Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Legal Profession By- Vaibhavjeet Singh

Impact of Artificial Intelligence

on the Legal Profession

Authored By- Vaibhavjeet Singh

Artificial Intelligence has been a hot topic of discussion these days. From Politicians, Journalists, to even Law Professionals, AI is a matter of great concern to them, as it is affecting these sectors significantly. The term "artificial intelligence" (AI) was coined by John McCarthy, the father of AI. Well, if we look over the Law profession with regard to Artificial Intelligence.  From typewriters to computers, from using libraries purely for legal study to using internet portals to find pertinent case laws, from fax machines to emails, each advance in the realm of law has been revolutionary.

Despite being one of the world's largest markets, the legal services industry is regarded to be under-digitized. The legal profession is conservative and hesitant to embrace new technologies. It is critical to recognize that Artificial Intelligence has the potential to transform how lawyers currently practice and how the law is regarded in India.

As stated by DY Chandrachud "Technology is relevant in as much as it supports efficiency, transparency, and objectivity in public government". AI is present to assist judges in rechecking or evaluating their work, procedure, and decisions." In the long run, the major goal is to increase common people's access to justice.[1]

The AI Task Force Report was the first phase of India's Artificial Intelligence framework, and it was utilized to conduct in-depth artificial intelligence research. This task force was constituted by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and led by N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, to explore the financial benefits of AI and how it may benefit India.

How Legal Profession will adapt

to Artificial Intelligence?

Because the legal profession in India is still thought to be labor-intensive, the entire operation is done manually. As a result, AI is still in its early stages, with many older supporters feel that technology should not be used extensively since it may someday take over man, thus avoiding the concept of AI in legislation. Having said that, there are many tech-savvy lawyers, as well as huge legal firms, who are taking full use of technological developments to gain a competitive advantage. [2]

We all know that the Indian legal system is broad, with our Constitution being the world’s longest; as a result, when times change, it is vital to apply AI in law to cope with the dynamic environment. Lawyers can employ machine learning technology to gain unparalleled insight into the legal world in a matter of seconds in the field of legal research. One such business that has recognised and eagerly embraced AI's capabilities is Cyril Armarchand and Mangaldas.

The market of Artificial Intelligence in Law

With a global value of about $1 trillion, the legal services sector is one of the largest in the world. At the same time, it is still being digitized. For better or worse, the legal profession is steeped in history, notoriously hesitant to embrace new technologies, and lawyers are still at ease with and reliant on solutions devised years ago.

This is likely to change in the next years. AI has the ability to change the way lawyers practice and how people perceive the law in India. This treatment is currently being carried out. One of the most significant disruptions that AI can bring to the legal world is in the field of legal research. The Indian legal system is always developing, and with Artificial Intelligence, lawyers can acquire a unique insight into the legal environment in seconds. An artificially intelligent research platform can conduct research in seconds, and whether a law company has 400 lawyers or one practicing lawyer, AI can balance legal research expenditures while keeping a consistent level of quality. It can provide effective tools to lawyers to help them become better at advising clients.[3]

Does Artificial Intelligence replace a lawyer?

Lawyers wonder if the introduction of artificial intelligence into the legal field would result in the replacement of lawyers. Artificial intelligence-based solutions would on the other hand, boost legal firms' and lawyers' efficiency and productivity.

Although Artificial Intelligence-based software will never replace lawyers, Intelligent Automation-based software is boosting the authenticity and accuracy of result-oriented research and analysis. Artificial intelligence-based software can help lawyers save time. It can also assist lawyers and legal firms in providing better result-oriented advice to their clients.

Artificial intelligence applications in the Legal Sector

IoT app development organizations can discover many areas of AI in the legal sector with proper investigation and a careful grasp of the legal industry. The present Artificial Intelligence applications in the industry are divided into five major categories:

1. Due Diligence: Artificial intelligence tools are used by lawyers to undertake due diligence and unearth background information. Given the current situation, developers have chosen to incorporate a flood of new features for this segment of the market, such as agreement review, legal inquiries, and electronic media.
2. Legal Mechanism:  Lawyers can obtain information points from prior or past instances using Artificial Intelligence technologies. They can also utilize this data to keep track of the judge’s instructions and forecasts. In the near future, this technology is probably going to gain more significance on a global level.
3. Documenting Mechanism: In the legal profession, many sorts of software arrangements are used to create papers that aid in the collection of data and information. The legal services sector makes use of a number of papers. It is therefore greatly useful.
4. Intellectual Possession: Lawyers can use artificial intelligence algorithms to evaluate vast IP files and extract meaning from a variety of appealing materials.
5. Prognostication Technology: AI assists in the production of outcomes for legal investigations and agreement reviews. This AI programming feature appears to be incredibly advantageous to law businesses and sectors.

