These conversations are more important than ever as generative AI becomes more widely implemented across the legal industry. As our customers鈥� 鈥� and their clients鈥� 鈥� expectations change, it鈥檚 crucial that we鈥檙e closely aligned with their collective needs.听听

With this mind, 成人VR视频 and Lexpert hosted a featuring law firm leaders and industry experts discussing the challenges and trends around the use of generative AI in the legal profession.鈥疊elow are insights from an engaging and informative discussion.听

Lawyers are excited to implement generative AI solutions听

Law firms may not have a reputation as early adopters of technology, yet many firms are already using generative AI solutions. David Cohen, senior director, client service delivery, McCarthy T茅trault, noted his firm鈥檚 response when it rolled out CoCounsel, the professional-grade GenAI assistant, a year ago. 鈥�听

鈥�鈥淲e put a call out for people to sign up and get a license, and the 175 seats were immediately filled,鈥� Cohen said. 鈥淭here was a wait list where people were pleading to get access to the tool 鈥� there鈥檚 certainly a lot of interest and excitement at our firm.鈥濃��听

Panelists noted how firms are increasingly implementing AI for drafting legal documents as well as for predictive analytics and other complex tasks.听

Cohen said McCarthy T茅trault is using AI for higher-value work, including in litigation matters to scan data troves and identify where the firm has been successful in the past. 鈥�听

鈥�鈥淲e鈥檙e very interested in how we get a strategic advantage,鈥� Cohen said. 鈥淲hat arguments were used, what makes for a successful pleading 鈥� that鈥檚 something we can leverage.鈥� 鈥�听

鈥�Rikin Morzaria, principal at Kinara Law, said he鈥檚 鈥渆xperimenting with and finding solutions that work long term,鈥� including using AI for advanced tasks such as drafting memos or reviewing his own work to identify potential areas for improvement.听

鈥�鈥淚 treat it as something that would be submitted by a student or an intern, that needs to be reviewed again,鈥� Morzaria said. 鈥淚t ultimately produces a better product for me in the end.鈥�听

鈥�Unfounded concerns about robot lawyers听

Panelists shared their perspectives on generative AI solutions augmenting, not replacing, humans.听

鈥淎I doesn鈥檛 have human insight or instincts, it doesn鈥檛 know the client, it can鈥檛 read a room,鈥� said Valerie McConnell, senior director of CoCounsel Customer Success at 成人VR视频. 鈥淗ow lawyers allocate their time will shift: the hope and expectation is when we clear their plates, they鈥檒l have the space to think about strategic angles.鈥�听

鈥�This brought up how firms鈥� use of AI is changing talent management. Cohen noted that McCarthy T茅trault revamped its training program to incorporate the integration of AI into its workflows and processes.听

鈥�鈥淗aving best-in-class prompts that are shared and available to our lawyers is something we certainly weren鈥檛 discussing a couple years ago,鈥� Cohen said. 鈥�听

鈥�Changing billing practices and elevating services听

Panelists noted that generative AI is changing how lawyers bill their clients. They discussed an example of litigators relying more on flat-fee billing because they know they can handle certain aspects of a matter more quickly. 鈥�听

鈥�鈥淵our time in a discovery, trial, or mediation won鈥檛 change, but a lot of that time leading up to it will,鈥� Morzaria said. 鈥淭hat allows you to work more efficiently and take on work that may not have been feasible before.鈥� 鈥�听

Panelists also shared how generative AI is helping firms elevate their services. They called out how firms in the litigation space are using it to surface key鈥痚vidence, while firms on the transactional side are using it for contract review.听听

Managing and mitigating risks听

Panelists discussed how firms are addressing concerns around emerging technologies including accuracy and privacy. Cohen noted firms are focusing on 鈥渁chieving the right balance where we鈥檙e generating benefits for our clients but also managing and mitigating the risks.鈥澨�听

McConnell emphasized that AI is not a replacement for a lawyer鈥檚 oversight. She recommended that firms create an AI policy, use a secure software platform that allows lawyers to easily verify output and doesn鈥檛 train on firm data, and provide employee training on responsible AI use. 鈥�听

Generative AI is shaping the future of law, and its impact on the legal profession will be even greater in 2025 and beyond. As the market matures, legal professionals will not just desire but require AI capabilities for their workflows.鈥疘nnovative firms at the forefront, including Kinara Law and McCarthy T茅trault, are best positioned to capitalize on the potential of this transformative technology to better serve their clients.听

鈥�Check out highlights of the panelists鈥� conversation and listen to their full discussion .听

This is a guest post from Raghu Ramanathan, president, Legal Professionals, 成人VR视频.听

1. Lawyer productivity gains are boosted by technology

In Q2 2024, for the first time in years, a majority of law firms experienced productivity growth. In Q3, a whopping 64% of law firms reported productivity growth, building on the gains seen in Q2.

