As technology is advancing, the prospect of the loss of jobs is increasing. The extent to which this is affecting the legal sector is raising concerns as to how many lawyers could be left unemployed due to this. Regarding legal research and legal decisions being automated by algorithms, it leaves the question of whether artificial intelligence is decreasing the need for human lawyers.
Legal Research
It is considered that the biggest impact technology is having on legal work is its effect on productivity. As highlighted by real estate lawyer, Nick Bradyas, the increase in research systems such as Kira Systems (patented machine learning software that analyse contracts and documents with high accuracy) does decrease the use for legal research by individuals such as paralegals. Moreover, the time-saving positives that algorithms can bring to legal research do limit the advantages of people in law compared to a machine. Lawyers have reported up to 82% time savings when using document automation to generate contracts and other legal documents compared to individuals. This is also highlighted in systems such as Symantec’s Clearwell system, which uses language analysis to identify general concepts in documents and has proved capable of analysing and sorting more than 570,000 documents in two days. So, using algorithms for decision-making is extremely time-efficient, increasing their convenience which can make them more preferable to a person doing the research.
Already, many law firms have been identifying these perks with more bar associations making it mandatory for lawyers to have technology-based CLE programs. This means that lawyers will have to learn how to use things like form documents and how to browse the internet. This does not necessarily mean that their use is eroding but that lawyers and those working in legal research should be more adapted to using technology in their work. This was implied in a 2013 study on the future of employment calculating that, in the following 20 years, lawyers would only have a 3.5% chance of losing out to robots, compared to an incredible 94% for paralegals, determining that some of those working in the legal sector are at risk of potential job loss.
Lawyers can be seen to actually benefit from increased research by technology as a trainee solicitor. Mirwis suggested in 2016 that junior lawyers would instead learn the business needs of clients earlier and be given greater responsibility in handling more complex tasks which is why technology advancements can boost the careers of lawyers instead of hindering them.
Legal Decisions
The perks of technology, when it comes to legal decisions when concerning ethics and other factors, have human lawyers favoured. The renowned civil litigator, Tom Girardi has claimed that “If a civil dispute concerns a matter of fact [like] Did the doctor cut off the wrong leg? today, it’s largely settled out of court,...[but] if a case concerns the interpretation of ... law [like] Did he or she wait too long before performing a procedure? Did a doctor make a bad judgment call? [then] the case can go to trial, … the philosophical makeup of a jury is so important". This means that although some cases can use technology to disclose the verdict, lawyers are still valued for intricate cases. Therefore, a lawyer's value when concerning ethics which a human is more likely to consider compared to a robot.
Furthermore, when it comes to the moments before a verdict such as the interactions with a client, maybe clients could be more honest with a robot as they lack human emotions. However, artificial intelligence is yet unable to replicate aspects of a lawyers’ work that require emotional intelligence and human judgment which are sometimes necessary meaning, lawyers will be better at negotiating deals, communicating with clients, and mediating disputes in comparison to algorithms which is why they are more valued and less likely to lose their job.
The issue of potential bias in cases is already prevalent but instead of eliminating this with computers making legal decisions, this could boost this bias because of how they were manufactured. For example, according to research by UNESCO, women working within areas such as IT and engineering account for only 29% worldwide. Therefore, intelligence will take these statistics and translate them into biases within their algorithms, and might therefore dismiss female candidates as the profession is dominated by men but contrastingly, a human might be more likely to ignore these stats and treat both genders equally even when statistics do not.
Are algorithms going to steal lawyers' careers?
Probably not. Although they have many assets, a human lawyer has traits that a robot cannot currently fathom. Maybe in the future, the verdict to this debate could be different but as of today, the answer is no. Some careers in the legal sector are still at stake such as paralegals because of the advanced ways algorithms can produce legal research compared to humans as they are more time-efficient and accurate but for a lawyer specifically, this could just boost their skills and does not really risk them losing their career.
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