Navigating the legal landscape: large language models and the hesitancy of legal professionals

ABSTRACT

Large language models (LLMs) have emerged as powerful tools with the potential to revolutionize the legal profession. However, despite the hype surrounding these advancements, the adoption of LLMs by legal professionals has been notably slow. This article explores the multifaceted reasons behind this hesitation, ranging from ethical considerations and instances of fake citations to the conservative nature of the legal profession and the perceived threat to the traditional billing model. The article also discusses the need to properly contextualize the place of LLMS in legal practice.

Acknowledgements

GPT 3.5 was used by the author to provide additional linguistic support to the concepts highlighted in this article. The idea and structure of the article was however conceived by the author. The arguments and conclusions are also that of the author. GPT 3.5 was not used for obtaining any reference material.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 May be used interchangeably with generative AI in this article.

2 See “Lawyers cross into the new era of generative AI” (2024), Lexis Nexis, Lawyers cross into the new era of generative AI (lexisnexis.co.uk).

3 Ibid.

4 See “2024 Investing in Legal Innovation Survey: The Rise of GenAI at Top firms & Corporations", (2024) LexisNexis, PowerPoint Presentation (lexisnexis.com).

5 See “Five Focus Areas shaping the AI Legal Landscape” (2024), Lighthouse, State of AI in eDiscovery: 2024 Benchmark Report Reveals Opportunities and Risks (lighthouseglobal.com).

6 See Bob Ambrogi, "New GPT-based chat app from LawDroid is a lawyer’s 'Copilot' for Research, Drafting, Brainstorming and More", January 25,2023, Law Sites, https://www.lawnext.com/2023/01/new-gpt-based-chat-app-from-lawdroid-is-a-lawyers-copilot-for-research-drafting-brainstorming-and-more.html.

7 See “Casetext unveils CoCounsel, the Groundbreaking AI Legal Assistant Powered by OpenAI technology”, PR Newswire, March 1, 2023, Casetext Unveils CoCounsel, the Groundbreaking AI Legal Assistant Powered by OpenAI Technology (prnewswire.com).

8 See "LexisNexis Announces Launch of Lexis+ AI Commercial Preview, Most Comprehensive Global Legal Generative AI Platform", May 4, 2023, online, https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/pressroom/b/news/posts/lexisnexis-announces-launch-of-lexis-ai-commercial-preview-most-comprehensive-global-legal-generative-ai-platform.

9 See “NetDocuments PatternBuilder MAX Globally Available”, October 24, 2023, online, https://www.netdocuments.com/press-releases/netdocuments-patternbuilder-max-globally-available.

10 See Co-Pilot: Meet your Legal AI assistant, May 16, 2023, https://www.robinai.com/post/copilot-your-legal-ai-assistant . In October 2023, this software was made available to Microsoft Word as a free add-in (See Press Release: Robin AI plugs AI contract Copilot directly into Microsoft Word, October 31, 2023, https://www.robinai.com/post/press-release-robin-ai-plugs-ai-contract-copilot-directly-into-microsoft-word.

11 See Tom Saunders, "Legal tech teams turn to AI to advance business goals", October 18, 2023, Financial Times, https://www.ft.com/content/9a117ac7-29ae-43fe-b840-a04005b98799 The software is trained to review and redraft contracts (For more, see “Meet your New AI Legal Assistant, Leah, ContractPodAI, https://contractpodai.com/leah-ai-clm/).

12 See Bob Ambrogi, “vLex (Fastcase) Unveils Beta Version of Its Global, Multi-Language Generative AI Legal Research Tool”, October 17, 2023, LawNext (2023), vLex (Fastcase) Unveils Beta Version Of Its Global, Multi-Language Generative AI Legal Research Tool | LawSites (lawnext.com).

13 See “Thomson Reuters launches Generative AI-powered solutions to transform how legal professionals work", November 15, 2023, Thomson Reuters, Thomson Reuters launches generative AI-powered solutions to transform how legal professionals work | Thomson Reuters.

14 Skye Witley, “ChatGPT Tempts Big Law Despite AI Accuracy, Privacy Worries (2)” (2023) Bloomberg Law, ChatGPT Tempts Big Law Despite AI Accuracy, Privacy Worries (2) (bloomberglaw.com).

15 See “A&O announces exclusive launch partnership with Harvey”, (2023), online, A&O announces exclusive launch partnership with Harvey - Allen & Overy (allenovery.com). PwC, the global accounting firm, announced a partnership with the startup in April; 2023 (See Lyle Moran, “How PwC will use generative AI to assist with legal work” (2023), Legal Dive, https://www.legaldive.com/news/pwc-generative-ai-harvey-openai-legal-work-large-language-models/648569/.

