Originally posted on 12/10/2019 (reformatted).
I recently attended the plenary session for the ABA-YLD Conference. Technology was the theme for the entire conference and this program was entitled “What’s your AI.” The program detailed the development of Artificial Intelligence. As a lawyer, the majority of the profession has witnessed the integration of technology into the practice of law in systems such as LexisNexis and WestLaw. As a result, I started to think about whether the lawyers of today have an advantage against the lawyers of yesterday.
After law students completed research and writing, the number of individuals using actual books in the library started to decrease. Outside of the cliché picture of a lawyer or a law student holding a book between the bookshelves in the library, millennial attorneys have put down the books and picked up a search engine. I, myself, have been guilty of walking pass the books in my office straight to ICLE or Westlaw to find what I need. However, I’ve always wonder if the case law or statute I just read is sinking in the way it did when I was getting the information from a book.
Technology definitely provides an advantage when it comes to speed and efficiency but reading a case from the screen of the computer may sometimes fail to belabor the emphasis of a holding or reasoning. Beyond searching for cases, artificial intelligence has also aided in combing through discovery and massive contracts which tends to make life a bit easier. However, searching for key words and phrases in a document may cause someone to overlook material items.
Taken the aforementioned into consideration, I am definitely a proponent for the way artificial intelligence and technology has added to the practice of law. Moreover, it has caused for excellent and efficiency and turn around on work. However, as life tends to remind us, referring to the way things were done in the past is never a bad place to start.
Colemon Potts
Detroit Legal Group, PLLC
Detroit, MI
Inter Alia 