Artificial Intelligence (AI) based in machine learning has been around for quite some time, and has finally started to make a positive impact on legal professionals. For attorneys, this looks like a combination of AI-powered chat assistants and the ability to search databases and get nuanced, tailored results that are relevant to your query.
Both attorneys and paralegals spend much of their time doing research and looking for information. Now that AI has finally reached a higher level of usefulness, it makes sense that law firms are embracing this technology to increase efficiency and optimize their workflow.
For legal teams, here are several ways AI provides the ultimate support.
AI makes searching for cases easier
Searching for cases when you're being charged for search results requires knowing exactly what you're looking for, but sometimes the cases you need to reference won't come up with the most obvious search terms.
For instance, say you need to find information related to a specific landlord-tenant law. If you're using pacer to make this type of preliminary search, you can expect to pay a lot of money for search results you can't even use.
Worse, the information you need might be contained within a completely different type of lawsuit. When searching a database, you'll naturally use landlord-tenant related keywords, and regular search functions will only provide you with landlord-tenant cases.
AI can discern intent and provide broader results
The problem with standard legal search engines is that they don't know how to discern the context of what you're specifically looking for, and they will only return results that match your specific search terms. This made sense in the past, but now that AI has the capability of discerning intent, it's a game changer for legal searches.
For example, say you need to find out what former courts have ruled regarding issues in one of your current cases, but you don't want to use PACER directly because it's too expensive and you don't like dealing with the interface. This is understandable. It doesn't make sense to run your initial searches through a database where you have to pay for your search results when you don't even know what you're looking for specifically.
Instead, you can use a site like Law.co to search for relevant case summaries and citations. The AI-powered search function will give you the docket number and recommend related cases, too. Once you find what you're looking for, you can search for the specific docket number in PACER to access the full case file and save some money. It's easier to run preliminary searches through an AI-powered database that won't charge you for the results of your search.
AI legal chatbots provide insight
Another way AI is supporting the legal profession is through AI chatbots, but these aren't the chatbots of the past. Today's AI chat assistants work much differently and are far more effective at generating relevant, useful responses. For example, you can ask a legal chatbot what certain things mean, or what might happen under a given set of circumstances. In return, you will get responses with nuanced perspectives that contain insights to help solve your problem.
Of course, no legal chatbot is going to be correct 100% of the time, and it's important to always verify information provided by an AI bot. Even ChatGPT doesn't cite its sources, despite this being an obvious perk for anyone wishing to verify the information obtained through this tool.
However, chatbots aren't necessarily designed to be a definitive source of information. They can provide you with concrete, valid information sometimes but their real value lies in idea generation and helping you see the bigger picture and identify potentials related to an issue that you may not have thought about already.
AI will soon be a law firm's most valuable tool
There's no doubt that artificial intelligence and machine learning are incredibly useful tools for any business professional. For those in the legal profession, like attorneys, paralegals, and other people on their team, AI will become indispensable.
Not only does AI make searching for case information easier, but it also supports attorneys in finding new insights and streamlines workflows to support efficiency. Knowing this, it's only a matter of time before AI tools become a standard must-have tool for law firms.
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