Every breakthrough in the field of law has been revolutionary, from typewriters to computers, from using libraries only for legal studies to using internet portals to find relevant case law, from faxes to e-mails. Now is the time for artificial intelligence to enter the legal profession. Although the legal services market is one of the largest in the world, it is also considered that its operations are not sufficiently digitized. The legal profession is quite conventional in its approach and hesitant to adopt new technologies. It is time we accept that AI has the potential to change the way lawyers currently work and the way law is perceived in India.

The Current State of Artificial Intelligence in Law

The legal services market is one of the largest in the world with a global value of nearly $1,000. At the same time, it remains under digitization. For better or worse, the legal profession is steeped in tradition, notoriously slow to adopt new technology, and lawyers are still comfortable with and dependent on solutions developed years ago.

This is likely to change in the coming years. Artificial intelligence has the potential to change the way lawyers work and how the law is perceived in India. This procedure is ongoing.

In the field of law, one of the most significant disruptions that AI can make is in the field of legal research. The Indian legal system is constantly changing and lawyers can use AI to gain unique insights into the legal realm within seconds.

An AI research platform can complete research in seconds, and whether a law firm has 400 lawyers or a single practicing lawyer, AI can balance the cost of legal research while maintaining a consistent level of quality. It can equip lawyers with powerful tools to help them become better at advising clients.

Application of artificial intelligence in the legal world

Various areas of artificial intelligence in the legal sector can be discovered by IoT application development companies with adequate research and a careful understanding of the legal industry. Current applications of artificial intelligence in the industry can be divided into six main areas:

• DUE DILIGENCE: Lawyers use artificial intelligence tools to conduct due diligence and uncover key information. In light of the current scenario, developers have decided to integrate a lot of new features including contract review, legal querying, and electronic media for this part of the industry.

• PREDICTIVE TECHNOLOGY: Artificial intelligence (AI) helps generate results for legal investigations and deal evaluations. This characteristic of AI programming appears to be extremely beneficial for legal firms and industries.

• LEGAL MECHANISM: Lawyers can use AI technologies to obtain information points from previous or past cases. They can also use this data to track the referee’s instructions and predictions. This technology is likely to gain importance on a global scale in the near future.
• DOCUMENTATION MECHANISM: Various types of software arrangements are used in the legal industry to develop documents that help in the collection of data and information. There are many useful documents in the law firm industry. As a result, it is really beneficial.
• INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: Artificial intelligence algorithms show lawyers how to examine vast IP files and extract meaning from a variety of attractive texts.
• ELECTRONIC RECEIPT: Lawyers have long created their own receipts. After AI software development technology was applied in these businesses, lawyers’ invoices were converted into electronic form.

AI technology has the potential to increase efficiency. With the help of machine learning algorithm input provided to the application, artificial intelligence works on many algorithms capable of speeding up the verification and processing of documents. For a variety of reasons, simply eliminating manual tasks is not enough to integrate artificial intelligence into a company’s infrastructure. Rather, due to increased competition among businesses, the demand for businesses to use AI has increased. Law firms that use artificial intelligence can work faster and pass savings on to clients and other related businesses more quickly. Firms lack the ability to automate this process and legal services are slightly more expensive than other firms in the industry. However, it is not clear how the transition will take place. Legal firms with larger financial budgets are expected to adapt to AI technology more steadily and quickly. On the other hand, new startups and small businesses can start with a productivity-based approach that is automated and progressive compared to larger corporations.

The face of future law firms

In recent years, the legal business has seen a significant increase in competition. Understanding technological changes and client requirements have become essential for law firms. Those who turn a blind eye to these changes will become obsolete in the next few years.

The law firms of the future would be very different from what we see now. Let’s look at some of the qualities that advanced law firms should have:

1. INNOVATION OF CLIENT SERVICES:

In the future, the way of serving and treating clients will change significantly. Law firms would approach their clients with fresh ideas and more real and cost-effective legal solutions. Currently, law firms in India bill their services based on the billable hour technique; however, this billing method will be deprecated in the future. To better serve their clients, law firms should consider rethinking their pricing practices and implementing a performance-based pricing strategy [PBPS]: As the name suggests, this pricing plan is client-friendly because clients will only be charged when they meet their goals. and the same would strengthen professional relationships between clients and law firms.

2. FOCUS ON HIGHER PROFIT:

Currently, law firms are engaged in increasing revenue, and if we look carefully, we can see that competition among law firms is constantly expanding, but the demand for legal services remains stable, which makes it extremely difficult to grow revenue. As a result, law firms will focus on better profitability and margins rather than revenue in the future.

3. CREATING TECHNOLOGY AS THE BASIS FOR GROWTH:

In recent years, we have seen a significant increase in the introduction of new AI-based solutions aimed at making the legal sector more efficient and client-friendly. From E-Discovery tools to automating contract drafting, a variety of legal technology startups have sprung up to improve the lives of lawyers and law firms. AI-powered legal solutions help legal firms become more efficient, reduce costs and increase revenue. The law firm of the future will incorporate these technologies and collaborate with other businesses to develop AI-based solutions that will benefit the legal industry.

4. FOCUS ON BRAND VALUE:

In the future, law firms will put more emphasis on the presence of their brand. A bit of single sloppy advice from a few employees can ruin a firm’s reputation, which is why legal firms must rely on AI-based legal solutions and platforms as well as tech-savvy lawyers to increase their brand equity. On the other hand, law firms must increasingly organize conferences and participate in cross-border seminars and workshops.

