The legal sector has traditionally been known as being one that is fairly archaic and slow adopters of technology. The reason is that a majority of the law firms prefer sticking to what they know because they don’t really have time to adopt new technology and change how they do things.

But AI is different. Artificial intelligence is a form of machine learning that enables computers to observe and respond to changes in their environment without requiring constant programming to do so.

Since the use of AI in the legal sector is only going to grow, here are some of its effects that we should be familiar with.

Legal research

 

With artificial intelligence and machine learning starting to leak into the legal sector, processes that were once done manually can now be de-humanised for efficiency and better decision making.

AI-powered tools can use data from millions of documents and help find relevant information to support your case. In addition, a greater use of chatbots may see AI play a crucial role in online legal support services, replacing both online dispute resolution and human-based assistance for laypeople.

Contract review

 

Artificial intelligence has shown itself to be extremely useful in completing contract reviews and other e-discovery tasks, which are tasks that normally take a lot of human hours.

The use of AI software will allow for an accelerated pace of contract evaluation and e-discovery tasks, which will lead to increased proficiency and higher customer acquisition.

 

Due diligence

 

Efficiency is a prime concern for lawyers. Being able to identify issues and potential problems with great accuracy in the early stages of your case as well as keeping up with the voluminous amount of documents involved in the process are just a couple of time-consuming tasks that can be easily automated by artificial intelligence.

AI has been implemented in several similar industries globally including retail, healthcare, medicine and finance. Meanwhile, the legal industry is slowly but surely embracing AI to reduce costs and provide efficient document automation services.

 

Accelerate verdict

 

The legal system is stuck dealing with cases involving menial offences that don’t require much deliberation. But that’s what’s enabling the courtrooms to maintain piles of pending case files.

When dealing with serious offences, there is less room to make mistakes and it becomes extremely important to consider human evaluation. This is because of the need for time-consuming research to back up the decision.

AI could take over and share the load in cases that don’t require human interference so that there is more room for the judiciary to focus on cases that require human expertise. ​

Predict case outcome

 

Legal counsel and service providers are usually aware of the possible conclusion of cases. But AI predictions are not just confined to the knowledge, experience and judgment of a law firm.

Artificial intelligence legal software actually makes use of sophisticated algorithms to quickly predict case outcomes and save valuable time and money for the legal fraternity.

It can be used to factually deduce the probable outcomes of cases being adjudicated by analysing quantifying elements, such as crime patterns, defendant behaviour, and even social media sentiment while responding to case-specific variables.

Law firms can use this technology to foresee results and suggest possible winning options for particular cases.

 

Digitised billing

 

Lawyers can spend unnecessary time manually managing data which is why countless legal firms are already using AI to make their processes faster and more efficient. One such process is billing.

Law firms employ a tonne of staff to manage their mountains of paperwork using old-school paper filing systems. But AI can simplify the billing process by accurately calculating payments based on both performance and billable hours – depending on your preferred model.

It can be configured to automatically prepare invoices when the work is completed, improving efficiency in law firms and customer service for clients.

The future of artificial intelligence

 

Even with the rising popularity of AI in the legal sector, it is good to remember that it can’t replace humans. You will always need legal consultants, partners, data scientists, and machine learning experts to help you sort through mountains of legal data. That’s where Fintelligent comes in!

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