Selected Publications: Augmented Lawyering

22. Dezember 2020, von Pedro Magalhães Batista

Foto: Sikora

What has been the impact of artificial intelligence on law firms? A new and extensive survey by John Armor, Richard Parnham, and Mari Sako states that the future does not look so easy for more traditional law firms, organized law partnerships. According to their new ECGI Law Working Paper, "Augmented Lawyering," when AI is implemented in legal activities, it replaces humans; more specialized activities, however, will continue to be performed by humans in the nearer future. AI also creates a demand for new types of activities that prepare the arena for technological analysis, including handling data and tasks that the AI must carry out.

Multi-disciplinary teams are needed to complement lawyers' activities and increase their capacity, establishing a pipeline of tasks that this AI must perform. In these teams' formation, legal offices organized as partnerships face more problems than in-house teams in corporations and alternative legal service providers. Traditional law firms organized as a partnership have more significant issues with recruiting and motivating non-legal members because of their inability to progress to partnership status. Armour, Parnham, and Sako's working paper is an excellent material for all those curious about the legal career's future.