A 10,000ft view on AI in law firms

(1) I don't know what's going to happen and neither does anyone else. There are a range of scenarios in play from AGI taking all our jobs through to the bubble pops triggering a recession and we all lose our jobs. Possibly with more positive outcomes in between 🙂

In any case, planning for a range of scenarios seems sensible

(2) This time is different for two reasons; (i) the wall of money trying to break into legal is significantly higher than previous tech waves, and (ii) the LLM-infusion offers a more generalised capability compared to previous iterations of (for example) TAR, workflow, doc auto etc

On (i) see above re: bubble, on (ii) there are fewer hiding places to sit this out until it blows over, which has been a viable strategy in the past

(3) Notwithstanding (2), the capabilities of the tech differ significantly from area to area dependent on context. One of the more useful frameworks in recent years has been that of the jagged frontier (pictured) which shows how LLMs exceed or fall short in completing equally difficult tasks. The examples in the original paper have dated as the technology has improved, but there is value in the underlying concept

To successfully implement the tech in practice needs a deep contextual understanding of the work

(4) The implications of widespread adoption of technology promising (open question if it delivers) a reduction in hours is potentially existential for business models based upon the billable hour (and I also include a lot of 'fixed' fees in that assessment)

To my post earlier in the week there are four questions that need to be considered together around clients, service design, pricing and delivery

It is my firm belief that partners, and other senior fee earners, are best placed to be able to engage with all the variables across 1 - 4. Lawyers are generally very good with "it depends", but they need three things to do so successfully:

• A deep understanding of the work to be done and the clients the work is done for. I take that as a given, in light of the seniority/experience

  
  

• Upskilling on the tech itself - how it works, what it's good/bad for etc. Innovation teams and/or tech vendors are well placed to help with this

  
  

• Upskilling on the commercial impact and the potential strategic responses. Innovation teams and tech vendors are not well placed to help with this. Commercial Finance/Legal Ops/M&BD types might be, but query how joined up that all is

When it's done well, law firms are perfectly capable of innovation. BCLP and Lawyers On Demand is a good example of grasping an early opportunity around the (at the time) nascent ALSP market

Conversely, there are cautionary tales in the (general) race to the bottom in resi conveyancing, or the abandoning of PI service lines when the Jackson reforms started to bite

Firms need to deal with the inherent "it depends" in all this, by trusting, supporting and empowering partners to rise to the challenge

The AI Jagged Frontier