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Technology has significantly impacted many industries, and legal is no exception. From automation to AI-driven tools, technology is playing an increasingly important role in streamlining traditional law processes, increasing productivity, and improving accuracy.
As advancements in the industry continue to rapidly evolve legal processes and practices, the recent 2023 LegalWeek Conference in New York had many professionals and technology vendors eager to discuss the ever-changing legal landscape and how it will affect firm processes and relationships in the future.
Today’s legal professionals are more digitally savvy than ever before, and to stay competitive, firms need to keep pace with trending technologies.
Bill Piwonka, CMO at Exterro, expressed his excitement at the conference about the advancements from ChatGPT to GPT-4, highlighting the potential for further innovation in generative AI technology. He rightly pointed out that it would be foolish to think that this technology will not have an impact on the legal industry or every other industry in the near future.
The buzz surrounding generative AI is well-founded with the current wave of AI already transforming the legal industry. With predictive analytics, natural language processing and machine learning tools, AI is enabling lawyers to streamline tasks, accelerate document review and enhance due diligence in efficient and previously deemed impossible ways.
However, the increasing data complexity, regulatory requirements, and transparency challenges for the legal industry persist. The use of generative AI technology to handle large volumes of data and extract meaningful insights can be one solution to solve these challenges, but it does come with a few concerns. As AI systems’ complexity grows, transparency, understanding the logic behind the reasoning, and explaining how decisions are made by AI systems is essential.
Despite the challenges, legal professionals must prepare for the inevitable changes that come along with the rapidly evolving legal tech industry. Implementing AI technologies efficiently and ethically can create vast growth opportunities in the legal profession while potentially reducing costs and enhancing customer experiences.
Today’s legal industry is ever-evolving, and law firms must be equipped with the right tools to ensure success. At LegalWeek 2023, panelists discussed how firms can improve client satisfaction and retention by offering a holistic, technology-based solution. The key points that were touched upon include:
By leveraging technology, having conversations that focus on outcomes rather than processes, listening carefully, and creating a sense of trust among clients, firms will be better equipped to offer an effective, tailored solution that exceeds expectations every time.
As global data privacy laws become more complex, legal practitioners face the difficult task of striking a balance between preserving data and protecting users’ and employees’ rights. Experts from various fields addressed the many approaches to this challenge, highlighting the importance of using technology in a responsible, efficient way to manage company information.
Chief Privacy Officer at Gilead Sciences, Danielle Manner, observed that regulations such as the FTC’s and California’s new CPRA (Consumer Privacy Rights Act) are attempting to prevent companies from tricking customers into granting consent for data collection through UX design or dark pattern UIs. Meanwhile, questions linger concerning which federal agency – the FTC or HHS – should be responsible for enforcing privacy rules on health-related data.
On the other hand, Susana Medeiros from Norton Rose Fulbright pushed for greater caution when dealing with preservation and collection efforts during discovery processes, reasoning that overbroad practices create unnecessary risk due to potential cybersecurity threats and sanctions under foreign confidentiality laws. She promoted performing in-place discovery operations and limiting what gets taken outside an organization’s walls in order to minimize exposure to criminal activity or violations of data protection clauses.
Overall, with so many aspects of data security and compliance to consider, from global trends in terms of legislation down to individual factors such as the careful selection of third-party vendors, it is clear that legal teams must remain vigilant in their approach while making use of the latest technologies available. By doing so they can ensure that sensitive information is appropriately preserved while providing individuals their right to privacy at all times.
This year’s conference provided us with valuable insights into how the evolving technology landscape will affect the functions of lawyers and law support teams in the near future. Eyes are now on the industry to regulate these technologies effectively, ensuring AI is transparent and understandable while continuing to improve existing legal practices. If your firm needs a partner that can implement, manage, support and secure new technologies, we are here to help.
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