Onward Insights - February 2024
Beyond the Hype: Exploring Real-World AI in Law
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AI continues to make waves in the legal profession, raising questions about its potential impact on billable hours, research processes, and more. How can you tap into this shift for career success? This month's Onward Insights explores practical ways AI can boost efficiency, optimize your resume, and enhance client service delivery. We examine a thought-provoking Reuters report analyzing trust in legal-focused AI. Plus, get our top tips on using AI tools as your resume coach. Curious how AI might shake up your workflow? Let's find out together!
AI & The Evolution of the Legal Profession
Technology is an essential, transformative force within the legal industry. Now, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to usher in an even greater leap forward in how lawyers serve clients, research issues, and build practices. While some tasks may be streamlined or eliminated entirely, the most positive implications of AI revolve around enhanced legal service delivery, better strategic insights, and quality of life improvements for lawyers and their clients.
A recent report from Reuters titled "Stepping into the future: How generative AI will help lawyers improve legal service delivery" details the promising ways AI is evolving the legal profession. In it, authors explore how AI is far more than an efficiency tool; it's a catalyst for growth and innovation in legal services. Some key areas highlighted in the report include:
The Importance of Trust and Accuracy: Legal AI will thrive when built on trustworthy, verified data sets. Legal professionals need specialized "Large Language Models" (LLMs) grounded in vetted sources and trained with domain-specific expertise. In contrast to systems like ChatGPT, such focused LLMs minimize false data, reducing risk, and boosting attorney confidence.
AI as a Force Multiplier: Instead of focusing on what AI might replace, consider what it empowers. Lawyers using advanced AI tools will amplify their skill sets, increase efficiencies, and improve quality of service delivered. The emphasis shifts from routine tasks to higher-level analysis, decision-making, and client engagement.
The AI-Powered Lawyer: Tasks ranging from legal research to contract analysis will see major streamlining using powerful AI platforms. Attorneys using AI can identify opportunities and risks within agreements more easily, compare case law references strategically, and draft documents much faster with AI-generated frameworks. This results in greater accuracy, depth, and faster execution to satisfy client needs.
The shift towards AI in law promises numerous advantages for lawyers and their clients. The Reuters report offers an eye-opening exploration of its potential in the industry.
Read the full report:"Stepping into the future: How generative AI will help lawyers improve legal service delivery" from Reuters: https://tmsnrt.rs/49xRpMK
AI-Enhanced Resume Building for the Legal World
In a tech-driven job market, AI is a powerful tool, even for tradition-bound fields like law. AI-powered platforms can now take your existing legal resume and transform it into a document that showcases your skills and aligns with in-demand competencies.
Harnessing the Power of LLMs for Legal Resume Refinement
Beyond specialized resume tools, powerful "Large Language Models" (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini offer another way to level up your legal resume. Their vast knowledge base and advanced text processing capabilities help with optimization, skill identification, and rephrasing for greater impact. While paid versions of these models often yield more tailored and insightful results, even the free versions will give you invaluable information to work with.
Getting Started with Your LLM Resume Revamp
Prepare Your Materials: Have a digital copy of your resume (plain text or .doc is best) and a sample job description for a position you'd be interested in.
Paste and Provide Context: In your LLM chat window, paste your resume along with a note that you're a lawyer seeking suggestions for improvement. Include the sample job description.
Request Specific Feedback: Ask for areas to strengthen skills highlighting, ways to match job description phrasing, or general readability edits. LLMs can even write alternative summary statements.
Keyword Optimization: Pinpoint specific legal terminology and "buzzwords" within your area of practice that appeal to prospective firms.
Skill Highlighting: Discover hidden or transferable skills by analyzing past roles, suggesting wording or categories you may not have considered.
Impact Quantification: AI may assist in framing accomplishments in a more concrete, numbers-driven format favored by law firms.
Important Note: LLMs like ChatGPT are still under development and prone to some factual errors, or "hallucinations". Use them for inspiration and phrasing rather than as the sole source of edits. A recruiter's deep industry knowledge remains your top advantage.
The Recruiter Advantage
While AI tools provide a potent boost, seasoned legal recruiters remain indispensable. Recruiters are experts in crafting bespoke resumes tailored to a specific firm or practice area. They decipher company culture, spot industry trends, and help your resume land on the right desk. AI enhances the candidate experience, but recruiters ensure that "personal touch" crucial to standing out.
Caveats: Don't Automate, Enhance
It's tempting to let AI do all the work. However, over-reliance risks leaving your resume feeling generic and lacking that authentic professional voice. AI offers a strategic starting point, but your legal expertise and a recruiter's insights are what refine it into a true power document.
Monthly Recap:
Early adopters are gaining a competitive edge by using AI tools to boost efficiency, refine work quality, and enhance client services. Discover how platforms like Lexis+ AI provide accountable, secure, and user-friendly tools to reshape your practice.
Could AI Revolutionize Legal Fees?
In Ken Crutchfield’s analysis in Above the Law, he explores the multi-faceted impact AI could have on traditional legal billing. Discover how AI might trigger an evolution beyond the billable hour, influencing pricing structures and job responsibilities.
Best Use of Artificial Intelligence, Law Firm: DLA Piper
DLA Piper's award-winning AI integration offers lessons for lawyers navigating the changing legal landscape. Explore their strategies and learn how Onward Recruiting can guide you toward career opportunities at the forefront of innovation.
Parting Thoughts: Join the Conversation
AI tools won't eliminate challenges, but they can significantly shift how we face them. As we navigate this ongoing evolution, your feedback is key. Whether you're eager to share adoption obstacles, early AI success stories, or burning questions about its implications, connect with us on LinkedIn. Your individual input will help Onward Insights deliver practical content and insights tailored to the real-world needs of the legal community. Curious about what the next generation of legal tools holds? Let's shape the future of our profession together!