AI technology has the ability to improve efficiency. Artificial Intelligence works on multiple algorithms capable of speeding up document verification and processing activity with the help of the machine learning algorithm input provided to the app. Simply eliminating manual work is insufficient to integrate artificial intelligence into the company's infrastructure for a variety of reasons.

Legal firms that use artificial intelligence can operate more rapidly and pass savings on to clients and other relevant industries. Companies lack the ability to automate this process, and legal services are slightly more expensive than those provided by other firms in the field. However, how the shift will take place is unknown. Law firms with higher budgets are anticipated to adopt AI technology more steadily and quickly.

In comparison to larger enterprises, new startup firms, and small businesses may be able, to begin with, a productivity-driven approach that is automated and progressive.

The legal industry has seen a major increase in competitiveness in recent years. Understanding technology advancements as well as customer needs have become crucial for legal firms. Those who ignore these changes will become obsolete in the next years.

Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Judicial System

We may witness judicial delays when we look at the Indian court system. The judiciary is overcrowded with over 3 Cr. pending cases, causing unnecessary delays in administering justice to the people, and as the saying goes, justice delayed is justice denied. As a result, numerous efforts are being made to enhance the current scenario, such as reducing vacation duration and enhancing judging strength, but more needs to be done, which is where Artificial Intelligence comes in.

According to research, AI can be quite effective at the evidence stage, which is crucial in any case. It takes up a large amount of court time because it is such a crucial stage in any case. Artificial intelligence-assisted analysis can help judges make quick judgments. Multiple delays are a regular aspect of this stage for a variety of reasons, including delays caused by the investigation in charge, the absence of witnesses, and so on.

In such scenarios, the job of AI technology would be to predict probable delays, which would aid judges because they would know in advance what causes the aforementioned delays in similar cases, such as murder. This prediction technology will be advantageous since judges will be able to effectively handle the workload of each case. It will also aid courts in taking preemptive efforts to prevent hostile witnesses by giving them greater police protection.

According to India's Chief Justice, using AI technology in the legal and judicial processes will be helpful. It will significantly help the Indian legal system if it is implemented with an appropriate legislative framework outlining standards and regulations.

Role of ChatGPT on the Legal Profession

In November 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT, a chatbot that leverages AI to have conversations and answer queries. Lawyers can use ChatGPT for legal research. Lawyers can immediately find pertinent case law and statutes using GPT's capacity to rapidly process and analyse massive amounts of data, saving valuable time and increasing the accuracy of their research. As there are many statutes and legal precedents in the Indian legal system, this can be extremely helpful. GPT can also be used while drafting documents. It can be a great help when writing contracts, briefs, or pleadings because it creates content that is comprehensible and can be modified and reviewed by attorneys before being submitted. Additionally, throughout the discovery process, the model's predictive coding capabilities can assist attorneys in swiftly and effectively identifying pertinent documents, saving both time and costs.

In addition to the aforementioned, this powerful tool may be used to evaluate contracts by identifying significant clauses and provisions and providing summaries of the terms and conditions, as well as to help with preparing legal briefs and memoranda by offering suggestions for legal arguments and citations.

It seems obvious that AI is here to stay. If you see it as a threat, it might be one. However, the goal of AI is to facilitate your work and encourage you to increase your productivity. The same is true with ChatGPT. Although one shouldn't entirely rely on this tool because of its current limitations, it can help a lawyer's practise develop if used wisely. The technology is now available for free, so it only makes sense for us to experiment and investigate to see how we can use it to our advantage.[4]

Conclusion

Advances in technology have clearly affected the vision of the legal sector; it can be concluded that AI in the field of law has multiple benefits: it has supported legal practitioners in speedy research; and, with its predictive technology, it can assist judges in decision-making processes. Lawyers cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence. It can help people in specific areas of employment, but AI lacks strategic thinking and is not as creative as humans. Robots do not have emotional intelligence or empathy, nor do they have the ability to improvise in front of a judge.

Incorporating AI into the legal industry presents a number of challenges, including the fact that it is still vulnerable to a variety of risks, necessitating the development of a complete legal framework to manage Artificial Intelligence and prevent it from exploiting its clients' data. We shall be able to reap the full benefits of AI only when we have a legal framework governing AI's conduct and reducing the risks associated with it.

I hope that the application of artificial intelligence will begin in the "Bar" and eventually expand to the "Bench," where judges themselves may utilise the power of NLP Summarization to construct the sum of the arguments offered by both parties. Judges may quickly evaluate which part includes merit based on the Acts/Statutes and the most current case law on the subject of the law linked to the dispute.

Based on the points presented above, I can't think of a single reason why artificial intelligence will replace experts' employment. In fact, an AI-based programme will improve the output focus, accuracy, and productivity of professionals.

[1] AI and the Rule of Law, UNESCO

[2] Roland Polyzen, The Rise of AI, Entrepreneur

[3] AI Software Market in Legal Industry, Globenewsire

[4] Bhavya Bhatt, How can Lawyers leverage ChatGPT for their practice, Bar and Bench