A new era: How AI is transforming personal injury law

The legal profession has always been shaped by innovation — from typewriters to e-discovery — but few technologies have had as immediate and transformative an impact as artificial intelligence (AI). For personal injury (PI) firms, the rise of AI isn’t a distant prospect; it’s already changing how cases are built, managed and won. Unlike practice areas where adoption has been slower, PI firms are embracing AI as a competitive advantage, using it to handle massive data volumes, adapt to virtual proceedings and meet evolving client expectations head-on.

The evolution of the personal injury practice

The personal injury sector has experienced a period of rapid growth and modernization in recent years.

“I don’t think there’s been a better time in history to be a personal injury attorney,” said Viraj Bindra, co-founder and CEO of Finch, which provides AI-powered pre-litigation support to personal injury law firms.

Bindra was joined by JP Son, chief legal officer at Verbit, Sean Allen, senior vice president of sales and marketing at DigitalOwl and Jim Garrett, chief technology officer at Assembly Software, as panelists during a recent webinar on the business of AI for personal injury firms. The webinar discussed, among other topics, how AI is helping personal injury lawyers streamline operations, cut costs and scale smarter.

“I think…personal injury firms have been one of the most receptive audiences to modernization and AI,” Bindra said. “We’ve seen experimentation not just for demands…but for intake, claim opening, record retrieval, depot summaries and so much more.”

Instead of focusing on billable hours, personal injury firms can use AI to optimize their workflows, enabling them to take on more cases and achieve better outcomes more quickly.

“PI, specifically being contingency-based, is just ripe for efficacy and operational efficiency to be augmented with AI,” said Garrett. “We’re not necessarily after billable time, we’re after optimization and the ability to have more cases come in and work them to their outcome more quickly with a similar cost basis.”

Major trends driving AI adoption

Verbit’s JP Son noted three trends that are pushing PI firms to adopt AI.

Explosion in data volume: Personal injury cases no longer are just a few hundred pages of medical records — they now can include terabytes of evidence, such as surveillance video, GPS logs and data from wearable fitness trackers.

“Given all this data, even the most experienced teams struggle to keep everything straight, especially under time pressure,” said Son. “This is exactly what AI is good for, to sift through all of this at machine speed, whether that’s legacy AI or the newer generative AI, spotting inconsistencies in the record.”

Rise of remote proceedings: The shift to virtual hearings and remote depositions has created a demand for technology that can capture testimony with high fidelity and make it instantly searchable. Son said AI tools can flag issues in real-time, allowing litigators to have “aha” moments while a witness is still on the stand, rather than weeks later during trial prep.

Shifting client expectations: Son said that today’s clients are accustomed to the speed and transparency of consumer apps and expect the same from their legal team. This puts pressure on firms to streamline workflows and provide quick, organized answers. AI helps firms meet these demands by handling the tedious work, which frees up lawyers to focus on the personal, human connection with their clients.

“I’d say the firms that adapt best are the ones who use technology to keep pace,” he said. “That’s not to replace your judgment, of course, but to make sure nothing gets missed, and you’re keeping that human connection with your clients, front and center.”

The importance of strategic adoption

When it comes to implementing AI, experts agree on a few key principles. First, don’t try to boil the ocean but, rather, start with a small, manageable, back-office process that is tedious or time-consuming, like organizing medical records or following up on claims. This approach allows firms to test the technology and make their team comfortable with it before integrating it into client-facing work.

This, they said, leads to an important concept of “leverage, not automation.” AI’s value isn’t just in automating tasks, but in giving lawyers and legal staff the ability to handle more cases and focus on high-value work. As Garrett noted, a centralized source of truth — like case management software with AI underpinnings — enables lawyers to get up to speed on a case in seconds, saving valuable time.

AI also can act as a force multiplier. It won’t win a case for you, the panel said, but it can surface crucial details in medical records or depositions that a human might miss. This can help attorneys identify strengths and weaknesses in a case, leading to better outcomes for their clients.

Prioritizing privacy and confidentiality

Attorneys are ethically bound to protect client confidentiality. The webinar’s panelist agreed that it’s important to use AI tools built specifically for the legal industry and not rely on public-facing, free-to-use generative AI platforms like ChatGPT to input sensitive client data or documents.

“Use tools that are built for the thing you’re doing… tools that are built for legal tech, for AI” said Garrett. “Don’t go type a bunch of stuff in ChatGPT online and think it’s going to be private. Don’t upload a bunch of documents. Those are out in the wind.”

Son cautioned that even the theoretical risk that this data could be used to train public models can lead to a waiver of privilege. Instead, he said, look for vendors that offer enterprise-level solutions with specific safeguards and platforms that use secure APIs and have strict policies against using data for model training.

“That’s where I see the real risk, and that’s where you’re making sure you’re picking a vendor that [has a] zero retention on the data,” said Son. “They’re making sure they’re using the enterprise version with the APIs. Any responsible vendor is going to do that. And it’s very helpful if your vendor can show that they’re adhering to the common security frameworks, whether it’s ISO 27001 or SOC 2.”

The risks lawyers need to understand

As AI becomes more integrated into legal practice, lawyers must be aware of the inherent risks. Verbit’s Son noted a couple of key areas.

Hallucinations and fact validation: AI can “hallucinate” or invent information, including fabricated legal citations. A reliable AI tool should link back to the original document or testimony, allowing you to easily audit its output.

“You need a clear, traceable sourcing so you can check that authority before it goes anywhere near some kind of filing or submission to the court,” said Son. “In other words, what we always say, trust but verify.”

The inexperienced junior associate: Bar associations increasingly expect lawyers to understand the capabilities and limitations of the AI and technology tools they use.

“The analogy I use is just like you wouldn’t delegate a key piece of work product to a junior associate without any review, you can’t just delegate blindly to an AI system either,” said Son. “Treat your AI like you would a very fast, very bright but inexperienced junior attorney on your team. So, you give guidance, you check the work and you never forget, you’re the one who owns the final judgment.”

Why Verbit is at the forefront

At Verbit, we’re building secure, legal-focused AI solutions that allow personal injury firms to work smarter without sacrificing confidentiality or accuracy. From real-time deposition insights like Legal Visor to advanced transcription and analysis tools, Verbit enables firms to keep pace with rising demands while preserving the human touch that defines great lawyering.

By carefully selecting technology that prioritizes security and by maintaining a human-in-the-loop approach, firms can harness AI to become more efficient, grow their practice and ultimately deliver better outcomes for their clients.