Technology in the legal profession: Brodies and AI

In light of the Law Society’s new “Guide to generative AI”, Brodies IP associate and member of the Law Society’s Technology Law and Practice Committee, Ally Burr, gives an insight into how Brodies is approaching Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace.  

At Brodies, we believe that the right technology, including AI, can enhance the legal services we provide to clients. Our approach is guided by our commitment to confidentiality, data privacy and security, as well as ensuring responsible and ethical use within our firm.

Different law firms (of varying sizes) are taking differing approaches to the procurement and use of AI within their firms. There is no right or wrong way to approach AI… at least not yet. Meanwhile, the hype around AI in the legal market appears to have cooled slightly, with firms now spending the time figuring out what the technology can actually be used for.

For our firm, we have been active in investigating and trialling numerous products to ensure we find the right one(s) for our business and clients. In taking our time to come to the right decisions, we have found that many AI products were initially rushed out and were not, in our view, sufficiently reliable to be ready for deployment.

Earlier this year we established an AI taskforce, made up of representatives from across our firm (from trainee to partner, marketing to finance) who are passionate about technology and are open and honest with their views about what works, and what doesn't. The objectives of our taskforce include:

1. Evaluating existing AI technologies to understand what they are good at – for example, Copilot which is integrated with Microsoft software, and identifying use cases where AI will make particular tasks – especially those that are process-driven – simpler and less time-consuming;
2. Identifying opportunities for integration of AI into our colleagues' ways of working;
3. Developing a strategic roadmap for AI adoption, taking into account legal, operational and client-centric considerations;
4. Promoting awareness and providing training to clients on AI concepts, tools and best practices;
5. Monitoring legal and regulatory developments related to AI; and
6. Establishing guidelines, policies and use cases where AI can enhance efficiency, accuracy and/or client outcomes.

We recently held our first AI immersive lab, hosted in our Edinburgh office. This was a major investment of time by the firm, bringing together 20 legal and business services colleagues, to spend an entire week immersed in learning about AI and trialling various products. We had external experts talking to us about where the legal sector is now, and where it is going, in respect of the use of AI. There were many positive discussions and sharing of opinions and ideas on the possibilities of AI - and what the future might look like for our firm.

We also recently collaborated with students from the University of Edinburgh on a project to investigate the impact of AI on how lawyers learn and are trained.

Underpinning all of these initiatives, of course, is the principle that the confidentiality and integrity of client data is paramount. That means not only looking at how we manage data within our firm, but also ensuring that those we work with – suppliers, contractors, for example – are diligent in their processes.

One of the key messages we have been telling colleagues is to be very careful when using free online versions of generative AI products such as ChatGPT. These free-to-use products do not safeguard information (and will likely use any information which you input in order to train their models), and so the message for all law firms should be that no sensitive or confidential business or client information should be shared with these products.

There is no doubt that AI can help lawyers perform tasks such as document review, contract analysis, due diligence, e-discovery, legal research, and drafting, and can help our business services teams to work faster and more efficiently. AI could also enable new business models, improve client service, and create competitive advantages for law firms.

AI will require new skills and competencies and require us to spend time and effort identifying the use cases where it can help us most. The other challenge that we think law firms will need to address is prompting, as AI's output is only as good as its input. That means ensuring colleagues are comfortable in knowing the most efficient ways of asking the AI products to do certain tasks.

AI is not going to replace us as lawyers. But we believe that, if not yet then certainly in the years to come, lawyers using AI will be more efficient than those who are not. One of the biggest challenges that law firms will need to carefully manage (for the sake of the profession), is ensuring that junior lawyers do not become overly reliant on AI and lose the research and critical thinking skills that have defined the role of a lawyer for centuries.

We get asked by clients a lot whether AI is the next cryptocurrency or Metaverse; concepts that received a lot of attention but have never really shifted the dial (at least not yet), or whether it is more akin to the revolution brought about by the internet and email. On that we are clear - it is most definitely the latter.

AI is, at present, the worst it will be. It will only get smarter. And our view is that law firms must embrace it, to remain competitive.