged of ‘early adopters’ in the bluechip general counsel (GC) community who are willing to do more than apply new tools at the margins. The GCs are turning to technology to reshape the way they work.
Against a backdrop of a fast-changing technology environment; value-conscious clients, rising rents, and the need to provide meaningful alternative fee arrangements, law firms are being challenged to deliver innovative services and efficiencies like never before.
CMS’s Duncan Weston argues that a new attitude to technology will be essential for the best law firms
Against a backdrop of a fast-changing technology environment; value-conscious clients, rising rents, and the need to provide meaningful alternative fee arrangements, law firms are being challenged to deliver innovative services and efficiencies like never before. Embracing new technologies, LPOs and alternative business structures just goes with the territory.
Continue reading “Bespoke, mobile and plugged in – the tech tools clients and staff will demand”
