Will Your Lawyer Be an Automated AI Robot?

Throughout my career in the job sector, I have been at the forefront of technological evolution, particularly in artificial intelligence implementation for hiring and recruitment. We are at the dawn of major automation in my industry, promising significant process and service improvements, whilst posing potential job title consolidation and displacement in the recruitment industry.   

However, speculation abounds that other industries, such as the legal, accountancy, and healthcare sectors, may be subject to major consolidation due to AI’s incredible power to conduct tasks. As a professional, it’s crucial to have a good lawyer, a good accountant and a good doctor – all three bullet proof your life as best as possible. Personally, the idea that one or potentially all three of these could be replaced with AI is daunting. I question if I feel comfortable removing the human out of all three. I think not because I value the human connection, empathy, support and personalized advice gained based on years of relationships with these professionals.  

There are various types of law, from personal injury, corporate, intellectual property, the list goes on. In considering the impact of AI on the legal profession, and to investigate more the expectations for AI to replace certain legal tasks, I conducted three interviews with lawyers from various specialties. 

Matthew Rossetti, founder of Sentient Law in Austin, Texas, specializing in start-to-exit corporate business law and cybersecurity, shared his perspective:

“I think it’s certainly going to serve as a useful tool, for automating routing tasks, legal research and drafting. However, I do not anticipate AI replacing the human element of providing counsel for the client. If it does or if clients choose to do so, utilizing AI in such a way will be at the client’s peril. We are already seeing signs of this with ChatGPT.”  

To bring in a different point of view, I spoke with Keegan Caldwell, the founder of Caldwell IP and a patent attorney:

“I believe AI will replace a substantial number of billable hours that IP attorneys do, such as form work for things like copyrights and trademarks. Our firm is already investigating AI for patent drafting. Today, the technology cannot process the figures within the patents, but I believe that tools are at a level to cope with about 50% of what we do as patent attorneys.” 

Keegan continued, emphasizing the necessity for attorneys to embrace AI to stay competitive:

“The reality is attorneys in the IP space that fail to embrace AI within their work practice will inevitably fail and be displaced from the industry.  We must remember that AI is a tool and it’s something that can be used to make us better at our job, the sooner we embrace the more competitive we are.”

Michael Bailey, a leading immigration attorney who has worked for all three leading immigration practices in the U.S., shared:

“Flat out, yes, AI will be responsible for work in my industry, from letter creation to form filing in the immigration legal profession. Do I think they will eventually replace the attorney in my industry? I do not believe this to be true. There are many complexities to my job role that I believe AI is far away from being able to cope with and have the problem-solving skills that I have as a legal professional in my field.   

After interviewing these leaders in their differing fields, the consensus is clear: AI will be prevalent in their industry in a big way, and they are all very aware of it. Rather than looking at it as a threat, they all independently spoke of how they see it as a means of removing menial tasks. That’s exactly what we have seen in the hiring process in the recruitment industry.  Removing menial tasks and using AI process automation is clearly going to remove jobs, and for many it can be daunting and scary. However, the elite professionals at the forefront of their disciplines seem unphased, recognizing that the layers of complexity to their job surpass the capability of AI. I personally must agree.  

Despite the impending automation, these professionals and their colleagues emphasize the personal touch AI lacks. While AI may handle repetitive tasks, filing and letter creation, the complexity of legal work remains beyond its reach. As I reflect on this research, it's evident that we're still far from the idea of an all-knowing AI handling all aspects of legal needs on a day-to-day basis.

For those in the legal field that sit in more junior roles or are knowingly conducting tasks that have been mentioned here that are susceptible to automation, it may be time to start flexing your mind and drive to become a higher ranking professional and build your network to secure your position in the future.  

In the recruitment industry, there is a major consolidation of the talent needed to conduct routine tasks and AI is used as a tool more than ever for this. Just as roles like sourcers and schedulers are becoming more automated in my industry, the legal sector is likely to witness a similar job role automation and consolidation in the coming years. 

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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