INTRODUCTION
Artificial intelligence dramatically remodels industries, but probably one of the biggest changes happens within the legal profession. Unlike previous technological changes, mainly automating manual tasks, AI targets cognitive processes and is supposed to augment or even replace some human functions within legal practices.[1]
ROLE OF AI IN LAW
AI’s ingenuity in the legal domain is broad-ranging and varied, touching almost all areas—contract review, legal research, discovery processes—and finally, prediction of legal outcomes. AI-driven contract review has been pioneered by startups such as Lawgeex, increasing the speed of the process manifold while attaining consistency. On the other hand, Westlaw Edge applies AI to empower legal research by helping lawyers go through complex legal information efficiently. These tools can get through enormous volumes of data to find relevant documents and patterns that might otherwise go amiss by human lawyers. At the same time, despite these developments in technology, AI is still far from being perfect to be used in place of human judgment. [2]This is most often because there are biases in the training data and AI decision-making is still opaque. The advantages associated with the use of AI in legal practices are voluminous. AI-powered contract review tools are capable of quickly locating problems and errors at rather phenomenal speeds and with consistency, hence liberating lawyers from such tasks to focus on the more complex aspects of the work. In discovery, machine learning algorithms shall be able to manage large document repositories, finding relevant content while adhering to legal standards. It is in this regard that semantic search technologies in legal research enable a deeper and more nuanced understanding of case laws and precedents, drastically improving the quality of legal analysis. [3]Generative AI is one of the most exciting developments: models like OpenAI’s GPT-3 generate coherent, contextually appropriate text with minimal input, revealing a heretofore uniquely human level of creativity. This is very useful while drafting contracts and legal documents. Nevertheless, these generative models still need to be checked by humans to ensure that their content is reliable and accurate. Legal language is subtle and context-specific, and all its nuances cannot be captured by AI alone without expert validation.
AI’s predictive powers also land in the realm of legal outcome forecasting, greatly helping with case trajectory insights and judicial tendencies. These are platforms like Lex Machina, which guide legal strategies for attorneys to make better decisions by using predictive analytics. On the other hand, AI used in making judicial decisions, such as sentencing or bail, has some ethical concerns. These algorithms, of the ilk of COMPAS, which are used for risk assessments for recidivism, have been accused of showing racial biases because these tools mirror structural inequalities that are enshrined in their training data sets. These issues shed light on the amount of care and oversight that shall be required in applying AI to such sensitive areas. But then, such integration also raises some important questions concerning the role of AI within the justice system: whether certain legal processes should be mandated by AI, if defendants have a right to access such AI tools, and whether the use of AI in legal proceedings is transparent, thus liable to scrutiny. [4]Many ML models are per se opaque and therefore pose a challenge to situations in which accountability and fairness count. What makes AI special is the potential for improving legal processes in terms of effectiveness and accuracy.[5] Yet, the very limitations of AI itself—bias, lack of transparency, ethical issues—imply that there is a call for carefulness toward its adoption, particularly in themes as important as criminal justice. The journey of AI in law has just started, and its full impact is yet to be realized. [6]Certainly, AI within the legal profession will grow alongside the developments it undergoes. The key will be harnessing its capabilities to augment human expertise, not replace it, so technological development does not occur at the expense of principles of justice in the delivery of legal services. The maintenance of this balance of innovation and ethics in the continuing practice of law will be paramount amidst challenges and opportunities from AI.
AI does not simply transform the legal profession; rather, it shows a wider trend of technological integration across sectors. Hence, it can be said that the interaction of human acumen with the computing power of AI ushers in a new era for the legal profession. This new era shall be marked by efficiency, accuracy, and easy access to legal services. The path ahead in this regard is not very smooth at all, however ethics issues in AI in law relate to questions of bias and accountability. This calls for stringent frameworks within the profession on ethical AI use, ensuring such technologies are serving the cause of justice and not perpetuating existing inequalities. Thus, the legal education system should keep pace with these changes and train a new generation of lawyers to collaborate with AI tools effectively. This refocus would indeed be a new set of priorities within traditional legal education toward the acquisition of not only conventional legal competencies but also technological literacy and AI literacy—that is, knowledge about the possibilities and limitations of AI. The promise that AI holds for the legal profession is very great but has to be approached with a lot of caution.[7] Taking its time to develop, its integration into the legal field demands careful control and belief in ethical principles. Such actions will ensure that AI can provide the legal profession with abilities to extend justice to all by way of accessibility, efficiency, and equitability.
CONCLUSION
[8]Ultimately, AI is reforming the legal profession in several ways and presenting both opportunities and challenges. Its effectiveness in enhancing human capabilities, increasing efficiency, and improving the accuracy of legal procedures certainly cannot be denied. On the other hand, it is the ethical concerns and limitations that must be kept under careful management so that the integration of AI into the legal fraternity serves the ends of justice. Such shall be the kind of future for law: wise use of AI in innovation and ethics. Just as the legal profession takes a new turn with AI, it will be striking a very fine balance between both, extremely important in shaping a future where technology shall serve justice and equity.
Author(s) Name: Devnsh Shah (Nmims Kirit P Mehta School Of Law)
References-
[1] ‘Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Indian Legal System’ (Legal Service India – Law, Lawyers and Legal Resources) <https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-631-impact-of-artificial-intelligence-on-indian-legal-system.html> accessed 4 August 2024
[2] Stepka M, ‘Law Bots: How Ai Is Reshaping the Legal Profession’ (Business Law Today from ABA, 21 February 2022) <https://businesslawtoday.org/2022/02/how-ai-is-reshaping-legal-profession/> accessed 4 August 2024
[3] Toews, R. (2023) Ai will transform the field of law, Forbes. Available at: <https://www.forbes.com/sites/robtoews/2019/12/19/ai-will-transform-the-field-of-law/?sh=5c65fd8e7f01> (Accessed: 04 August 2024).
[4] Hillarybrodsky (2022) The evolution of Legal Research: Legal Blog, Thomson Reuters Law Blog. Available at: <https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/blog/the-evolution-of-legal-research/> (Accessed: 04 August 2024).
[5] Becerra, S.D. The rise of artificial intelligence in the legal field: Where we are and where we are going, Pepperdine Digital Commons. Available at: <https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/jbel/vol11/iss1/2/> (Accessed: 04 August 2024).
[6] Duke. Available at: <https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3824&=&context=lcp> (Accessed: 04 August 2024).
[7] Nick (2022) Legal AI software: Above the law non-event, Above The Law’s Legal Tech Non-Event. Available at: <https://abovethelaw.com/legal-innovation-center/the-legal-tech-non-event/artificial-intelligence/> (Accessed: 04 August 2024).
[8] Reiling, A.D. (Dory) (2020) Courts and artificial intelligence, International Journal for Court Administration. Available at: <https://iacajournal.org/articles/10.36745/ijca.343> (Accessed: 04 August 2024).
