“If we have legal AI tools, do I need to study law?”

What skills lawyers need in an AI-powered practice

Laura Hodgson

The changing landscape – AI and the legal profession

• Legal AI is transforming law firms and corporate legal departments
• How is AI being used in law now?
• But - humans still very much in charge selecting when and how AI is used

"69 per cent of legal professionals say their organisations now use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, and 82 per cent expect this usage to increase in the next year."�Thomson Reuters, 'Future of Professionals Survey 2023'

“The most successful law firms of the next decade will be those that best harness technology—augmenting lawyers, not replacing them.”�Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls, speech to the Law Society, March 2024

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A look at AI and due diligence

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• 2000 – lawyers went through documents in files in physical data rooms. Would take days (and nights) to review corporate documents.
• 2010 – data rooms now online and content reviewed remotely.
• 2015 – machine learning scanning for data in data rooms, speeding up time of due diligence by up to 70%
• 2025 – Generative tools indicate further improvement on the 70%
• But a change also in human experience – from admin to advice

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What can AI do—and what can it not do (yet)?

• Exponential improvement in the processing of legal ‘administrative’ tasks (drafting, extracting, synthesis, search)
• Now human review still essential: 40 per cent insist on it for trust and accuracy AND it is a regulatory requirement to review
• Law is not just admin which means we need to focus on all the tasks that lawyers do: applying experience, knowledge, principles, ethical frameworks, etc.
• AI weaknesses: no empathy, struggles with nuance, lacks ethical reasoning, can’t see the reactions of the client
• Different areas of law will use AI differently – Big Law vs High Street, claims firms, ALSPs but also advisory practices will differ from M&A

“AI lacks the empathy, creativity, and context sensitivity that complex legal practice demands.”

Richard Susskind, Tomorrow’s Lawyers (3rd ed., 2023)

“AI can review contracts up to 60 per cent faster than humans, but over 40 per cent of surveyed lawyers say human review is still essential for accuracy and client trust.”

Harvard Law Today, summarising research by McKinsey & Co., 2023

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What remains human about the law?

• Law is about how humans relate to each other – it is a relational system between people or legal entities
• Judgement, ethics, persuasion, trust, empathy, creative problem solving are all skills that any lawyer must have
• What clients want is not administrative help with legal tasks but insight, commercial knowledge and experience from practice

“Law, at its heart, is a human system for resolving disputes, managing relationships, and shaping society. Machines can process rules, but only people can interpret and apply them in the round.”

Professor Dana Remus, former White House Counsel, in The Yale Law Journal, 2023

From a recent conversation with the general counsel of a large manufacturing client I heard that the legal sector needs to change its business model away from charging for administrative tasks towards charging for valuable legal advice and knowledge. It’s no longer the processes that are valuable but what the lawyer knows and how they can help.

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Skills for lawyers in an AI-powered practice

• Traditional legal skills: analysis, critical thinking, communication, advocacy, negotiation, sales, writing, drafting, administration, planning, resilience
• New skills: digital literacy, interdisciplinary teamwork, data management, knowledge management, empathy
• Longer term? What kind of tasks will lawyers do?

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“More than 70 per cent of law firm leaders agree that digital skills and AI fluency will be mandatory for all junior lawyers by 2025.”

PwC Law Firms Survey, 2023

Legal auditing?

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• Lawyers increasingly have access to GenAI tools, enabling contracts or notes of advice to be created quickly.
• How will law firms work with this change in dynamic? We are already being asked to review work being created by AI, becoming sense checkers and a sounding board.
• What skills do you think this type of role needs?

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The value of legal education – regardless of AI

• Learning about law is far more than simple learning how to practice law – it always has been about a practical element, learning how to relate to people
• Law is also about ways of governing human relationships and values
• Legal principles and the structure of law (not laws in isolation) remain essential to practice

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