A law firm recently reached out to me to conduct a CLE on Mental Health Challenges in the Age of AI. It was an interesting request. I’ve spoken about AI issues on panels, as a keynote speaker, and in the classroom, and I wrote about it for Tennessee Journal of Business Law. I also conduct workshops and CLEs on mental health in the profession. But I’ve never been asked to combine the topics.
Before I discussed issues related to anxiety about job disruption and how cognitive overload affects the brain, I spent time talking about the various tools that are out there and how much our profession will transform in the very near future.
If you’re like many lawyers I know, you think that AI is more hype than substance. So I’ll share the information I shared with the law firm.
According to a 2024 Bloomberg survey on AI and the legal profession, 69% of Bloomberg survey respondents believe generative AI can be used ethically in legal practice. But they harbor “extreme” or “moderate” concerns about deep fakes (e.g., human impersonations, hallucinations and accuracy of AI-generated text, privacy, algorithmic bias, IP, and of course, job displacement.
Those are all legitimate concerns. But you’ve heard the saying by now that AI won’t replace lawyers — it will replace lawyers who don’t use AI. I think that’s true and there’s some evidence to back me up.
During the CLE, I highlighted statistics from the 2024 Clio Legal Trends Report, which compiled findings from a comprehensive survey of 1,028 legal professionals, including lawyers, paralegals, and administrative staff; 1,437 Clio customers; and a random sample of 500 law firms across the United States. Clio employed a large language model (LLM) to evaluate the work activities outlined in the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database, assigning automation scores to various legal tasks. This analysis involved over 7 million time entries from anonymized billing data, categorizing work activities according to their revenue contributions. Here are some key findings from Clio’s report:
- In 2023, 19% of lawyers used AI for work. In 2024 that number jumped to 79%.
- 25% have adopted AI “widely or universally.”
- 84% of legal respondents believed law firm AI use will increase over the next 12 months, including 68% of those who aren’t currently using the technology.
- 74% of hourly work in the legal industry could be automated by AI including 57% of lawyer work, 69% of paralegal work, and 81% of legal assistant work.
But what would clients think if we used AI for their work? 70% of clients are either agnostic or would prefer to work with firms that use AI, including 59% of baby boomers, 68% of Gen X, 75% of Millenials and 81% of Gen Z. One in six Americans has consulted with ChatGPT for legal advice.
For business lawyers, life is becoming exponentially easier (unless you bill by the hour, which will be the subject of another post). Why? You can use Spellbook AI, which claims to be “the only GPT-4 powered tool that has been tuned for contracting & integrated with Word…In the same manner that a junior associate would be expected to accomplish work without constant supervision, Spellbook Associate can use a single prompt to effectively work through legal matters such as producing complete financing documents from a term sheet, reviewing hundreds of documents for risks and inconsistencies and revising employment packages.”
Fortune 500 companies and law law firms use Harvey, which is trained on extensive U.S. and EU legal databases, covering over 50 languages and various legal systems. Paxton maintains a legal library with over 200 million documents, does real-time clause comparison, redlining, and contract creation suggesting language for contracts based on regulatory guidelines. CoCounsel, backed by Thompson Reuters, extracts data from contracts and ensures that contracts comply with a company’s policies. And there are so many more.
This isn’t hype and it’s not going away.
Although I require my students to use AI for brainstorming in my business associations and transactional skills classes, many law schools, ban or discourage AI. But that’s changing. 55% of law schools surveyed by the ABA reported that they offer classes dedicated to teaching students about AI. 83% reported the availability of opportunities, including clinics, where students can learn how to use AI tools effectively. 93% of respondents expect to change their curricula to address the prevalence of AI tools. Although only 29 deans responded to the survey, we should still pay attention to these statistics. My institution, the University of Miami has just appointed a Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer and has rolled out a program on AI in teaching. My law school hired an AI fellow to help faculty members and students integrate the technology and has established an AI Lab. 272 law professors have joined the AI & Law-Related Course Professor List, the brainchild of Daniel Linna from Northwestern and April Dawson of NCCU.
I spend hours a day thinking and learning about AI with all of the good, the bad, and the ugly. But with all of the new tools, I also have to think deeply about how I train the next generation of lawyers. Having access to a precedent to draft from is one thing, but these AI platforms are pretty good and will only get much much better very very soon.
As you think about your own experiences, whether you’re part of a law firm, an academic institution, an in-house legal team, or a client of legal services, consider these questions:
- How do you currently incorporate technology in your legal practice or teaching?
- What are your biggest concerns about using AI in your legal work?
- In what ways do you think AI can enhance the negotiation and drafting process?
- How do you ensure ethical compliance while integrating AI tools?
- What skills do you believe are essential for the next generation of legal professionals in an AI-driven environment?
- How can collaboration among legal professionals improve the implementation of AI tools?
- What training or resources would be most helpful for you or your team in adopting AI technologies?
- How do you communicate the value of AI tools to your clients or colleagues?
- What strategies can you use to maintain client trust when implementing AI solutions?
- How can law schools better prepare students for a future where AI plays a significant role in legal practice?