Areas in the field of law stand out as potential for the use of AI

CONTRACT REVIEW

• Contracts are the lifeblood of the economy; without them, no business transactions can take place. However, the contracting process is excruciatingly time-consuming. It can delay negotiations and prevent companies from achieving their goals. Human error is common, it’s no surprise that attention to detail is essential and that contracts can be thousands of pages long.
• Startups like Lawgeex and LexCheck are exploring the idea of ​​automating this process. These firms are working on artificial intelligence systems that can automatically process proposed contracts, evaluate them in detail using natural language processing (NLP) technology, and determine which parts are acceptable and which are not.

CONTRACT ANALYSIS

• The first step is to sign the contract. Adherence to the agreed terms and obligations after the contracting parties have signed the contract can be a major problem. This issue is particularly acute for large firms that will have millions of outstanding contracts with thousands of different counterparties spread across multiple internal divisions.
• Companies that are currently ignorant of the nature of their contractual ties to an alarming degree. AI can help solve this problem. NLP-based solutions are being developed to extract and contextualize critical information across a company’s contract suite, making it easier for all stakeholders to understand the nature of a company’s business obligations.

• Sales teams will be able to track when contracts are due for renewal, allowing them to capitalize on revenue opportunities. Procurement teams can have visibility into the details of existing agreements, giving them the power to renegotiate if necessary. Regulatory teams can have a broad view of the company’s operations to ensure compliance. Finance teams can make sure they are always ready for M&A and due diligence.

• DISPUTE PREDICTION

• Several AI teams are developing machine learning models to predict the outcome of pending cases, using a corpus of relevant precedent and case facts as inputs. As these forecasts become more accurate, they will have a significant impact on the practice of law. Law firms are beginning to use them to pre-plan their litigation strategy, speed up settlement negotiations, and reduce the number of cases that need to be handled.

• Toronto-based Blue J Legal is one such company working on an AI-powered legal prediction engine, with an initial focus on tax law. According to the company, its AI can accurately predict case outcomes 90% of the time.

LEGAL RESEARCH

• Legal research is an area where machine intelligence is gaining ground. Legal research used to be a labor-intensive process, with law students and corporate associates searching volumes of case law for relevant precedent. With the recent introduction of personal computers, the practice has gone digital, and lawyers are increasingly conducting research using computer applications such as LexisNexis and Westlaw. These outdated technologies lack intelligence beyond a basic search function.

• In recent years, a new wave of companies has emerged that aim to use improvements in natural language processing to transform legal research. These platforms go beyond mechanical keyword matching and bring the most relevant existing legislation.

AI: Lawyer replacement?

• In the legal field, many innovative solutions have been introduced to increase lawyer productivity, including contract analysis, trademark search software, legal research software, and much more. However, no AI-based software aims to replace lawyers but instead improves the authenticity and accuracy of research and analysis.
• In India, the legal profession continues to evolve and more AI-based automated assistance tools and software are on the way. This AI-based automated helper software will not replace the legal profession that requires analysis, decision-making, and stratification, but instead will make them more efficient and competent while automating numerous administrative tasks.

AI Challenges in Law

COMPLETELY NOT ACCEPTED BY LEGAL PROFESSIONALS:

• Looking at India, AI in law is still in its infancy. Lawyers are hesitant to embrace this technology because they believe it will have a negative impact on employment. They fear that technology will replace the primary source of income for a lawyer or law clerk, leading to increased unemployment across the country. Most senior lawyers are hesitant to change their routines and want to practice in a traditional way, without the use of artificial intelligence.

THE LEGAL PERSONALITY OF AI IS NOT DEFINED:

• The legal subjectivity of artificial intelligence is not explicitly defined elsewhere in current law, and robots are complicated in nature, making it impossible to determine whether ordinary laws and standards would apply in the same way. As a result, if the rights and obligations of AI-controlled devices and tools are not clarified, misunderstandings will occur because the current legal system does not make a robot responsible for its own actions or omissions.

LACK OF PROPER SYSTEMS AND DATA:

• Machine learning is based on algorithms that are fed into computer systems and then acted upon by the machine. One of the major obstacles to using AI technology in India is that outdated technologies and machines are used, the data is often incomplete and the machine will not be able to function accurately unless it is given a large chunk of reliable data. (see here)

EXPENSIVE:

• AI machines are sophisticated machine systems capable of learning and responding on their own, which requires a significant financial commitment. Most AI-driven machines are manufactured by foreign corporations, making it even more difficult for small and medium-sized law firms to acquire them; only large law firms can afford them.

PRIVACY AND PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA:

• It is important that AI-driven machine learning bots are built to keep the parties’ personal information safe. Because machine learning works with large amounts of data, it is even more important that the legal framework ensures that data is not misused, that confidentiality and fair due process are followed, and that a layer of security is created to prevent privacy breaches. is implemented.

• In 2018, NITI Ayog released a paper titled “National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence” which considered the importance of AI and how it can be used in various sectors in India. In the 2019 budget, she also proposed the launch of a national artificial intelligence program. Despite all these advancements on the technology front, India still lacks effective legislation to regulate and control the AI ​​industry.

To ensure the inclusion of AI, we need to take a balanced approach. Here are some suggestions:

1) A solid regulatory framework must be created that clearly sets out the duties and obligations of this intelligent machine.

2) The aspect of responsibility should be considered to guide his behavior.

3) Stricter data protection regulations are required to protect privacy. Consequently, the solution is not to retreat into the background and avoid technological breakthroughs but to embrace them and use AI to our advantage by introducing the necessary legislation to protect the interests of its users.

How Will Artificial Intelligence Change The Legal System

• Review Automation and Assisted Legal Discovery
• Simplification of Legalese
• Expedite the Due Diligence Process
• Administration Automation
• Personal Legal Assistant
• AI Chatbot for Client Onboarding
• Predictive Analytics for Prediction of Legal Outcomes
• Divorce Proceeding Automation
• Smart Automated Contracting