5 Ways Artificial Intelligence is Improving The Legal Field

Throughout history, movies have depicted the insertion of artificial intelligence into the everyday lives of individuals, often with nefarious outcomes. Today, what was once considered mere fantastical portrayals orchestrated by Hollywood are becoming a practical reality, but it is thankfully a positive inclusion of technology within real life. That's right, artificial intelligence (AI) is now a vital part of many fields and has changed the way they do business. One such sphere is the legal arena.

Artificial intelligence in this aspect does not mean actual robots, but instead the incorporation of various computer programs that utilize algorithms and to make the task of practicing law easier and more effective in various ways.

Law Firm IT Support expert, Scott Clarke of Menark Technologies shares how his law firm clients are using AI to provide top legal services to clients.

Five Facts About Artificial Intelligence and The Way it's Improving The Legal Field

1. It's Growing, Rapidly And Moving into New Arenas

Statistica reports have found that the use of AI is expected to increase into 2025 and become almost a $30 billion industry. The legal IT field is primed for such AI technology and represents one of the avenues in which AI is currently expanding. Experts believe AI to be a useful tool in completing real-world applications, cutting down on the tasks that need to be performed by humans.

2. Gives Lawyers Access to Vast Information & Predict Outcomes

Even if a person is a genius, intelligence wise, there is simply no way any lawyer as a mere human can catalog everything they will ever need to know about each and every case. AI provides instant access to vast amounts of relevant data. It can even predict the outcome of a case if the same approach is used. For example, a recent Harvard Law report stated:

"Because AI can access more of the relevant data, it can be better than lawyers at predicting the outcomes of legal disputes and proceedings, and thus helping clients make decisions. For example, a London law firm used data on the outcomes of 600 cases over 12 months to create a model for the viability of personal injury cases. Indeed, trained on 200 years of Supreme Court records, an AI is already better than many human experts at predicting SCOTUS decisions."

3. Accurately & Effectively Reviews Documents & Contracts

Another way AI can make life easier on a legal team is through reviewing contracts and documents. A Law Technology Today article written by Andrew explained this aspect as follows:

"AI can often help sort out problems faster and with fewer mistakes that are often overlooked by the human eye."

AI can also help improve contract creation and can even alert a legal team for approaching contract dates. It can also peruse relevant documents for a case, by learning various algorithms.

4. Takes Care of Tedious Tasks

As with any job, there are elements that are exciting and then those that are simply tedious. AI within the legal field means a legal team is freed from many humdrum tedious tasks, which are relegated to an AI program. The end result means they are able to handle more important aspects of their job, such as court visits, analyses, counseling, and negotiations.

5. It's Been Around & is Here to Stay

The improvements within the legal technology arena made possible by AI are not simply theoretical. In fact, an article in Information Age stated that "AI is not a totally new phenomenon, and the legal industry has been using AI in the litigation discovery process for nearly 10 years."

This means AI has been part of the legal field in the form of predicting legal outcomes, document review, management, contract review, and legal research for some time. Legal research is a big area in which AI aids lawyers and creates solid cases. Software, like Ross Intelligence, is an example of a database that produces relevant data for specific searches. For example, as an experiment, one lawyer tried to find relevant information himself, without the help of AI. Finding one specific case relevant to a current case took this litigator 10 hours to find himself. When he searched within the AI program, the case popped up immediately.

Overall, the combination of AI and natural human recognition and experience gives lawyers the ability to extricate relevant information faster and easier than ever before. This, in turn, translates to an increase in productivity and efficiency within the legal field. The five points above are ways that AI has been and will continue to positively impact the legal field.

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