New findings on AI’s impact, regulation and best practices for the legal sector

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The International Bar Association (IBA) and the Center for AI and Digital Policy just published a new report looking at Artificial Intelligence’s impact on the legal profession. It analyzes the practice of law worldwide and the governance of AI.

The report, “The Future is Now: Artificial Intelligence and the Legal Profession,” is based on findings from three IBA working groups. It focuses on AI’s role in the legal, its regulation and even offers suggestions on best practices for the global legal industry moving forward.

Exploring AI in the legal profession

The IBA report noted widespread AI adoption among both law firms and solo practitioners with, unsurprisingly, larger law firms accounting for the greater and more sophisticated integrations of AI.

“The public release of generative AI services, such as ChatGPT, has stirred intense public interest across all sectors of society, including the legal profession,” the report said. “From the legal profession’s perspective, the arrival of AI services marked the first time that a widely available technology could perform writing and research tasks with a level of proficiency approaching trained lawyers.”

The survey found that AI is largely used internally for back-office administration, business development, marketing and organizational management. In larger law firms, there was a higher percentage of AI usage in client-facing applications (legal research, document assembly, contract drafting and due diligence) driven by large language models and AI services.

Though AI can’t replace the analytical skills, deep thinking and interpersonal relationships needed by lawyers to help build strong, successful client connections – a recent Bloomberg Law survey found that 72% of legal professionals don’t believe that generative AI will replace lawyers – there is potential for AI to handle some of the industry’s more basic tasks like gathering, organizing and analyzing legal information and reviewing documents prepared by attorneys. Even in these instances, however, a level of human supervision is needed to ensure the quality and accuracy of AI-produced work.

Here are a few ways AI and machine learning already are impacting the litigation landscape.

Identify relevant case law: AI can help lawyers quickly sift through and summarize volumes of case law, poring through more legal data than a human and making associations that an attorney might miss.

Visualize data trends to predict case outcomes: Analytics play a role in helping attorneys decide whether to file a motion. Instead of manually searching electronic court records or reviewing court opinions, AI can aggregate the data and produce analytics to help lawyers see trends and provide insights into how a court might consider a motion.

Reduce litigation costs: AI can aid litigants with limited finances by analyzing cases more efficiently and decreasing the risk that litigation funders need to take.

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AI’s regulatory landscape

The IBA report noted that 48% of those surveyed favor comprehensive AI regulation in the legal sector, with 57% saying consistency was important in regulation as different countries around the world develop their own rules.

“On the governance side, there have been dramatic developments in just the last few years,” the report said. “The European Union has enacted the AI Act, a comprehensive law for the regulation of AI. The United States has put in place a sweeping Executive Order to regulate AI systems across federal agencies and to establish new safety standards for AI companies. The Council of Europe has set out the first international treaty for AI. China has an ambitious plan for AI regulation. Many countries are also developing legal frameworks for national AI governance.

“And lawyers will be called upon to ensure compliance with these new legal rules and their own ethical regulations, to promote harmonization of different legal frameworks and to identify emerging challenges in the years ahead.”

The survey stressed that lawyers need to keep up with the changing technology, be responsible for supervising AI tools and ensure their proper use as well as making sure AI-generated work adheres to professional standards and meets ethical guidelines. The legal community, including bar associations, legal societies, lawyers and law firms as well as non-lawyer service entities, should be consulted in the development and implementation of AI governance.

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IBA recommendations

The “Artificial Intelligence and the Legal Profession” report also issued several recommendations on AI and AI’s usage within the legal sector, including:

  • Developing programs and resources (AI tools, training and financial incentives) targeted to smaller law firms to assist them in integrating AI technologies.
  • Establishing guidelines and best practices for AI governance with an emphasis on data security, IP and privacy and encourage firms to develop and implement AI policies that align with these guidelines.
  • Developing training programs focused on the legal profession and AI literacy to build trust in AI technologies, educate lawyers on AI’s use and provide practical guidance on using AI tools.
  • Revising and updating legal ethical guidelines to include provisions for the use of AI, including the supervision and use of AI tools and standards for AI-generated work.
  • Promoting international collaboration and knowledge sharing among national bar associations, law societies and legal professionals to help establish global standards for AI use in the legal profession.

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