Artificial intelligence (AI) has gone from science fiction to reality, and law firms are beginning to see its potential benefits. Fisher Phillips, a major law firm, became the first to use Casetext’s AI legal assistant, CoCounsel, this year. CoCounsel uses an advanced language model called GPT-4 from OpenAI. It helps lawyers research any legal question, develop creative legal arguments, and review, analyse and summarise documents and files efficiently and responsibly. The tool was rigorously tested and evaluated by Fisher Phillips during its development, and they helped deploy it successfully.
CoCounsel has already received an enthusiastic reception from lawyers, who describe the tool as “earth-shattering” and feel like they’re in a science fiction novel when they use it. For example, one lawyer asked CoCounsel to write a research memo detailing the language required for an employment application under Massachusetts law. CoCounsel produced a 20-page document with detailed analysis and a list of citations to 28 cases. In another test, CoCounsel analysed Leo Tolstoy’s book War and Peace, reporting on which characters die and how, the ways that the protagonist experiences personal and professional growth, and what annoys him. CoCounsel produced a 32-page result with a summary chart and detailed analysis backed by page and line citations.
According to Evan Shenkman, the chief knowledge and innovation officer at Fisher Phillips, CoCounsel helps lawyers turn over more stones in the same amount of time, enabling them to spend more time and attention on developing a well-rounded strategy, better-developed argument and focusing on the more exciting aspects of litigation and counselling. While CoCounsel adds value, it hasn’t been used in the billable hour’s sense. Danielle Moore, a Fisher Phillips employment class action defence partner in San Diego, says CoCounsel is “phenomenal” and produces analyses within five minutes that would take an associate five hours.
Nick Hafen, the head of legal technology education at Brigham Young University’s law library, investigated the software and found a lot to like. CoCounsel is a promising tool for lawyers, and it will be exciting to see what other AI-powered tools emerge in the legal field.
Source: ABA
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