Extract from Victoria Hudgins’s article “Diversity, Metrics Demands Are Pushing Firms to Embrace AI Hiring Tools”
Just a year ago, law firms were largely hesitant to leverage artificial intelligence to aid their recruitment or hiring process. But legal’s growing reliance on metric-based decision-making and the reignited demand for diversity in law firms have changed their perceptions.
Still, AI hiring tools aren’t commonly found in law firms. But industry observers note that the adoption of such tools may gain momentum if law firms see peers benefiting from such technology.
In recent years, some law firms have leveraged AI to broaden its pool of candidates to more diverse lawyers and assess an applicant before interviewing them. O’Melveny & Myers, for example, announced in 2018 that it was leveraging Pymetrics, an assessment tool that analyzes an applicant’s cognitive, social and emotional traits and recommends candidates based on its algorithm. At the time, O’Melveny & Myers said the tool’s availability and AI-powered assessment would remove bias.
