It’s no secret that the United States is considered the most litigious nation in the world, and with good cause. The US holds the highest lawyer per capita rate of any country, and by a big margin. The legal industry in the US is worth approximately 375 billion dollars and continues to grow at a steady rate. But what will happen to this industry with the growth of Artificial Intelligence? What will happen when seemingly overnight, one attorney can accomplish in a day what used to take 10 attorneys to do? Will new technology finally level the playing field and make legal services affordable and accessible to more people? Or will the legal industry remain exclusive to those who can afford to pay sizeable legal fees.
AI will cause significant disruption to the US Legal Services Industry
The most visible effect of AI disrupting the Legal services industry will be fewer traditional law jobs. The need for entry level attorneys will be significantly reduced, particularly in the fields of research, document review, contract drafting. Larger firms will reduce their attorney footprint as they shift their resources to smaller teams with assistance from AI. At the same time that AI will cause larger firms to shrink, it will also even the playing field with solo attorneys and small terms. AI allows smaller firms to scale their operations and compete at a higher level than they have historically been able to do so.
AI will make legal services will become more affordable and accessible
Another result of AI being properly utilized in the practice of law is that fees for legal services will drop. As AI routinizes tasks, clients will increasingly demand lower costs, and firms will have a more difficult time justifying their high hourly fees. Furthermore, AI technology will allow more consumers to serve their own legal needs. In the end many more individuals and businesses will have access to legal services at overall lower prices.
As the legal industry adjusts to these technological advancements, the role of the lawyer also evolves. Strategic, High-value work that requires multi disciplines will remain in demand. But attorney’s whose main value was their ability to draft complex documents, will be less valuable. Attorneys with a combination of soft-skills and multiple disciplines will serve the highest function in the years to come.
Attorneys will still be needed, but in a different way and in less numbers
While AI will definitely reduce the need for licensed attorney’s the accountability that a lawyer provides cannot be wholly transferred over to a computer. AI still makes many errors, and if these errors had legal consequences on a client there still needs to be a form of accountability. That means less attorneys will take on more cases for less money, with increased support coming from AI technologies.
AI will bring significant opportunity to lawyers who are able to adjust quickly
Just as there are winners and losers in any technological disruption, the legal industry adjusting to the growth of AI will be no exception. But for the lawyer willing to adapt and lean into and incorporate these technologies into every part of their practice, there remains enormous opportunity for growth. Historically lawyers are slow to adapt to change, and inevitably a large number of attorneys will be out of business or unemployed. But for a small percentage of attorneys, these technological changes will lay the foundation for tremendous growth, particularly over the next 2-3 years as the industry adjusts to significant disruption. Attorneys who have their own pipeline of clients and also know how to properly market their services will be able to take on larger volumes of work than previously was possible. A single attorney will have a higher revenue capacity than before the rise of AI legal platforms. Also, the decades old and outdated practice of billing by the hour will be replaced with flat-fee and hybrid-fee agreements.
What should the next generation of attorneys and law firms prepare for as AI plays a bigger role in the legal services industry?
Perhaps the biggest change is that a lawyer’s internal knowledge of law will no longer be a significant differentiator. Simply knowing the law will not be enough. Rather, how an attorney applies, personalizes and packages their knowledge in to a practical solutions for their client. It will only be a matter of time until the efficiencies that come from AI will be a requirement in the practice of law. It will be necessary for firms and attorneys to competently use AI to handle more clients, deliver faster turnaround of work product, reduce overhead and compete aggressively on their prices and fees. At the same time, client expectations will rise, and faster service will be expected across the legal service industry. Ironically, with the growth of AI as a tool in the legal industry, the practice of law is likely to become more human, as the technical parts of legal practice are taken over by tech platforms. The attorney will need to shift to strategy empathy, judgment, and advocacy. Desk lawyers who don’t do well with people will have even less value than before AI came into the picture.
Lightning Legal uses the latest AI technology in its legal practice and is always incorporating the latest legal technology to save our clients’ money.
Lightning Legal is committed to using all new technology to increase efficiency and optimize results for our clients. By combining the latest technology with over 14 years of first-hand legal experience, we are able to provide the highest quality legal services along with cost-effective rates. Our commitment at Lightning Legal is to provide the highest quality legal services we can for our clients, while still making those services, affordable, accessible and available anytime. We are experienced business attorney available to assist you.
