Artificial Intelligence & Traditional Law Firms
“People don’t have to worry,” says Khalid Al-Kofahi, vice-president, R&D at the Thomson Reuters Centre for Cognitive Computing, a new technology centre that will focus on research in machine perception, reasoning, knowledge management and human-computer interfaces. “Most of the innovations in artificial intelligence and machine learning will introduce automation at the task level, which will allow people to focus on more complex tasks.”
All of this does not bode well for traditional law firms. A recent global research study by Deloitte concluded that conventional law firms are no longer meeting today’s business needs. The majority (55 per cent) of participants in the study — legal counsel, CEOs and CFOs — have taken or are considering a significant review of their legal suppliers. The study also points out that purchasers of legal services want better and more relevant technologies, to be used and shared on integrated platforms.
The drive toward AI, however incrementally, will likely also mean that law firms are going to have to review their traditional billing model, says Furlong. The time when law firms were the only game in town, where lawyers were the “only vehicle” by which legal services could be delivered, is coming to a close, and AI is going to help to put that to an end, he says. “All of these innovations like artificial intelligence are going to reduce the amount of time and amount of effort required to obtain a legal outcome, so the very lax business model of selling time and expertise, rather than outcomes and results, is coming to an end.”