THE REVOLUTIONARY IMPLICATIONS OF AI ON THE LEGAL PROFESSION

AI is here, and it is not going away. It impacts the way lawyers and law firms work, the employment of lawyers and paraprofessionals, and law school students. AI signals a significant shift in economic tectonics, leaving cracks that may be permanent. Law firms (not solo lawyers) are profiting from the rental of lawyers to a world awash by a tsunami of laws. AI promises to perform the same work as junior lawyers and paralegals in a split second at a very modest cost. No more need for all that grunt legal work by people.

The big law firms have the resources and the genuine incentive to fight this change in their time-honored business model. They can use their money and influence to curtail the use of AI, limit its use, make it too expensive to use, and pay off its developers to severely restrict its use through copyright laws and costly licenses.

The big guys could destroy the advantage AI gives the solo practitioner (the fastest-growing segment). The bigs can lobby Congress and even the courts to relegate AI to a secondary role, although that is next to impossible to conceive given the efficacy of the programming. 

The truth is that AI is more trustworthy than human beings for the tasks it is asked to perform.

In my video, I misspoke and used revolutionary "war." But that is not far from the truth. Enter the more powerful corporate giant clients. What is their incentive? Anecdotally, they are angry about big law firm bills. They introduce more and more controls over billing. AI enhances their position. They do not have to pay the minions of lawyers. One way or another, they can get sweetheart deals on AI programs and develop their own. Ultimately, predicting that the big clients will win the battle is reasonable. They will insist on the management techniques we listed in our AI Part Five Series.

The news worth celebrating is AI has arrived, and what it can do for the legal profession will knock your socks off. Big firms and solos are on parity, and all lawyers can become thinkers and creators rather than mindless readers and collators. Jump into this clients big and small. You control the future.