Extract from Mike Suchsland’s article “The Most Profound Innovation: AI’s Impact on the Business of Law”
The legal industry is on the brink of a profound transformation driven by the deployment of AI at scale. In addition to transforming the practice of law, AI is set to also completely redefine the economic and operational models of law firms, challenging long-standing practices and necessitating a strategic reevaluation of how legal services are delivered and priced.
The Well-Publicized Role of AI in Enhancing Efficiency and Productivity
AI can perform complex legal work such as drafting and reviewing documents, conducting spend analysis, summarizing narratives, and converting legalese into plain English. As AI tools become more highly trained, lawyers will increasingly rely on automation to perform tasks such as conduct more complex research, draft legal documents, and suggest case strategies. These tasks will be performed at speeds and accuracies far beyond human capabilities—sophisticated AI-powered technology can perform legal work at 100x the productivity of lawyers (albeit still prone to the occasional hallucination). Yet, despite the broad and deep press coverage this impressive performance has created, less attention has been paid to the impact of AI on law firm governance and business operations.
AI’s Impact on Client Relationships and Firm Operations
AI is set to transform client relationships and the overall operations of law firms. Client relationships have traditionally been advisory-driven, with relationship management and firm reputation counted on as key differentiators. In the future, AI will help enable these relationships to become much more performance- and outcome-driven.
