Clients are increasingly looking for faster, more accurate, and cost-effective legal services. A recent post by Lexis, "The Disconnect Between Law Firms and Clients on Use of Gen AI," discusses how clients now expect their counsel to leverage this advanced technology to reduce legal costs.
Similarly, Clio, in its blog, " Legal Innovation and AI: Risks and Opportunities," notes that law firm clients who have used generative AI in their own businesses are demanding faster turnaround times and more cost-effective legal services. For early-adopter law firms, this should result in improved client satisfaction and retention due to enhanced service quality and responsiveness.
As we explore the capabilities and benefits of generative AI in litigation, it becomes clear that embracing such technologies is not merely an option but a necessity for those looking to lead in the competitive legal landscape.
Current Challenges in Litigation
Trial lawyers face numerous challenges, which differ somewhat depending on type of practice. For plaintiff firms (or firms doing fixed fee litigation work), efficiency is essential. These lawyers are often bogged down by inefficiencies that drain time and resources. As caseloads continue to grow, so does the strain to maintain quality and timeliness—factors directly tied to client satisfaction and retention.
For firms that bill by the hour, there is pressure from clients to spend less time on various tasks, for lower rate timekeepers to do the work, and the ever-present concern that it will not get paid for all the work as a result of bill review reductions.
For both types of firms, a common challenge is hiring and training junior lawyers. The legal industry is grappling with a talent shortage, making it increasingly hard for firms to recruit and retain skilled junior attorneys. This challenge is compounded by the fact that many clients are unwilling to pay for the time required to train new lawyers. They expect seasoned expertise and efficiency, often at a lower cost, putting additional pressure on firms to deliver high-quality service without passing on training costs.
Generative AI solutions like esumry can alleviate some of these pressures by automating routine tasks and streamlining workflows. This allows senior trial attorneys to focus on high-value activities while ensuring that work typically delegated to junior staff is completed quickly and accurately. By reducing the need for training junior lawyers and the time spent performing routine tasks, firms can mitigate the impact of talent shortages and meet client expectations more effectively.
Will AI Robots Replace Trial Lawyers?
The short answer is no. As Chief Justice Roberts correctly observed in his 2023 Year End Report on the Judiciary, “legal determinations often involve gray areas that still require application of human judgment."
That said, many large language models (LLMs) can rapidly generate well written work product. As a result, writing tasks that often require substantial time can be quickly drafted with the aid of an LLM such as Claude Opus, Google Gemini and OpenAI GPT. The written product is generally at least as good as a first or second-year associate. Plus, the turnaround time is seconds or minutes, not hours or days.
The drawback of these LLMs is that sometimes they “hallucinate” (i.e., make stuff up). As a result, every state bar that has addressed the use of generative AI by lawyers has emphasized that the lawyer has a duty to review the LLM work product for accuracy under Rule 5.3 of the Model Rules of Professional Responsibility.
Additionally, lawyers must comply with state bar rules on confidentiality. As we have previously written, this makes using off-the-shelf consumer products (such as ChatGPT) a problem for client work. That’s because these companies not only retain the data submitted by the lawyer but may use the information to train or improve their LLMs. As a result, it is possible that confidential information provided to these services may be disclosed to other users. Even if the likelihood of this happening may be low, state bars have made clear that using LLMs for client work without confidentiality protections such as zero data retention violates Rule 1.6.
Litigation-Specific Generative AI Products
Given the compliance issues, trial lawyers should be using generative AI products that are specifically built for them when confidentiality is required. Fortunately, there is a growing number of such products on the market that will perform tasks quickly, with a high degree of accuracy. Additionally, many of these products keep the lawyer in the loop to comply with state bar rules on supervision.
For example, EvenUp drafts demand letters to insurance companies in injury cases. Another company, Attestiv, uses AI to detect whether photographs and other forms of digital evidence are authentic. Esumry uses generative AI and workflow automations to analyze and summarize deposition testimony.
Despite the advantages of using these types of products in litigation, their adoption comes with its set of challenges. Data security and adapting to new technologies are common concerns. To mitigate these, it is essential for firms to choose AI solutions that are not only powerful but also prioritize confidentiality, privacy, and data protection with zero data retention and no-training policies. Ease of use must also be considered to ensure that team members are both comfortable and competent in utilizing new generative AI tools.
Successfully Implementing Generative AI in Litigation
According to a recent Forbes article, law firms that have been early adopters of generative AI report significant productivity gains, up to 10 hours per week. Early adopters also get a competitive edge by positioning themselves as forward-thinking, which can be a crucial differentiator in a crowded market.
Successful AI implementation requires strategic planning and ongoing support. Integrating AI tools should be seen as part of a broader initiative to enhance litigation productivity and innovation. Regular updates and training, coupled with an open dialogue about AI’s capabilities and limitations, can cultivate a culture that embraces technology as a key element of practice management. (If your firm does not already have a policy on using generative AI, it should. Click here for a model form that can be adapted for your use by your firm.)
Conclusion
Staying ahead means embracing the tools that are redefining the standards of litigation practice. Using generative AI presents a transformative opportunity for law firms, offering solutions to longstanding challenges, including workflow inefficiencies, the high labor cost of pretrial preparation, and the difficulty of finding and training junior lawyers. By leveraging generative AI solutions, firms can enhance their litigation service delivery, improve client satisfaction, and gain a competitive edge in a rapidly changing market.
esumry is ready to help your firm meet the growing demands of the modern litigation landscape.
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