In my last column, I humbly welcomed our robot lawyer overlords. After it was published, a number of people called me out on social media and chastised me for joining sides with the robots so willingly. It would seem that they were decidedly unfamiliar with the well-known meme to which I referred.
Well, rest assured dear readers, I have every intention to resist any and all invading robot overlords unless and until I feel that resistance will be futile, at which point I plan to blindly welcome them. I’m all about hedging my bets.
And, judging by the results of two recent technology surveys, my fellow lawyers are in my corner when it comes to resisting the robot lawyers who’ve come to steal their jobs. For now most are not on board, although they’ve seemingly succumbed to the allure of artificial intelligence’s lesser cousins, data analytics software.
Since lawyers have already acquiesced to the use of the latter software, let’s consider those statistics first. The results of the 2019 ABA Legal Technology Survey show that nearly half of all lawyers (49 percent) have used legal analytics software in the past year. I’ve written about some of the various legal analytics tools available here.
Lawyers from large law firms with over 100 attorneys were most likely to report using legal analytics in the past year at 75 percent, followed by 62 percent from firms of 10-49, 46 percent from firms of 2-9, and 35 percent of solo respondents.
According to the ABA Survey, lawyers have used legal analytics software for a number of different functions including: 1) legal research at 35 percent, 2) developing case or matter strategy at 22 percent, 3) understanding judges at 16 percent, 4) business development at 15 percent, 5) predicting likely outcomes of strategy or arguments at 14 percent, 6) understanding opposing counsel at 13 percent, 7) demonstrating expertise or competitive advantage to clients at 11 percent, 8) understanding jurisdictions at 10 percent, 9) assessing expert witnesses at 10 percent, 10) supporting communication with clients at 9 percent, and 11) estimating matter costs or resources at 8 percent.
Lawyers were also asked about their plans to adopt artificial intelligence software into the law firms. A mere 8 percent reported that their firms currently use artificial intelligence-based technology tools. Large firms with 100 or more lawyers led the way at 26 percent, followed by 5 percent of lawyers from firms of 2-9 attorneys, 4 percent of solo respondents, and 0 percent from firms of 10-49 attorneys. Finally, 9 percent of respondents indicated their firms were seriously considering purchasing artificial intelligence-based technology tools, with large firm lawyers with 100 or more attorneys being the most likely to at 16 percent.
Compare those results to the statistics from the ILTA 2019 Technology Survey, which indicated a stronger overall interest in AI software by responding attorneys. According to the results of that survey, 20 percent of responding firms were using or testing AI technologies and another 25 percent were researching the prospect. Notably, the ILTA Survey included a higher percentage of respondents from larger law firms than the ABA Survey, which might explain the disparate results.
Respondents are asked what they see as the most important benefit offered by artificial intelligence-based technology tools. The largest percentage of respondents indicated that artificial intelligence-based technology tools save time and increase efficiency (41 percent). Lawyers from firms of 100 or more attorneys led the way at 55 percent, followed by 48 percent of firms with 10-49 attorneys, 38 percent of firms with 2-9 attorneys, and 32 percent of solo lawyers.
According to the ABA Survey, 41 percent of lawyers indicated that artificial intelligence-based technology tools would be most useful for increasing efficiency, followed by 24 percent of lawyers who felt it would help with document management and document review. Next was reducing costs at 21 percent, followed by predicting outcomes and reducing risk at 15 percent.
As for when artificial intelligence tools would become mainstream in the legal profession, 16 percent of respondents reported that would occur within the next three years, 19 percent chose the next four-to-five years, and 20 percent chose the next six-to-10 years. .
And last but not least, lawyers were asked to share their major concerns regarding artificial intelligence tools. Fifty-one percent were most concerned about the accuracy of the technology, 48 percent worried about the reliability of technology, 46 percent were concerned about the cost to implement it, 37 percent chose the amount of time required to learn how to use it, and 31 percent were focused on the difficulties encountered when changing processes.
The bottom line: Cutting-edge technologies like data analytics software and artificial intelligence are here to stay. Most lawyers are already aware of these tools, and many are actively considering whether to use them, if they aren’t already doing so.
So, what are you waiting for? Join their ranks and stop resisting the inevitable. Like it or not, the robot lawyers are coming. I don’t know about you, but I plan to embrace the future, accept their inevitable reign, and loudly declare that I, for one, welcome our new robot lawyer overlords. #RobotLawyerInvasion
Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase, web-based law practice management software. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Daily Record since 2007, is the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York. She’s easily distracted by the potential of bright and shiny tech gadgets, along with good food and wine. You can follow her on Twitter @nikiblack and she can be reached at niki.black@mycase.com.