16 David Jolly, “DLA Piper Audits the Robots as Big Law Digs into AI work”, (2023), Bloomberg Law, DLA Piper Audits the Robots as Big Law Digs Into AI Work (bloomberglaw.com).

17 See “DechertMind: Revolutionizing Legal Industry with Proprietary Generative AI Tools", (2024), Legal News Feed, DechertMind: Revolutionizing Legal Industry with Proprietary Generative AI Tools – Legal News Feed (skyhigh.cloud).

18 See “LexisNexis International Legal Generative AI Survey shows Nearly Half of the Legal Profession believe Generative AI will transform the Practice of Law”, LexisNexis, 2023, LexisNexis International Legal Generative AI Survey Shows Nearly Half of the Legal Profession Believe Generative AI Will Transform the Practice of Law | LexisNexis PressRoom.

19 See Stephanie Pacheco. “Analysis: AI is making a summer splash in Legal (1)”, Bloomberg Law, (2023), Bloomberg Law, ANALYSIS: AI Is Making a Summer Splash in Legal (1) (bloomberglaw.com).

20 See “2023 Ediscovery Innovation Report”, August 2023, Everlaw, Everlaw's 2023 Ediscovery Innovation Report - Download Your Copy | Cloud-Native Ediscovery Software | Everlaw.

21 See “ChatGPT and Generative AI within Law Firms", Thompson Reuters Institute, 2023, 2023-Chat-GPT-Generative-AI-in-Law-Firms.pdf (thomsonreuters.com).

22 Ibid, 15.

23 See “Generative AI for lawyers”, Microsoft, 2023, Microsoft Security Compliance and Identity.

24 See Bob Ambrogi, “Gunderson Dettmer Launches ChatGD; First US- Based Firm to develop Proprietary Internal Generative AI App", LawSites, 2023, Gunderson Dettmer Launches ChatGD; First U.S.-Based Firm To Develop Proprietary Internal Generative AI App | LawSites (lawnext.com); Bob Ambrogi, “Rocket Lawyer releases Generative AI tool to help business startups, built in collaboration with Google Cloud”, Law Sites, 2023, Rocket Lawyer Releases Generative AI Tool, to Help Business Startups, Built in Collaboration with Google Cloud | LawSites (lawnext.com).

25 See “Lawyers cross into the new era of generative AI", LexisNexis, 2024, Lawyers cross into the new era of generative AI (lexisnexis.co.uk).

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid.

28 See “2024 Investing in Legal Innovation Survey: The Rise of GenAI at Top firms & Corporations", LexisNexis, 2024, PowerPoint Presentation (lexisnexis.com).

29 See “2024 State of the Canadian Law Firm Market”, Thomson Reuters, 2024, 2024-State-of-Canada-Law-Firms-Report_English.pdf (thomsonreuters.com).

30 See “Model Rules of Professional Conduct”, American Bar Association, Model Rules of Professional Conduct - Table of Contents (americanbar.org); “Model Code of Professional Conduct”, Federation of Law Societies of Canada, Model Code Oct 2022.pdf (flsc-s3-storage-pub.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com) (Canada).

31 See for example: People v Zachariah C. Crabill, 23PDJ067, November 22, 2023, Crabill, Stipulation to Discipline, 23PDJ067, 11-22-23.pdf (coloradosupremecourt.com); Roberto Mata v Avianca Inc. (2023) 22-CV-1461(PKC); Minhye Park v David Dennis Kim (2023) United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit 22-2057, available at 22-2057_opn.pdf (uscourts.gov).

32 For examples in the United States, see “Standing Order for Civil Cases before Magistrate Judge Fuentes", online, https://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov/_assets/_documents/_forms/_judges/Fuentes/Standing%20Order%20For%20Civil%20Cases%20Before%20Judge%20Fuentes%20rev%27d%205-31-23%20(002).pdf; “Order on Artificial Intelligence, United States Court of International Trade, online, https://www.cit.uscourts.gov/sites/cit/files/Order%20on%20Artificial%20Intelligence.pdf; United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Texas, July 21, 2023, online, https://www.txnb.uscourts.gov/sites/txnb/files/news/General%20Order%202023-03%20Pleadings%20Using%20Generative%20Artificial%20Intelligence-signed.pdf.

33 Peter Winders, “Why our Law Firm Bans Generative AI for Research and Writing", Bloomberg Law, 2024, Why Our Law Firm Bans Generative AI for Research and Writing (bloomberglaw.com).

34 “Lawyers cross into the new era of generative AI", LexisNexis, 2024, Lawyers cross into the new era of generative AI (lexisnexis.co.uk).

