By Paul Monaghan -
Many solicitors will now be considering the coming revolution that social commentators are predicting about artificial intelligence (AI). The recent developments in this type of technology have alerted the legal profession to the great opportunities offered by AI and the potential positive benefits to legal practice and clients that may arise.
However, it is important to weigh these benefits with the risk and associated costs that may be incurred implementing and using this evolving technology. Any benefit must be weighed against the fixed and variable costs of upgrading and continuing to adopt systems that are compliant with professional and ethical obligations in legal practice.
Cost issues
Leveraging technology to address the competitive nature of legal practice and minimise costs in the provision of legal services is not a new consideration for lawyers. However, as new technologies become more sophisticated, practitioners should be mindful of the burgeoning transformative costs imposed on the legal profession.
The cost of AI is currently very high and hopefully may decrease. Previous revolutions in technology often resulted in expensive systems being quickly outpaced by new and less expensive systems. However, for the time being, when considering adopting any new technology, it is useful to consider the relevant costs that may be incurred, such as:
- Detailed AI program information that is required.
- AI Performance Data that can account for the cost and time spent on adopting the technology.
- What is the payment schedule for use of AI.
- Calculating the annual Fixed Costs – often associated with upgrading of computer systems and purchase or licence agreement on using AI.
- Recording the annual variable costs – the hourly cost of using AI in legal practice.
- The hourly cost analysis – for billing purposes and internal costing of time allocated to a matter
- Annual / Monthly Budgets for cost analysis of performance using AI in legal practice.
Additionally, any adoption of AI in legal practice must factor in the costs of compliance, such as:
- Developing governance policies and processes to decrease risk when using AI.
- Costs for all necessary training of solicitors and legal support staff.
- Measures to ensure the AI system is compliant with the legal profession legislation and copyright laws and does not breach confidentiality and privacy.
- The means to review and test the AI tools being used.
- Advising clients of the merits for using AI and the implications of using client data that may be disclosed.
All of these factors need to be considered in association with the compliance of a solicitor’s professional and ethical obligations.
The regulatory landscape
There is a need for a regulatory framework that addresses the issues of convergence, divergence and harmonization in future AI policy. The current challenges include:[1]
- Having different regulatory regimes.
- The need for common principles and compliance policies for a changing environment.
- The ongoing need for education and the inherent cost of regulatory compliance.
- The impact of large learning language models.
There will be an ongoing cost by the profession to comply with the professional bodies that regulate the legal profession and to ensure the proper and accepted use of AI. These will include:
- The development of guidelines for every legal practice. [2]
- What will be the level of technical knowledge required by a solicitor to meet the test of satisfactory professional conduct and to meet the required delivery of legal services in a “……competent…diligent and prompt manner….whilst still avoiding any compromise to the integrity and professional independence of the solicitor…” [3]
The Law Society has developed a suite of resources – AI for Legal Professionals – to assist practitioners understand the impact of AI on legal practice and comply with their ethical and professional obligations.
AI and the future of legal practice
As we enter a new phase of technology, the ethical and professional standards that we have adhered to will continue to be the silver threads of hope and guidance for the legal profession.
Smaller firms and sole practitioners should take heart, the time of the ‘fountain pen lawyer’[4] is not over and it may be entering a golden age, by providing low cost effective and quality legal services without the use of expensive technology.
The writer takes pride in being one of the old-style practitioners, where technology is yet to match the human data base of ‘knowledge, soft skills and wisdom’ that many years of practice bestow upon their diligent legal practice. Computer programs have not yet matched these attributes, where legal practice only requires a good writing fountain pen, a yellow lined notepad and common sense.
Good luck to you all.
Paul Monaghan is a Senior Ethics Solicitor at the Law Society of NSW.
