The Pulse of Higher Ed

By Emily West

When Elle Woods strutted into Harvard Law School, clad head to toe in pink, she broke the mold for what an aspiring law student should look like. And, if market data is to be believed, the legal profession itself may be headed for a similarly unexpected makeover.

The 2023 Future Ready Lawyer Survey revealed that the legal field is poised for unparalleled changes, driven by technological trends that are reshaping roles. According to the survey, 87% of attorneys affirmed that technology has enhanced their daily work. However, less than half (46%) felt they were fully utilizing technology to its potential, and 4% admitted to underutilizing it. At the same time, there is growing pressure on law firms to increase their investment in emerging technology to effectively meet client demands. Nearly half of law firms (46%) identified the need for technology to boost productivity and efficiency as a top priority, alongside improving collaboration and work processes.[1]

Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that AI technology could impact 40% of all jobs globally, primarily affecting white-collar and professional sectors, which has significant implications for the legal sector.[2] As generative AI technology becomes increasingly capable of tackling complex tasks, conventional legal jobs and routine tasks like research, writing, and data entry could increasingly get handled by virtual assistants. It will drive day-to-day legal tasks, with legal practitioners acting as supervisors and strategists. According to David Wilkins, real-life Professor and Director of the Center on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School, most lawyers believe that AI tools can now produce memos on legal questions comparable to the work of a first-year law firm associate. While these AI-generated documents still require review by a senior lawyer, the cost efficiency of AI compared to human associates reveals its transformative potential for legal profession.[3] The latest briefing from UPCEA and labor market experts at Lightcast further emphasizes that advances in AI and automation are reshaping legal occupations, especially traditional support roles.

Before anyone starts objecting, however, the UPCEA and Lightcast briefing also indicates that skilled legal professionals with strategic prowess and personal charisma (à la Miss Woods) shouldn’t be too worried…yet. Roles requiring nuanced human skills like persuasion, client relationship management, courtroom presence and good old common sense will likely remain firmly in human hands for the foreseeable future. Current AI capabilities can still miss the mark quite spectacularly. For example, in June 2023, a New York federal judge sanctioned lawyers who submitted a legal brief written by ChatGPT, which included citations of non-existent court opinions.[4] The inconsistent reliability of such tools will likely spark more litigation around areas like data privacy, AI governance, and intellectual property disputes.

As quickly as the integration of AI and automation makes roles obsolete, it also creates possibilities for entirely new roles across legal operations and specialties. Job titles like “legal automation specialist” may soon become commonplace. That is why current or aspiring legal professionals who proactively embrace these new realities will come out ahead. The most successful professionals won’t be the ones experimenting with generative AI — they will be the ones preparing for a legal industry that will look a lot different in 2034 than it does today.    

For the legal field to successfully navigate this great makeover, law schools and institutions of higher education must bend and snap to it— covering crucial areas like AI ethics, legal informatics, and technology-driven practice management. This means integrating courses that explore the legal implications of AI, training students in the use of AI tools for legal research and drafting and emphasizing the importance of data privacy and cybersecurity. Schools should also create opportunities for interdisciplinary learning between law students and those studying computer science, engineering, and business. This cross-disciplinary approach will ensure that future legal professionals are not only proficient in legal principles but also understand the technological landscape shaping the industry. Those proactive enough to prepare for this future will remain in vogue for years to come.

Click here to read the Jobs of the Future…and the Present: What Will Happen in Legal Professions? occupational briefing.

[1] https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/news/future-ready-lawyer-2023-report

[2] https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Staff-Discussion-Notes/Issues/2024/01/14/Gen-AI-Artificial-Intelligence-and-the-Future-of-Work-542379?cid=bl-com-SDNEA2024001

[3] https://hls.harvard.edu/today/harvard-law-expert-explains-how-ai-may-transform-the-legal-profession-in-2024/

[4] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/22/judge-sanctions-lawyers-whose-ai-written-filing-contained-fake-citations.html