AI vs Lawyers, are Lawyers Going to be Replaced by AI?

When people think of AI, their minds automatically wander to a futuristic view of the world where robots take over everything. Truth is, AI (Artificial Intelligence) is not here to conquer the world and destroy humanity. These are Hollywood tales that strike fear into people. Some of those people include professionals in the legal field ”“ one of the industries slated to benefit the most from AI, particularly as it relates to contract data management.

It’s time to set the record straight: AI is here to help, not hinder, and certainly not replace. Humans are an essential part of the process. What an AI contract is designed to do is revolutionize the costly and labor-intensive way that lawyers are currently approaching document management, freeing them up to complete much more creative, interesting, and indeed important tasks.

Fast Processes for Legal Professionals

Contract review software, for instance can scan a 50-page contract in about 10 seconds, pulling out the relevant information the lawyer requires. That task when done manually, with a lawyer poring over that same 50-page document, can realistically take hours. Hours that have taken away from productive, meaningful work.

For many applications of AI contract analysis, the human-centered approach supports the concept of human-AI collaboration instead of AI competing against a human, suggests Interesting Engineering.

Bottom line is, deep learning reduces costs without sacrificing performance and accuracy when it comes to adopting a contract management solution for your law firm.

Adding Value for the Client

Contract review software can research and automate processes at a pace far quicker than the average attorney, translating into a major time-saver for firms, to be sure. But it also brings true value to the more repetitive tasks so that lawyers spend less time slogging through endless files. Instead, they can rely on computer programs to read and scan documents, interpret them in real-time, and identify the case-relevant results, in just a couple of minutes.

Legal work becomes more interesting as computers handle the grunt work and lawyers can concentrate on analysis, which adds more value to the client. Lawyers can then concentrate on client interaction, providing specific advice to specific clients on specific matters. This also vastly reduces the chance for human error.

The truth is, law remains a human business. There will always be gray areas, elements of interpretation, and answers that won’t always be straightforward, requiring that human touch that is missing from machine learning applications. A machine can’t interpret feelings. A machine can’t pick up on nuances or facial expressions, or respond in an understanding way while appropriately reacting to a human encounter.

Emotional Intelligence

There’s one thing that separates us from robots, and that’s called emotional intelligence.

Our nimbleness to react instantly in creative and on-the-fly ways is unmatched by any computer. AI contracts make lawyers more effective and more efficient, giving them back the time they need to do creative and analytical work. We still have a long way to go before robots can match those fundamental human skills. In short, artificial intelligence won’t replace humans; it will make us superhuman.

How AI Addresses the Challenges of Traditional Contract Management

Harvard Business Review says the use of artificial intelligence as an integral part of contract management will vastly improve how all firms contract. Not only will it change the tools firms use to contract, it will influence the content of those contracts and impact the processes by which firms contract in the future.

All three of these components -- change, influence, and impact -- will have to rely on one thing: consistency. Let’s take a look at how AI addresses the challenges imposed on contract managers as part of the contract review process:

• One Common Resource: Featuring one common tool for everyone in the organization to see, use and manipulate, this allows all employees to take part in a shared solution backed by a core set of rules and built-in best practices. A CLM built on a foundation of AI offers designated access controls to ensure specific contracts are seen and approved by the right people. Best part is, you can set limits and parameters on how strict or loose you want these to be.
• A Set of Eyes on Every Contract: Not only does thissolution retain the knowledge of multiple thousands of contracts, it can use the information taken from each when reviewing new agreements. And because it can discern patterns from agreement to agreement, it can utilize those assumptions to craft, edit and finalize future contracts. In essence, it becomes the gold standard by eliminating bias or arguments over who is in charge.
• One Standard Process: With the removal of the need fortribal knowledge throughout the organization, AI-powered contract management software becomes the top source for the efficient workflow of contracting within legal teams. Plus, you’re saving time and money without needing multiple employees manage the contract and due diligence process.

When you have clearly-defined business rules in place for your contract management team, you can more consistently and accurately allow for the movement of each contract. As a result, when lawyers are freed up from having to handle administrative and repetitive tasks, they can better focus on higher-value legal work. This is the clear winner in the ultimate showdown between AI and lawyer.

Contact Evisort

Evisort streamlines legal workflow using advanced AI to classify contracts, extract data, and track key provisions within documents. Contact us for a demo on the contract process today! We are here to help your legal teams become more efficient. As such, it’s important to educate yourself and your legal departments, and ensure your contract processes are ready to embrace artificial intelligence and machine learning.