How the AI Re­volu­tion is Re­shap­ing Legal Ca­reers?

“I've wit­nessed firsthand the seis­mic shift in the legal pro­fes­sion, pro­pelled by the rapid ad­vance­ment and in­teg­ra­tion of Ar­ti­fi­cial In­tel­li­gence”, as UK Legal Coun­sel for Aatos, a lead­ing Nordic legal tech com­pany, Catrin ex­plains.

This tech­no­lo­gical re­volu­tion isn't just chan­ging how we do legal work; it's fun­da­ment­ally al­ter­ing our career paths, work en­vir­on­ments, and the very nature of legal prac­tice.

Ef­fi­cien­cies in Con­tract Draft­ing and Review

In my ex­per­i­ence, one of the most sig­ni­fic­ant im­pacts of AI on our ca­reers is in con­tract draft­ing and review. The AI-powered tools we use can review thou­sands of con­tracts in a frac­tion of the time it would take me or any of my col­leagues, identi­fy­ing key clauses, po­ten­tial risks, and in­con­sist­en­cies.

This ef­fi­ciency doesn't make us ob­sol­ete; rather, it el­ev­ates our role. In­stead of spend­ing hours on routine review tasks, I now focus on higher-level strategy and client coun­selling. My role has shifted from being a mere drafter to a strategic ad­visor, in­ter­pret­ing AI-gen­er­ated in­sights and ap­ply­ing them to com­plex business situ­ations.

For junior col­leagues, this shift means that the tra­di­tion­al train­ing ground of con­tract review is evolving. While un­der­stand­ing the in­tric­a­cies of con­tracts re­mains cru­cial, we now need to de­vel­op skills in AI tool util­isa­tion, data in­ter­pret­a­tion, and strategic ap­plic­a­tion of AI-gen­er­ated in­sights.

The Emer­gence of Legal Tech­no­lo­gists

As AI be­comes more pre­val­ent in our prac­tice, I'm seeing the rise of a new breed of legal pro­fes­sion­al: the legal tech­no­lo­gist. These in­di­vidu­als bridge the gap between law and tech­no­lo­gy, un­der­stand­ing both legal prin­ciples and the cap­ab­il­it­ies of AI sys­tems.

At Aatos and in many other or­gan­isa­tions, legal tech­no­lo­gists are be­com­ing in­valu­able. They help im­ple­ment AI solu­tions, train us on new tech­no­lo­gies, and de­vel­op be­spoke AI tools for spe­cif­ic legal tasks. It's an ex­cit­ing new career path for those of us in­ter­ested in tech­no­lo­gy and in­nov­a­tion.

Flex­ible Work­ing: The New Normal

AI has been a key en­abler of flex­ible work­ing ar­range­ments in our sector. With AI hand­ling routine tasks, I can work more ef­fi­ciently and with greater flex­ib­il­ity in my schedule.

This flex­ib­il­ity ex­tends beyond just work­ing hours. The AI-powered tools we use allow for asyn­chro­n­ous col­lab­or­a­tion, en­abling our legal teams to work across dif­fer­ent time zones without sac­ri­fi­cing pro­ductiv­ity. For in­stance, I can use AI to review and an­not­ate a con­tract, which can then be seam­lessly picked up by a col­league in a dif­fer­ent time zone the next day.

Moreover, AI is fa­cil­it­at­ing part-time and pro­ject-based legal work. Plat­forms using AI to match law­yers with short-term pro­jects or spe­cial­ised tasks are be­com­ing in­creas­ingly pop­u­lar. This gig eco­nomy ap­proach offers us more con­trol over our work­load and spe­cial­isa­tion, while provid­ing firms and cor­por­ate legal de­part­ments with on-demand ex­pert­ise.

Rise of the Di­git­al Nomad Lawyer

One of the most ex­cit­ing de­vel­op­ments in our ca­reers is the emer­gence of the 'di­git­al nomad' lawyer. AI-powered legal plat­forms and cloud-based tech­no­lo­gies have un­tethered us from tra­di­tion­al office en­vir­on­ments. As such, it's now en­tirely pos­sible for me to draft con­tracts, con­duct re­search, and deal with cli­ents from a cosy cabin in the Swiss Alps or a tran­quil Greek island re­treat. In fact, this is something I do on a weekly basis!

This shift to­wards loc­a­tion-in­de­pend­ent work is more than just a life­style choice; it's a re­flec­tion of how AI has made our work more port­able and ac­cess­ible. Doc­u­ment review, once a time-con­sum­ing task that re­quired phys­ical pres­ence, can now be largely auto­mated and man­aged re­motely. Sim­il­arly, AI-driven legal re­search tools allow me to access vast data­bases of case law and stat­utes from any­where with an in­ternet con­nec­tion.

Eth­ical Con­sid­er­a­tions and New Skill Re­quire­ments

The in­teg­ra­tion of AI in our prac­tice brings with it new eth­ical con­sid­er­a­tions. We must now grapple with issues of AI bias, data pri­vacy, and the eth­ical use of AI in legal de­cision-making. Un­der­stand­ing these eth­ical im­plic­a­tions has become a cru­cial skill for me and my col­leagues.

I've found that the AI re­volu­tion is chan­ging the skill set re­quired for our ca­reers. While deep legal know­ledge re­mains fun­da­mental, I've had to de­vel­op:

1. Tech­no­lo­gical lit­er­acy: Un­der­stand­ing AI cap­ab­il­it­ies and lim­it­a­tions.
2. Data ana­lysis skills: In­ter­pret­ing AI-gen­er­ated in­sights.
3. Pro­ject man­age­ment: Co­ordin­at­ing human and AI re­sources.
4. Emo­tion­al in­tel­li­gence: As AI handles more routine tasks, my human skills like em­pathy and com­plex prob­lem-solv­ing have become more valu­able.

The Future of Law: AI and Human Col­lab­or­a­tion

The impact of AI on our ca­reers is pro­found and mul­ti­fa­ceted. From en­abling new work styles like di­git­al no­madism to chan­ging the nature of our tasks, AI is re­shap­ing what it means to be a lawyer in the 21st cen­tury. While some may view these changes with trep­id­a­tion, I see them as an ex­cit­ing op­por­tun­ity to re­define and el­ev­ate our pro­fes­sion.

As we move for­ward, I be­lieve the most suc­cess­ful among us will be those who em­brace AI as a power­ful tool, en­han­cing our prac­tice rather than re­pla­cing it. We will lever­age AI to handle routine tasks, free­ing us to focus on the uniquely human as­pects of our work: strategy, cre­ativ­ity, and client re­la­tion­ships.

"The future of our ca­reers in the age of AI is not about us versus ma­chines, but about us and ma­chines work­ing to­geth­er to de­liver better, more ef­fi­cient legal ser­vices", Le Rendu says.

Read more

• Flex­ible Work­ing Re­quest
• Life as A Di­git­al Nomad Lawyer
• Be­com­ing Self-Em­ployed