ChatGPT, the newly launched natural language processing tool that is making waves across many industries, has been flagged as holding enormous potential for streamlining traditional legal service delivery models. 

In conversation, several lawyers from BigLaw firm Lander & Rogers flagged that the use of AI has significant potential for streamlining processes and improving accuracy and efficiency for several kinds of work. 

Yet, these improvements won’t be without limitations and risks for firms, noted special counsel Paul Mayson and lawyer Joshua Lee. 

Mr Mayson and Mr Lee discussed that ChatGPT holds the capacity to streamline transaction processes and improve accuracy and efficiency in due diligence, contract review and analysis, litigation and regulatory compliance, and document preparation.

This will have knock-on effects in reducing costs for clients, they noted.

In its current form, ChatGPT has the capacity to be used for practical applications such as general legal research and simple drafting; summarising court decisions and legislation; explaining general legal principles; drafting simple clauses and definitions used in legal documents; and generating draft content for presentations and articles. 

Such output would need to be carefully reviewed by a qualified lawyer in order for the content to be professional and deliverable to a client, noted Mr Mayson and Mr Lee.

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Lisa Fitzgerald, digital economy and corporate partner at Lander & Rogers, spoke to Lawyers Weekly about how the software might be harnessed by firms. 

“We have already seen law firms like ours direct resources towards unlocking the potential of the technology,” she noted.

“AI can review vast amounts of information incredibly quickly — with the right prompts and supervision, it can significantly improve the speed of some tasks, with positive benefits for both clients and lawyers,” Ms Fitzgerald explained. 

Ms Fitzgerland discussed further how the technology could be embedded in businesses.

“Embedding AI technology within a business requires thoughtful governance principles and policies to effectively manage its use. 

“These principles and policies should consider whether use of AI is ethical, whether it poses risks to an organisation and whether it meets the requirements of existing policies, procedures, and laws,” she stated.

“Additionally, meaningful integration would likely require effective training and change management processes that demonstrate correct use (and avoid misuse) and address concerns regarding job safety.”

Challenges

Mr Mayson and Mr Lee discussed the challenges that arise from the implementation of ChatGPT. 

“Among the biggest concerns with ChatGPT is the quality of data upon which the technology is trained,” they explained.

The current ChatGPT data set is limited to information before 2021, meaning out-of-date information is likely. It is also trained on large amounts of data, including all kinds of user-generated content sites, which means it has the potential to harness misinformation that is prevalent online. 

Data may also be subject to biases, leading to responses that are incorrect, misleading or discriminatory, explained Mr Mayson and Mr Lee.

Another challenge is in intellectual property. The inability to verify the sources from which information is drawn poses a risk of infringing upon someone else’s intellectual property, the pair noted.

Privacy is another concern. Inputting confidential or sensitive data in the system may amount to a breach of professional duties and obligations to a client, said Mr Mayson and Mr Lee.

Ms Fitzgerald commented further on the challenges: “As with any aspect relating to the practice of law, lawyers must use their legal training and consider professional ethics to inform their approach.

“When using ChatGPT, outputs should be checked against other sources such as reputable legal research tools and precedent libraries. If there is a disconnect, then further research will be required,” she outlined. 

“Lawyers should also be applying their own legal skills and judgement in any legal advice prepared for clients. 

“Full disclosure about the role of LLM AI in research is also important.”