One of my lawyer friends recently
wrote a somewhat unsettling post about re-reasing
Asimov and the coming of our robot overlords and it reminded me of reading an interesting
article in the New York Times dealing
with technology, artificial intelligence and law practices. The subtitle was "I, Robot, Esq.? Not
Just Yet". The article, written by
Steve Lohr contained some fascinating insights.
For example
one study shows that the adoption of automation could result in a reduction of
13 percent of lawyers' billable hours over the next several years. Another study shows that nearly half of all
tasks performed by lawyers could in fact be performed by robots. Anecdotal reports show impressive results
from using artificial intelligence in both legal research and in drafting legal
memorandum.
All of this
made me think how much the practice of law has changed in the three decades I
have been at it. When I started, legal
research meant spending hours in the library (something I actually enjoy) and word processing seemed to require
massive technological skills. Today it
is shocking how much information can be accessed instantly via Google and other
search engines and perhaps more importantly, how much we rely on these
services.
It is
daunting for lawyers to consider this information while at the same time
dealing with competition from automated services like Legal Zoom and Rocket
Lawyer which have created competition in the areas such as estate planning and corporate
formation. I also read this week that
legal fields such as personal injury are expected to decline as auto makers
continue to make safer vehicles (artificial intelligence again).
It occurs
to me that all lawyers should embrace
new technology the same way that large firms have begun to embrace technology
for things such as document review and e‑discovery. It cuts down the cost of delivering legal
services. However, when clients have
problems, they want things from an attorney that a robot cannot provide, at
least not yet. The article identifies
four particularly human areas: strategy, creativity, judgment and
empathy. I might add
"communication" to the list but as anyone who has ever shared a joke
with Siri or Alexis might attest, maybe that too can be outsourced to
artificial intelligence.
