The Impact of AI on Legal Research: How the Role of Lawyers is Changing

Today, 53% of Am Law 200 firms have purchased generative AI tools, and 45% use them for their legal work. We can say that we are living in the era of AI as it is all the rage right now, with more and more industries adopting it – and the law industry has clearly been no exception. The rise of this technology has paved the way for incredible developments in automation and increasing productivity, with these changes expected to continue in the future.

But how has AI impacted the legal industry? And legal research specifically? AI will become an essential part of being a legal practitioner in the future, so for anyone taking an online law degree or about to become a practitioner, the following will equip you with the necessary knowledge and skills to navigate the profession in the AI era. After all, as a person working in the industry, you would inevitably want to know what the shifts brought by AI could mean for your profession.

Transforming Legal Research

Reshaping Traditional Methods

AI technologies are streamlining an area that traditionally requires a demanding, time-consuming process that involves reviewing an overwhelming amount of case law, statutes, and other legal literature.

Since the dawn of the search engine, while this process has evidently become faster, these systems to this day only produce results by using keyword searches, and often, the information given is irrelevant to legal practitioners. In contrast, the speed and meticulousness of advanced AI algorithms used in legal research can scan massive legal databases in just a few seconds, along with highlighting the most pertinent case law, statutes, or legal literature. Inevitably, this has the potential to enhance the legal advice and the service that general professionals can provide to their clients.

Building Strategies

Using legal data itself and anything beyond allows AI to assess possible future outcomes through the utilization of predictive technology, which can be foundational to building better case strategies. AI can show legal professionals unprecedented insight into lawyers, judges, courts, damages, and many other factors that influence a litigation outcome. In using data like previous rulings, AI can serve as a tool for lawyers to better understand the uncertain or obscure aspects of a case and to build up strategies to resolve them.

Lex Machina for example is a legal AI tool that can predict the behavior of courts, judges, lawyers, and parties through legal analytics. It also uses publicly available court records that total more than 27 million cases across 94 federal districts and over 1300 state courts in 34 states including the District of Columbia. Clearly, tools like Lex Machine can be very powerful for lawyers, as these data-driven insights can be used to prepare risk-reduction strategies in litigation processes and increase the likelihood of a successful trial.

Research Scope

There is an inherent limit to physical resources on what lawyers can search through, and this is even the case with online search engines where accessibility barriers (such as paywalls) on certain non-open access libraries can severely hinder the ability to find newer sources. AI technology however can expand research and encompass a wider range of sources and jurisdictions under just one single unit, and this can effectively push legal research beyond its traditional boundaries.

These can include sources from rare legal encyclopedias to international laws. More sources mean a more enriched perspective for legal professionals, and this can allow teams to approach research with greater focus and efficiency. The latter can be particularly helpful for those working in international cases that involve clients who are operating in multiple jurisdictions.

Benefits and Challenges

Benefits: Client-Centered Experiences

By using AI for legal research, lawyers can understand clients at a more granular level. This can allow personalized communication to individual preferences based on the data analyzed. It can include anticipating client needs by scanning the data from past interactions and case history. And most importantly, it can increase access to justice, especially for those who need it the most.

As lawyers, it must be understood that legal practice is not just assisting people with their cases. The relationship between lawyer and client is crucial, and both parties need to understand how to get through it smoothly. AI can in fact be the key to bringing a human touch to legal proceedings, and other AI-powered tools such as 24/7 chatbots, virtual assistants, or the generation of tailored contracts or documents can greatly assist in this.

Benefits: Higher-Quality Work

One of the key advantages of AI is its accurate and generally error-free processes. According to LexisNexis, another legal research tool under Lex Machina, 93% of legal professionals who used tools such as Lexis Draft (which is an AI-powered legal document generator) found they had more freedom to focus on more important tasks, and 91% found that accuracy was improved along with risk reductions in documents. A human can easily miss information when reviewing sources or doing research, but AI with its mechanistic and systematic qualities will consistently scan every piece of information that is fed to it.

Leveraging AI for quality control and legal reviews can be especially useful. The technology carefully reads, cross-references, and summarizes every document and reveals any discrepancies or inaccuracies in data findings to legal professionals. The level of detail of these disclosures can be as small as finding a specific clause that may cause a potential risk for the firm or client. With current AI technology, legal firms have primarily found that the use of AI has been particularly useful in improving the quality of contract drafting while still lacking in client memo drafting.

Challenges: Privacy and Confidentiality

Legal professionals should be very careful when inputting any sensitive data, as there is always a possibility that it can make its way into the public domain. It is fundamental that any AI system is complying with data protection laws and regulations. And it should be noted that the AI themselves may also collect information about the user with third parties for commercial interests.

For example, just in February 2024, AI platform Chat GPT experienced a data breach that leaked sensitive data including personal data details, conservation records, and login credentials. In addition to ensuring data security, practitioners should be transparent to clients on what sort of data is being inputted. This not only maintains the trust of clients but is also a way to validate the accuracy and reliability of outputs. 

Challenges: Cost

AI still remains a novel technology, and the cost of its implementation can vary significantly depending on the size of a law firm. For larger firms, the cost of implementing AI accommodating 500 users can reach up to $250,000, and this does not include hiring personnel, maintenance, and support. However, integrating AI training into existing data sets rather than opting for new ones can be a cheaper option, especially for smaller firms and solo practitioners.

In addition, many of today’s AI systems generally have monthly/annual subscription fees that need to be taken into consideration. Basic AI systems will inevitably be cheaper than more advanced ones that involve features such as legal reasoning analysis or automated document drafting, so cost is too dependent on use. While many larger firms have found significant long-term cost savings (e.g. in operational costs) in their AI investments, fewer smaller firms have made their transition towards AI precisely due to costs, creating a new division within the industry itself.

The Changing Lawyer

First and foremost, it is very unlikely that AI will replace lawyers. However, what is happening and will most likely continue to happen is that AI is changing the roles and relationships legal professionals have with their work. From the automation of superfluous labor in legal tasks like appointment scheduling to enhancing legal research, and therefore increasing overall productivity for firms, lawyers will generally be able to produce faster and better quality legal work for clients.

Instead of being concerned about potential doomsday scenarios such as being outmoded by technology, AI should really be viewed as aids that empower the legal profession rather than entirely replacing them. In fact, it is likely that the continued expansion of AI will actually further drive an increase in legal demands and the need for lawyers. Of course, ethical standards and principles of justice should always be upheld anytime the technology is used to avoid malpractice and losing the trust of clients, as well as maintaining basic professional standards.