35 “2024 Investing in Legal Innovation Survey: The Rise of GenAI at Top firms & Corporations", LexisNexis, 2024, PowerPoint Presentation (lexisnexis.com), 13.

36 For an overview of the impact of generative AI in the legal profession in 2023, including the introduction of various “bespoke legal LLMs”, see “A year in review: How AI transformed the legal profession in 2023", Thomson Reuters, 2024, How the use of AI in legal services evolved: A year in review | Legal Blog (thomsonreuters.com).

37 This has been repeatedly emphasized by various commentators and legal technology experts. See for example Jessica Brand and Lauren Sobel, "Generative AI in Litigation", Practical Law, 2024, Generative AI in Litigation | Practical Law The Journal | Reuters.

38 See generally Maura R. Grossman, Paul W. Grimm and Daniel G. Brown, “Is disclosure and certification of the use of generative AI really necessary", online, Is disclosure and certification of the use of generative AI really necessary? (duke.edu); Nicole Black, “The Case for ChatGPT: Why lawyers should embrace AI”, ABA Journal, 2023, <The Case for ChatGPT: Why lawyers should embrace AI (abajournal.com)>

39 See generally "Florida Bar Ethics Opinion 24-1", January 19, 2024, The Florida Bar, Opinion 24-1 – The Florida Bar. (Florida); “Practice Resource: Guidance on Professional Responsibility and Generative AI", Law Society of British Columbia, online, Professional-responsibility-and-AI.pdf (lawsociety.bc.ca) (British Columbia); "Guidelines for the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Practice of Law", Law Society of Saskatchewan, 2024, Law Society of Saskatchewan Generative Artificial Intelligence Guidelines (Saskatchewan); “The Generative AI Playbook: How Lawyers can Safely Take Advantage of the Opportunities Offered by Generative AI", 2024, Law Society of Alberta, The Generative AI Playbook - Law Society of Alberta (Alberta); “Practical Guidance for the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Practice of Law", State Bar of California, Practical Artificial Intelligence in the Practice of Law (California); “Generative AI-The essentials”, The Law Society, 2023, Generative AI – the essentials | The Law Society (United Kingdom).

40 See “Law firms consider use of AI in applications”, LawCareers, 2024, Law firms consider use of AI in applications - News (lawcareers.net).

41 “Consilio finds 63% of legal professionals waiting for human expertise to catch up before adopting generative AI”, Consilio, 2024, Consilio Finds 63% of Legal Professionals Waiting for Human Expertise to Catch Up Before Adopting Generative AI - Consilio.com.

42 Ibid.

43 See “Consilio finds 63% of legal professionals waiting for human expertise to catch up before adopting generative AI", Consilio, 2024, Consilio Finds 63% of Legal Professionals Waiting for Human Expertise to Catch Up Before Adopting Generative AI - Consilio.com.

44 See Magesh et al, “Hallucination-free? Assessing the Reliability of Leading AI Legal Research Tools", 30 May 2024, Arxiv, 2405.20362 (arxiv.org).

45 David Cohen, “Why this time it’s different: How generative AI may finally kill the billable hour", 2024, Canadian Lawyer, 2024, Why this time it's different: How generative AI may finally kill the billable hour | Canadian Lawyer (canadianlawyermag.com).

46 See “2024 Report on the State of the US Legal Market”, Thomson Reuters, 2024, 2024 Report on the State of the US Legal Market: The challenge of targeting the right markets with the right offerings - Thomson Reuters Institute. See also Julius Melnitzer, “Will generative AI sink the billable hour pricing model?", Canadian Lawyer, 2023,Will generative AI sink the billable hour pricing model? | Canadian Lawyer (canadianlawyermag.com); Tom Shepherd and Stephanie Lomax, “Generative AI in the legal industry; the 3 waves set to change how the business works", Thomson Reuters, 2024, Generative AI in the legal industry: The 3 waves set to change how the business works - Thomson Reuters Institute.

47 Research suggests a stark contrast in opinions regarding the restructuring of pricing as a result of generative AI (See “Lawyers cross into the new era of generative AI", LexisNexis, 2024, Lawyers cross into the new era of generative AI (lexisnexis.co.uk)).

48 “The Sixth Generation Law Firm”, CamStrategy, 2024, 6th-generation-law-firm-Rev3.pdf (camstrategy.com).

49 There is evidence to suggest that this shift by clients towards cost-saving mid-size firms is already happening and will continue (See “2024 Report on the State of the US Legal Market”, Thomson Reuters, 2024, State-of-US-Legal-Market-2024.pdf (thomsonreuters.com).

