A survey conducted by Simmons & Simmons of over 500 legal heads has found – perhaps as one would expect – that legal AI use will drive major changes to the market over the next 10 years. But also that it will put the focus on ‘empathy’ among lawyers.
Key survey takeaways include:
– 78% believed that as AI takes on more work, ‘empathy and soft skills, will become more critical in the years ahead’.
– 77% said that lawyers will need to become more tech-proficient.
– 74% of legal heads ‘predict the anticipated technological revolution will lead to disruption to services and pricing‘. (And that’s good to hear…!)
– while 4 in 5 (82%) agreed that in a decade, law firms will become ‘much more wellbeing focused – for both their employees and clients’.
– 75% of legal heads also expect technological transformation to act as a force for good: opening up access to law to those from underserved communities.
Senior Partner, Julian Taylor, said: ‘Our findings show that legal advisers from some of the world’s biggest companies expect the law firm of a decade from now to look dramatically different. In 10 years’ time, legal heads predict a skills revolution for lawyers, pricing models to alter, firms to double down on wellbeing and greater access to law for underserved communities.
‘It’s clear the profession is on the cusp of a deep transformation. It will be those law firms that embrace these changes and invest wisely today – in their people, in technology and in their legal services – that will reap the most benefits in the coming years.’
Will Lawyers Become Care Bears?
AL remembers during the first wave of AI there was plenty of talk about how lawyers would have to become more empathetic – as a reaction to lots of more mundane and ‘automatic’ or ‘mechanical’ work being taken on by software.
But, have lawyers become more like Care Bears over the last nine years?
Well, you tell me.
It’s an interesting theory, i.e. automation of tasks removes the ‘robotic’ aspects of many things you do, leaving a person to develop as a human being.
It would be great if that did happen. But, do clients want that? Do clients want lawyers with big hearts? Or do they want merciless pipe-hitters that will win their case and make deals in their favour? Or do they want both – a bit like Ray from Seal Team, who is a brutally accurate crack shot, but also a really nice guy?
As to the other insights, that makes sense overall, although…ironically, if tech works well for lawyers it should not need them to know much about it. I.e. iPhones work because we have no idea how they work. If we had to understand what made an iPhone work we’d probably not be able to use it.
Any road, a good debate is to be had here and thanks to S&S.