Many law firm heads are convinced that artificial intelligence will eventually complete many of the tasks that attorneys are currently assigned.

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Will Robots Replace
Attorneys?

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Summary:
Many law firm heads are
convinced that artificial
intelligence will eventually
complete many of the tasks
that attorneys are currently
assigned.

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According to American Lawyer, a significant number of law firms think they can
actually replace associate attorneys with artificial intelligence.
Around 35 percent of law firm leaders who responded to a survey said they
could imagine replacing first-year associates with law-focused artificial
intelligence in the next five to ten years. Just a quarter of respondents gave
such an answer in 2011.
The survey was conducted by Altman Weil. Chairs and managing partners at
320 law firms with attorney numbers ranging from 50 to over 1,000 responded.
According to survey results, even senior associates are not safe from such a
transition. Around 20 percent of respondents thought that technology could
replace second- and third-year associates as well.
Close to half, at 47 percent, said that computers could replace paralegals.

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The results demonstrated that the larger firms seemed to have a greater faith
in technology’s abilities. Half of firm leaders in practices with over 250
attorneys thought that law-focused cognitive technologies could replace first-
year attorneys, but just 30 percent of smaller firms made such a prediction.
Around 15 percent of smaller firms felt that such a replacement could be
made.
The report corresponds with a movement to create advanced technology that
can handle routine legal work. Many new legal apps can actually mirror the
human learning process. Developers are hopeful that applications will be able
to read and interpret millions of documents and pieces of data, make
connections, and offer predictions.
Dentons announced in August that it had entered a joint venture with a startup
that is creating a new artificially intelligent legal assistant called ROSS that can
actually research case law and answer legal questions.

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In addition, Latham & Watkins said it is testing out new IBM-Watson based
applications, such as cognitive and predictive coding technologies. LeeAnn
Black, the firm’s chief operating officer, said, “It’s a competitive area for both
law firms and technology companies.”
Watson actually whipped its competitors on a past episode of Jeopardy!,
PracticeSource.com adds. Some were impressed, and others were concerned.
Whereas the technology can certainly be helpful, others worry about how
certain realms will be affected. Nick Brestoff of International Litigation Services
said, “It’s tempting to dismiss these forecasts as bleeding-edge speculation,
and to repeat the old canard that a machine will never replace what a lawyer
can do. But that’s not the issue. The issue is how much longer lawyers will try
to replace what a machine can do.”
Many firm leaders were quick to confirm, however, that associate jobs would
not be wiped out overnight. Bill Voge, the chair of Latham & Watkins, said, “No
matter what we plan on the technology front, we will always have first-year
associates.

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They are the future partners of our firm.” The firm even “expects to leverage
them as the first to master and adopt cognitive systems that will allow us to be
more efficient in how we provide service to our clients.”
Many anonymous respondents to the survey were not so sure that associates
were irreplaceable. Just one in five firm leaders said that computers would
never replace human practitioners, down from fifty percent in 2011. However,
K&L Gates chair Peter Kalis thinks part of the reason is because attorneys may
not have a grasp of what artificial intelligence truly means. He said, “One
hundred percent of law firm leaders don’t know anything about AI.”
This article “Will Robots Replace Attorneys?” first appeared on LawCrossing’s
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