50 For more discussion on the impact of generative AI on law firms of every size, see “AI’s Impact on law firms of every size”, Thomson Reuters, 2024, Impact of AI on law firms of every size in the UK | Legal Insights Europe (thomsonreuters.co.uk). For an assessment from a financial aspect, see “Law Firm Financial Index”, Thomson Reuters, 2024, Law Firm Financial Index Q4 2023 (thomsonreuters.com).

51 See “The Sixth Generation Law Firm”, CamStrategy, 2024, 6th-generation-law-firm-Rev3.pdf (camstrategy.com), p.12. More firms appear to be undertaking this evolution by developing alternative fee arrangements and enhanced practice management strategies (See Andrew Maloney, “Detached”: Why Big Law may Rethink its Focus on Productivity”, Law.com, 2024, “Detached”: Why Big Law May Rethink Its Focus on Productivity | The American Lawyer.

52 See Amy Salyzyn, “Unavoidable AI?: The increasing Ubiquity of Generative AI and Lawyers’ Duty of Technological Competence", Slaw, 2024, Unavoidable AI?: The Increasing Ubiquity of Generative AI and Lawyers’ Duty of Technological Competence - Slaw.

53 “Trailblazing GCs combine forces to spearhead GenAI transformation", Factor, 2024, Factor launch The Sense Collective, an unprecedented collaboration community aimed at accelerating the adoption of Generative AI (GenAI) in the corporate legal realm.

54 Ibid.

55 Ibid.

56 Hon. Judge Ralph Artigliere, “Lawyers and Law Firms Rising Up: Overcoming the Reluctance to Transition to AI”, 2024, JDSupra, Lawyers and Law Firms Rising Up: Overcoming the Reluctance to Transition to AI | EDRM - Electronic Discovery Reference Model - JDSupra.

57 Spending too much time on administrative tasks has been cited by Canadian lawyers as one of their major challenges (See “2024 State of the Canadian Law Firm Market”, Thomson Reuters, 2024, 2024-State-of-Canada-Law-Firms-Report_English.pdf (thomsonreuters.com).

58 Brandon Lee and Meredith Brown also make this point in emphasizing that achieving efficiencies may simply involve repurposing existing tools rather than making large investments in new tools (See Meredith Brown and Brandon Lee, “Safe AI Adoption in Legal Departments Hinge on Use Case Review”, Bloomberg Law, 2024, Safe AI Adoption in Legal Departments Hinges on Use Case Review (bloomberglaw.com).

59 Reinforcing this message may be challenging in practice considering the heavy reliance on LLMs for legal research and drafting among those who have adopted the technology (See “2024 Investing in Legal Innovation Survey: The Rise of GenAI at Top firms & Corporations", LexisNexis, 2024, PowerPoint Presentation (lexisnexis.com); “Lawyers cross into the new era of generative AI", LexisNexis, 2024, Lawyers cross into the new era of generative AI (lexisnexis.co.uk).

60 Jessica Brand and Lauren Sobel, “Generative AI in Litigation”, Practical Law, 2024, Generative AI in Litigation | Practical Law The Journal | Reuters.

61 Ibid.

62 Tom Martin, “Embracing Generative AI: A Convincing Case for Skeptical Lawyers”, Law Droid, 2024 Embracing Generative AI: A Convincing Case For Skeptical Lawyers | LawDroid.

63 Eric Lamarre, Alex Singla, Alexander Sukharevsky and Rodney Zemmel, “A generative AI reset: Rewiring to turn potential into value in 2024", McKinsey, 2024, A generative AI reset: Rewiring to turn potential into value in 2024 | McKinsey.

64 Murray summarizes it this way “AI is new to law practice, and you wouldn’t want to set a brand new associate or extern off on an important legal task unsupervised, would you” (Michael D Murray, “Artificial Intelligence and the Practice of Law Part 1: Lawyers must be professional and responsible supervisors of AI", 2023, online, Artificial Intelligence and the Practice of Law Part 1: Lawyers Must be Professional and Responsible Supervisors of AI by Michael D. Murray :: SSRN.

65 Ibid.

66 Hon. Judge Ralph Artigliere, “Lawyers and Law Firms Rising Up: Overcoming the Reluctance to Transition to AI”, JDSupra, 2024 Lawyers and Law Firms Rising Up: Overcoming the Reluctance to Transition to AI | EDRM - Electronic Discovery Reference Model - JDSupra.

67 Dell’Acqua et al, “Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier: Field Experimental Evidence of the Effects of AI on Knowledge Worker Productivity and Quality”, Harvard Business School, 2024, 24-013_d9b45b68-9e74-42d6-a1c6-c72fb70c7282.pdf (hbs.edu).