Amid these ‘smart’ toolsets, lawyers will not disappear, but they will do better work in the months and years to come, and they will do it faster and more efficiently.

In spite of what you may have heard, robots will not be infiltrating the legal profession any time soon. Artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies like machine learning and natural language processing have attracted rapturous attention over the last year and indeed hold tremendous promise. In fact, many organizations that have invested in these technologies are already reaping real benefits. We are not, however, following an innovation trajectory that will lead to “robot lawyers” replacing their human counterparts, whether we’re talking about 2018 or 2028.

 

Smart tools are establishing a blueprint for the data-driven lawyer of the future. The emphasis on data is important because much of the innovation we currently see in the profession is, in fact, being driven by the massive and rapidly expanding volumes of data that now underlie legal work in every corner of the industry and at every step in legal workflows. The other important trend driving technological innovation is coming from clients and business executives, who now expect the same levels of efficiency, cost-effectiveness and detailed accountability from their law firms and legal departments as they do from any other vendor or business unit they work with. Legal organizations everywhere face intense scrutiny and cost pressures. They are tasked with providing ever more value for less, and technology will continue to play an important role in addressing that challenge.

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