It’s no secret that artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the legal profession, reshaping how law firms, legal departments and courts operate. From automating routine tasks to providing predictive analytics, AI is driving efficiency, accuracy and new insights, enabling legal professionals to focus on higher-value work. This shift, though, is not just about adopting new tools but reimagining the practice of law in a way that balances human expertise with cutting-edge technology.
A recent LexisNexis survey of more than 800 legal professionals found the number of lawyers in the United Kingdom using generative AI for work had almost quadrupled in the past 15 months, rising from 11% in July 2023 to 41% in October. Similarly, the percentage of lawyers planning to use Gen AI climbed from 28% to 41% over that same time.
“We’ve seen a noticeable increase in awareness of the many ways in which lawyers can make use of generative AI technology, which ranges from the achievable to the ambitious,” wrote Stuart Greenhill, Senior Director, Segment Management, at LexisNexis. “Generative AI, as it currently stands, has the potential to save lawyers a huge amount of time and improve their effectiveness.
“In the months and years ahead, it will be interesting to see how the legal profession adopts and adapts to this new technology. Yet, one thing that is becoming increasingly clear is that generative AI is here to stay.”
Below is a quick look at some of the ways that AI is transforming the legal sector and some of the challenges it still faces.
Automating routine legal tasks
One of the most significant ways AI is changing the legal landscape is through automation. Legal professionals have long been burdened with time-consuming, repetitive tasks, such as document review, research and contract analysis. AI-powered software can now handle these tasks with greater speed and accuracy.
For instance, AI-driven tools can process large amounts of data quickly, identifying relevant documents in litigation. This perk in e-Discovery enables law firms to sift through thousands of emails, contracts and other documents in a fraction of the time it would take humans. By using natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms, AI can identify key phrases, patterns and concepts, making the review process more efficient and thorough.
AI tools can also scan and analyze contracts, highlighting key terms, potential risks and discrepancies. This allows legal teams to manage contract lifecycles faster, reducing the risk of oversight and ensuring compliance.
Legal research and predictive analytics
AI is changing legal research by making it faster and more targeted. Traditional research requires hours sifting through case law, statutes and regulations, but AI-powered platforms leverage NLP to understand queries in natural language and return relevant results in seconds.
One of AI’s more interesting capabilities in law is predictive analytics. By analyzing past case outcomes, judicial rulings and legal trends, the technology can offer predictions on how a particular case might unfold or even provide insights into how certain judges have ruled in the past or how specific arguments have fared. This data-driven approach can give law firms a competitive edge by allowing them to assess risks and outcomes with greater precision.
AI-powered litigation and dispute resolution
While AI won’t replace lawyers in the courtroom anytime soon, it is being used to support litigation and dispute resolution, assisting with case strategy, argument development and settlement negotiations.
By analyzing mountains of documents and gathering data on the success of different litigation strategies, AI can help lawyers refine arguments and anticipate how courts might rule. In the arbitration and mediation world, AI is being used to facilitate negotiations and propose fair settlements by analyzing the positions of both parties, assessing relevant case law and suggesting compromises, streamlining the dispute resolution process.
Ethical considerations and challenges
Though AI has proven a benefit to the legal profession, issues surrounding data privacy, algorithmic bias and an over-reliance on the technology exist.
The American Bar Association (ABA) earlier this year issued its first formal opinion on the growing use of Gen AI in the practice of law. The ABA said lawyers using the technology must “fully consider” their ethical obligations to protect clients, including duties related to lawyer competence, confidentiality of client data, communication and fees. The opinion noted that although AI can help lawyers increase efficiency, it also carries risks such as generating inaccurate output and inadvertently disclosing or providing access to sensitive client information.
Verbit’s legal-focused solutions
AI’s influence in the legal field will continue to grow, leading to new innovations and transforming how legal services are delivered. In fact, a 2024 LexisNexis Investing in Legal Innovation survey found that half of Fortune 1000 legal departments in the United States were using Gen AI, making them the highest users of this technology. The same survey found that 70% of law firm leaders agreed or strongly agreed that the technology will provide new value-added work products that they can offer their clients.
Verbit’s legal transcription solutions – final transcripts, 24-rough drafts, legal ASR and digital evidence – are designed by legal experts who understand the reliability, accuracy and customization that court reporters, lawyers and other legal professionals require. We streamline transcription workflows, providing quicker delivery of both live and recorded legal proceedings such as depositions, hearings, examinations and digital evidence.
Our Legal Capture offering provides accurate, reliable and scalable real-time transcription for legal proceedings. Leveraging cutting-edge technology and Verbit’s proprietary AI-powered Captivate™ transcription platform, Legal Capture provides live transcription for depositions, hearings, arbitrations, examinations, trials and other legal proceedings to help digital court reporters better meet their clients’ needs.
Our soon-to-launch AI-driven litigation assistant empowers attorneys even further with real-time deposition insights and prep analysis to improve case outcomes. It features, among other things, contradiction detection to identify inconsistencies within witness testimony, suggestions on new topics or angles to address before the deposition has ended and deposition summaries.
For more details on any of these solutions, or to learn how they might work for you, reach out to our team of legal experts today.