A recent report from Goldman Sachs, found 44% of legal tasks could be performed by AI – more than in any occupation surveyed except for clerical and administrative support.
Not all lawyers are convinced. One recent survey found that 82% of them believe generative AI can be used for legal work but just 51% thought it should.
AI has the potential to transform the legal profession in three big ways.
First, it could reduce big firms’ manpower advantage
“You can be a smaller, leaner specialised firm and have the capacity to process these sorts of cases.”
Lawrence Lessig
Second, AI could change how firms make money. If AI can do the work of “the armies of young lawyers to whom they pay less than they charge clients” in seconds, firms will need to change their billing practices.
Third, AI could change how many lawyers exist and where they work. Making legal services cheaper and more widely available, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses that currently often struggle to afford them.
“People who go to lawyers don’t want lawyers: they want resolutions to their problems or the avoidance of problems altogether…If ai can provide those outcomes then people will use ai.
Richard Susskind
Many people already use software to do their taxes rather than rely on professionals; “Very few of them are complaining about the lack of social interaction with their tax advisers.”
Source: The Economist
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