AI has generated a lot of buzz with occasionally wild promises of transforming the legal industry, and in-house legal professionals have been hesitant to adopt it. This article aims to examine what AI is and what it means for your legal department.
AI has generated a lot of buzz with occasionally, wild, promises of transforming the legal industry, According to Wolters Kluwer’s 2020 Future Ready Lawyer Survey, 58% of legal departments expect AI to affect their organisation over the next three years. Yet, only 23% say that they understand it very well. Thanks to our partnership with Della, an AI contract analytics software provider, you can use Legisway and Della together to automate contract review and streamline legal departments’ workflows across the contract management lifecycle, significantly increasing legal professionals’ productivity.
That said, AI is not a magic wand. Nor does it replace the vital role of lawyers. The key is to adopt AI technology into your processes to become more productive, not adopt AI just for the sake of it.
What is artificial intelligence (AI)?
AI, or artificial intelligence, is “the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings” (Encyclopedia Brittanica). With the objectives of AI; learning, reasoning and perception, the role of AI is to fill the gap between what automation cannot do and exclusive human skills i.e. augmented assistance to humans by providing analysis that automation is not capable of doing.
Modern AI, on the other hand, is based on big data. Legal technology is no longer just layering technical modules to automate tasks. It is about integrating a process ecosystem to help lawyers increase productivity. While the pandemic has accelerated its growth in 2020, the legal sector still has a long way to go in terms of embracing modern AI.
AI for data extraction
Most legal departments have access to large volumes of data but haven’t leveraged it to make informed decisions. Big Data is among the most important benefits of AI. With AI, legal departments can make better use of their own data including activities and processes involving large pools of data and make informed decisions. You can save time in identifying key data points in your contracts, making it that much faster and easier to process new agreements in your legal management system. AI technology can extract essential terms and can highlight deviations from your expectations.
What does this mean for your legal department?
- Before AI you needed around 20 minutes on average to understand a new contract. With AI, it is between four and five minutes with the lawyer’s analytical skills which are still crucial in detecting anomalies because the law itself remains complex and certain subtleties may escape the machine.
- Previously AI required a lot of ‘training’ to work. By intelligently leveraging the learnings of all those who are using AI, this is now significantly reduced. So much so that results are clear right out of the box.
- Save time in identifying key data points in your contracts, making it that much faster and easier to process new agreements in your Legisway environment. Della extracts essential terms and can highlight deviations from your expectations.
Takeaway
As you now know, AI technologies can provide productivity gains and costs savings. By freeing lawyers from routines tasks that computers can do, they can focus more time on tasks that no computer can do (well) and really add value.
Legisway helps lawyers to take their rightful place within their company, allowing them to focus on their added value, their legal expertise, and strategic position within the organisation. Our AI tends towards better legal security, combined with the services included in the latest version of Legisway, such as collaborative tools and document lifecycle management, our AI will increase legal accuracy and security when it matters most.