鈥淭he continued climb in law firm average productivity 鈥� in stark contrast to previous years 鈥� is a key factor boosting law firm profitability,鈥� said Raghu Ramanathan, president of Legal Professionals, 成人VR视频. “Law firms that not only invest in new technology but also adopt AI and generative AI solutions to streamline workflows and improve the efficiency and quality of their work will be best positioned to improve client satisfaction and experience sustained productivity growth.鈥�

2. Demand continues to rise

Overall demand for legal services is up by a solid 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Leading the charge are counter-cyclical practices, with litigation demand up by 4.0% and labor & employment not far behind at 2.9%. Real estate led the growth in transactional practices, up 3.7%. The balanced growth across practice areas indicates a more sustainable expansion than what law firms experienced during the post-pandemic boom.

3. Both full-time equivalent headcount and productivity are up

Q3 2024 was the first time in three years that law firms increased both their full-time equivalent headcount and productivity. While there鈥檚 been a slight uptick in expenses 鈥� 5.7% for direct and 5.3% for overhead 鈥� the modest hiring rate compared to the boom years of 2021 and 2022 is helping firms keep these costs in check.

4. Stable economy provides ideal growth environment

The strong performance for law firms was supported by a stable and healthier-than-expected U.S. economy. Despite earlier concerns about sustained inflation and slow economic growth, the economic environment has provided a foundation for law firms to thrive. Law firms are positioned for a strong close to 2024.

Download the full report for additional insights on the factors shaping the future of law firm profitability and productivity.

From an innovation perspective, the growth in lawyer productivity is a top takeaway.

鈥淟aw firms鈥� recovering productivity rates may be an early indicator of the impact AI and generative AI tools are having on their ability to streamline workflows and free up lawyers for more strategic activities,鈥� said Raghu Ramanathan, president, Legal Professionals, 成人VR视频.

Lawyer productivity growth turned positive 鈥� coming in at 0.4% 鈥� for the first time since the transactional boom of Q4 2021, when pandemic lockdowns were ending and the U.S. economy was strong. In Q2 2024, 54% of firms had lawyers billing more hours compared to Q2 2023.

Other notable figures from the report

• Growth in overall demand was led by the counter-cyclical practices of litigation 鈥� which grew at 3.4% 鈥� followed by bankruptcy, up 2.4%, and labor & employment, up 2.2%.
• Demand for transactional practices, which includes general corporate, M&A, real estate and tax practices, returned to growth mode for law firms after almost three years of subpar performance. Transactional fees worked 鈥� a proxy for revenue 鈥� saw the greatest Q2 resurgence of any cyclical practice group, driven by increased billing rates.
• Worked rate growth was at 6.6%, up from 6.4% in Q1, which saw the fastest Q1 pace of growth since the Great Financial Crisis.

For more insights, read the press release or download a copy of the Q2 2024 LFFI report.

For legal professionals filing a lawsuit, defending a lawsuit, or advising clients on potential liability, often their first step is to identify applicable claims or counterclaims. Yet not all claims are equal. Some causes of action have a lower threshold to achieve, some provide for attorneys鈥� fees or higher damages, and some fit better with the facts of a particular case.

In testing with attorneys, those who used the new skill found relevant causes of action three times faster than when using traditional research methods. In addition, in reviewing Am Law 50 litigation where claims were added after the initial pleadings, the new skill found 94% of the claims that were missed in the initial pleadings and later added by the firms.

鈥淔inding claims with traditional research methods can be difficult and time consuming,鈥� said Mike Dahn, head of Westlaw Product Management, 成人VR视频. 鈥淓ven experienced lawyers can miss applicable claims. Customers have told us about the difficulty of claims research for years, and it鈥檚 not just that it can take hours 鈥� it’s error prone, which is easy to see in how often reputable firms attempt to add new claims or counterclaims later in litigation, after the initial pleadings. But courts won鈥檛 always allow you to add a claim later, and missing the best claims can have significant consequences. It can mean the difference between winning or losing a motion, recovering more in damages or attorney’s fees, or potentially losing a case.鈥�

Dahn added this new skill was purpose-built using the latest generative AI plus new claims content created by 成人VR视频 attorney editors. 鈥淲hen we tried to solve claims research issues with AI alone, it didn鈥檛 work very well, so we had our attorney editors create new content about causes of action that enabled AI to work much better. We鈥檒l continue to do work like this for other workflows where AI alone struggles.”

The new skill is the latest milestone in the 成人VR视频 expanded vision for CoCounsel 鈥� the professional-grade GenAI assistant 鈥� to enable professionals to seamlessly complete complicated work involving multiple products through a single generative AI assistant.

For more on the new skill, check out .