Why is the legal industry talking about Artificial Intelligence (AI), and in particular generative AI?
There certainly is a lot of hype around AI, however, generative AI is much more relevant to the daily practice of law, which is all about language. In recent years the legal world has become well-acquainted with technological disruption, experiencing successive waves of changes in practice and procedure. While the emergence of generative AI has fuelled unparalleled excitement for some legal professionals, others may be taking a more considered approach.
The use of AI is fast making its way into the court system, and it is also interesting to note that several top law firms in Australia have already adopted generative AI tools such as Lexis+ AI.
What are some of the key considerations for Australian barristers when considering the use of generative AI solutions?
While the adoption of generative AI can save you incredible amounts of time, there are several key considerations for barristers.
1. AI won’t replace your expertise
Clients are entitled to expect that any work that is done on a brief is a barrister’s own work and reflects the application of their skill, knowledge, experience, and judgment.
It is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the GenAI tools you use so that anything you produce, is work:
- on which you have exercised independent forensic judgment,
- on which you have advised independently,
- which you have reviewed and edited where necessary,
- which you believe is correct and reliable based on your training, expertise, and research, and therefore you can independently explain and support.
2. The value of legally trained Large Language Models (LLMs)
As a barrister, every day is different, and each case requires a specifically crafted strategy to account for the distinct aspects of that case.
The practice of law is all about understanding, synthesising, creating, and communicating language. Because of their ease with language, LLMs are particularly well suited to use in fields like law. An LLM trained on vast amounts of text data can produce fluent responses to text drafted by the user (prompts). However, generic LLMs such as Chat GPT or CoPilot are not specifically trained for legal use cases.
AI systems that are intended for use in a legal context offer more assurance of accuracy and usefulness. While LLMs find “plausible” responses to your prompts, they lack the “reasoning” needed in legal research and strategy, and they can’t replace your expertise in addressing a matter that has come to you for a reason.
3. Learning to prompt effectively
Learning how to optimise your prompting (prompt engineering), is a key consideration when seeking time efficiencies in your daily work. Whether that’s in summarising lengthy and complex case law quickly and easily, analysing your opponents’ submissions to quickly familiarise yourself with the salient points, or asking it to provide you with a first draft in short order, you and your practice will benefit from the time saved.
Out-of-the-box AI solutions may not work particularly well for legal use cases without proper training data and adequately designed safeguards.
4. Safeguards
Let’s talk about safeguards. It’s important that before you embark on using AI, you understand how to use it effectively but also understand its limitations. The NSW Bar Association and the Supreme Court of Victoria have already issued guidelines on the use of generative AI in litigation. The main premise of these guidelines is that if AI tools are to be used, the barrister must ensure that the use of AI supplements and does not substitute the barrister’s legal skill.
Introducing Lexis+ AI
Lexis Nexis has just launched Lexis+ AI in Australia. It’s like having a well-read, trusted colleague with an encyclopedic memory that you can converse with, and who can analyse and apply LexisNexis’ integrated legal content for you, sitting on your desktop.
The assistant can complete many of the tasks which are the staple of your daily work: research, drafting, summarising cases, and uploading and analysing documents.
Unlike other free or general-purpose LLMs that you may have used that draw their answers from the World Wide Web, Lexis+ AI is only drawing from trusted LexisNexis content. This process is known as Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) which means that we point the AI model at our content, and it bases its responses only on our content.
What are some of the practical applications of Lexis+ AI?
Trial preparation – this is often a time-consuming and technical task requiring the analysis and synthesisation of large amounts of content. Generative AI can save you time by finding relevant cases and providing summaries of relevant judgments, giving you a springboard to determining your strategy.
Catching cases – Generative AI can support your research and ensure that you’re ahead of the curve by making sure you don’t miss a case or uncover cases that your opponent hasn’t identified.
Reviewing opposing arguments – uploading your opponent’s submissions will allow you to have a summary of their approach at your fingertips in moments. This gives you back time to dedicate to how you will tackle their arguments from a strategic point of view.
Using traditional legal research methods in combination with generative AI responses will arm you with more objective and decisive data points.
As with any type of research, using AI is a tool. The responses will always be your first “useful” draft, and the need to check and double-check against citations will remain to ensure completeness, reliability, and accuracy.
It is your expertise in the law and its application that is required to ensure that the first draft turns into something you are confident with.
Further reading
- AI GLOSSARY: A plain English guide to key AI (Artificial Intelligence) terms for the Australian legal profession. NSW Law Society and LexisNexis ©2024. Read it here.
- Generative AI Market Survey Report. LexisNexis surveyed over 560 lawyers and legal professionals throughout Australia and New Zealand to better understand overall awareness of generative AI, Download the survey report here
- LexisNexis AI Hub: Resources and reports on how generative AI is transforming legal research and workflows. Learn more here.
