Exploring the accelerated pace of generative AI & other technologies and how it will affect the legal landscape

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The adaption of technology within the legal industry has grown fast and it is no longer arguable whether lawyers should be innovating and using legal technology or not, it is how agile can they be and adjust to the pace of technology. Adaption is one side of the coin, the other side are the challenges that this rapid growth brings: sustainability; change management, training and the hype vs reality that surrounds generative AI. These are not only issues that affect the tech department but go across board and need effective leadership strategies to explore the changing law firm culture and values.

The accelerated rate of adaption of ChatGPT and the use of generative AI in legal services is the topic of the day - yet it needs guardrails; especially considering the risks around hallucinations, data security and confidentiality. Training for young lawyers is another area of great importance – how do you design a training framework for future legal talent in an AI driven world? . With widespread use of AI by law firms and legal departments to support legal work, the traditional pyramid structure of law firms will change and there will be less need for associates to do grunt work - meaning drastically fewer training opportunities for young lawyers. There is also the human-centric aspects of legal practice that AI cannot or is ill-suited to perform, these are important questions for any legal practice.

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