In June, 8th Light attended Legal Geek North America 2024. It was our first time at this conference – we went to better understand trends and challenges within legal tech, and to get to know more people in the industry.
Our colleague Amanda Graham also pointed out a third benefit for us as technical consultants: understanding the current product landscape helps us advise existing clients on “build vs. buy” software decisions. Like any conference, there were emergent themes. And just like any tech conference in recent history or the predictable future, Generative AI was ubiquitous. Product roles and law practitioners strive to be thought-leaders in the technology that promises the highest yield.
If you attended the conference, We’d love to hear your thoughts or any takeaways you had. Without further ado, the themes!
1. Generative AI is transforming legal services through research, case management, e-discovery, document automation, and operational intelligence.
- AI integration: adoption of AI is reshaping legal processes, from document drafting and contract management to e-discovery and compliance. Tools such as AI-driven contract management and legal marketplaces are becoming integral to the industry.
- Future disruption and evolution: AI is expected to drive major shifts, leading to fewer traditional roles for legal teams, but introducing new forms of practice intelligence and case preparation.
- Document automation: long-standing yet evolving through AI, document automation remains a key area for improving efficiency and accuracy in legal practices. Document automation has been around for 30+ years but remains central to law services, where a document is often the “end product” of litigation, consulting work, or transaction.
- Ethical and practical considerations: many of the law practitioners who spoke at the conference underscored how crucial it is to maintain ethical standards and practical benchmarks to guide AI application in legal contexts.
2. Generative AI isn't a a use case – remember the current and near-term limitations of AI.
- Anxiety is shaping the conversation: businesses fear being left behind in the race to transformative AI features, law firms fear being leapfrogged by competitors using AI, and individuals fear the promise that the advent of AI will mean fewer lawyers.
- For law practitioners – AI isn’t a use case: law firms selecting new tech would do well to understand how well the technology performs critical use cases from start to finish.
- For product companies – AI is a red ocean (crowded and undifferentiated competitive space): if you’re focused on touting how well your company builds AI features, understand that each of your competitors is doing exactly the same thing. Accuracy + nuance of the training models can be differentiators, as can support in customization and client education.
- Accuracy concerns: despite its potential, there are ongoing issues with gen AI: confidentiality, accuracy, and "hallucinations," highlighting the need for cautious implementation and human oversight. Legal services are higher stakes than many industries – lives, money, and personal freedoms are on the line with litigation. Speaker Elise Tropiano did a great job of presenting how Relativity is working to improve their already accurate AI returns.
- The future of digital right management may change AI regulation or training models in the near term: major record labels are suing AI music companies over use of AI to train algorithms and produce music without paying labels or artists. The outcome of federal lawsuits (that are currently in their early days) may impact the future of DRM or what data product companies have to make available for compliance.
3. Barriers to technical advancement (and technology adoption) include court systems with limited resources, fragmented stacks, and a lack of follow through in sufficient education and training.
- Courts are lagging in modernization: court systems struggle with staffing and lack the knowledge to effectively integrate AI, underscoring the need for significant investment in technology and education.
- Unified systems vs. fragmented tech stacks: There is a push towards unified systems for better case management, document handling, and billing, to avoid productivity losses associated with disjointed tech environments.
- Investment in education and training: As AI and other technologies become more embedded in legal work, ongoing education and training are critical to ensure that legal professionals are equipped to handle these changes.
4. Human factors remain centrally important in law services.
- Human-in-the-loop 110% required: because law is so high stakes, many speakers noted the need to “trust, but validate“ the results being generated by AI. Unstructured data may contain biases that less easily observable than structured data.
- Design thinking and innovation: applying design thinking to legal problems can transform how legal services are delivered, encouraging innovative solutions that address evolving client needs. Speaker Nicole Bradick of Theory and Principle talked about when conversational UI interfaces are most appropriate for products.
- Empathy and communication: human skills remain critical even in tech-heavy environments. Brian Liu, co-founder of LegalZoom and Overture noted that service and responsiveness are still central differentiators for many effective law firms.
- Health awareness: the legal profession faces significant mental health challenges, with a high prevalence of issues like depression and substance abuse, highlighting the need for supportive practices and environments. Speaker Alicia Harley noted alarming statistics for mental health and substance abuse within law practices, and advocated for transparency and support.
- Career navigation: Professionals are encouraged to know their strengths, build relationships, and maintain a balanced life to successfully navigate their careers.
- Multigenerational workforce: effective management of a diverse workforce and addressing the distinct needs and communication styles of different generations is crucial for organizational success.
5. The business models may be changing, but attorneys still need to run businesses.
- One use of AI is for ops technology: In legal tech, attorneys and other practicing members of law teams are often the core user (though there are also many tools for non-attorneys to complete transactional law). Because law is a professional service, practitioners have to deal with utilization, billing, and client management. There are a lot of tools in the mix – including new ones that utilize AI – to help law practitioners run the operational side of their businesses more effectively or at lower cost.
- Operational efficiency is an evergreen need: clear job roles, technology budgets, and enforced processes are essential for successful legal operations. Inadequate management can lead to inefficiencies and derail cases, deals, and legal procedures. Speaker Navin Mahavijiyan of Black Paladin Solutions discussed details of IT and ops challenges faced by law firms.
- Relationship intelligence: in professional services industry, reputations are central and referrals can be the lifeblood of a firm. Technology is helping practitioners connect to their network, and future clients better.
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