Trust me I’m an AI: Winning lawyers will rethink the way they work

By Geoffrey D. Ivnik, Esq. | Director of U.S. Legal Markets, LexisNexis

The transformative nature of Legal AI, generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) technology trained for the legal profession, is destined to change the way that law firms work — but the firms who will see the greatest benefits from these tools will be the ones that are willing to develop new skills and new ways of thinking with their lawyers.

How should law firms be envisioning the path to this new frontier? According to the recent LexisNexis report, Gen AI in Law: A Guide to Building Trust, it starts with having an understanding of the opportunity legal AI tools present.

“A big part of my job is change management and trying to work through adoption and what that means,” said Krista Ford, director of knowledge, research and information services at Steptoe & Johnson. “Gen AI is a huge leap. It’s like nothing that we’ve seen before — it’s going to change absolutely everything. We’ve been talking about AI for a while, but most of that is machine learning. This is a completely different animal.”

Change management is the key

Firms therefore need to have a robust change management plan in place if they want to successfully adopt Gen AI technology and be certain that lawyers are using it effectively.

In fact, management consulting firm BCG suggests that introducing Gen AI should follow a “10/20/70 Rule”: 10% of effort should be spent on getting the data right, 20% should be spent on AI technology decisions; and the remaining 70% should be dedicated to transforming people and business models.

“Law firms need to ensure that the right training and support for a cultural shift is in place to help professionals who are making the journey to adopt and use these technologies in their day-to-day practice,” says Jeff Pfeifer, chief product officer at LexisNexis.

Investing in training

Building trust in the use of Legal AI tools often requires a degree of hand-holding given that lawyers will be laser-focused on client matters and hitting their billable hours targets, rather than having to spend time changing the way they work.

 “If left to manage on their own, the attorneys won’t succeed, largely due to their hectic schedules which leave little room for adopting new tech,” says Peter Geovanes, chief innovation and AI officer at McGuire Woods. “That’s why we’ve committed to what we term as ‘foundational training’ to cover the basics, followed by workshop training a week later that focuses on their specific use cases and aids in their understanding of the tool’s capabilities.”

A big part of the foundational training involves being able to write effective questions for the Gen AI tool to answer — if the prompts they enter aren’t well-crafted, then they may not get the information they are seeking. McGuire Woods has also consulted with its professional liability insurer to put in place mandatory ethics and responsibility training for all of its lawyers on Gen AI use.

Developing new internal skill sets

While all lawyers may need to attain a basic level of AI skills, it is unlikely that all lawyers will need to become AI experts. Rather, AI will simply become another area of technology use in which some lawyers will be stronger than others.

However, as discussed in the Gen AI report, Legal AI adoption may require entirely new skill sets at firms. More than a third of Am Law 200 firms (38%) are planning to hire technologists and AI specialists this year to help with their Gen AI initiatives.

“We see law firms exploring the required resources and skills needed to power these capabilities within their own organizations,” says Pfeifer. “That may mean adding people that are proficient at various data labeling activities or data science work that is necessary to drive the right kind of outcomes from interaction with a generative AI toolset.”

Making trust real

Law firms need to build trust across their organizations to move from the experimentation stage to widespread Legal AI adoption. Right now, 40% of lawyers are on the fence when it comes to trusting Gen AI for legal work.

Firms may just need to be patient in building trust rather than expecting attitudes to change overnight. For lawyers to gain trust in the technology, some experts say it is all about getting as much hands-on experience with Gen AI tools as possible, enabling them to see the benefits up close for themselves.

“Ideally those early experiences create a foundation an individual can build skill and capability on top of,” says Pfeifer. “Leading organizations are helping their lawyers through that process by supporting training and other activities that help make that transition as smooth as possible.”

Gen AI has the potential to change how law firms operate and how lawyers do their jobs. As the head of knowledge management at a top 150 US firm told us, “You can’t escape it, Gen AI is going to become the new normal and people are going to need to get comfortable with it.”

By taking steps to build trust, lawyers will see the benefits of Gen AI — from enabling them work more efficiently to opening new service lines and revenue streams — so they are more competitive, more profitable and more relevant in an increasingly digital world.

REPORT: Gen AI in Law: A Guide to Building Trust

We interviewed a variety of AI leaders from the legal profession to explore how law firms and corporations that embrace Legal AI are building trust in the use of this new technology. In addition to the section of the report we unpacked today, which addresses the importance of rethinking workflow, skills and culture, other sections of the report include:

• Key factors that drive trust with Gen AI;
• Addressing concerns about accuracy and confidentiality; and
• The steps to building trust.

Read the full report now: Gen AI in Law: A Guide to Building Trust.