Posted by Danielle Park, product manager at Legal Futures Associate Access Legal
Park: View AI as a highly skilled assistant
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked widespread excitement and debate across numerous industries, and the legal sector is no exception. AI offers a powerful opportunity to optimise legal work, reduce administrative burdens and improve efficiency.
However, concerns about the potential displacement of legal professionals remain a significant barrier to fully adopting AI.
So, will AI replace lawyers altogether? The simple answer is no. While AI is undeniably reshaping the way lawyers operate, it is primarily a tool designed to enhance – not replace – human expertise.
AI excels at handling time-consuming administrative tasks, but it lacks the judgement, creativity and emotional intelligence that are central to the practice of law. By recognising the strengths and limitations of AI, legal professionals can leverage this technology to streamline their workflows, enabling them to focus on high-value tasks that truly require human insight.
Let’s delve into AI’s capabilities and shortcomings to understand why its role is to work alongside legal professionals, rather than replace them.
What AI can do for lawyers
AI is a powerful tool, but its impact hinges on how it is used within a law firm. The most effective applications involve outsourcing repetitive and administrative tasks to AI systems, allowing legal professionals to concentrate on complex, high-value work that better utilises their expertise.
AI is particularly effective in handling administrative duties that would otherwise consume a significant portion of a lawyer’s time. Tasks like legal research, document review and case analysis – which could take hours manually – are made much faster and more efficient with AI.
These tools can process vast amounts of information rapidly, identify pertinent data, and present it in an easily digestible format. For instance, AI can summarise lengthy contracts, search for relevant case precedents, or detect inconsistencies in documents with speed and accuracy that human workers simply cannot match.
As Stu White, product and engineering director for Access Legal, puts it: “Technology is not a substitute for legal advice. Rather than replacing lawyers, it allows them to focus more on offering their full legal expertise to clients.”
By minimising time spent on administrative tasks, AI frees up lawyers to focus on what matters most – strategy, problem-solving, and fostering client relationships.
Why AI won’t replace lawyers
Despite its impressive capabilities, AI has limitations that prevent it from fully replacing lawyers. Legal practice requires decision-making, creativity, and emotional intelligence – qualities that AI simply cannot replicate.
Ethical and judgement-based decisions
Lawyers frequently face ethical dilemmas that demand nuanced judgement. While AI can offer data-driven insights, it is incapable of making decisions that involve moral, social or cultural considerations. These types of decisions always require a human touch to ensure ethical integrity and appropriate context.
Building client relationships
Clients need more than legal solutions; they need trust and reassurance – especially in difficult situations.
Lawyers excel at building interpersonal relationships through empathy and emotional intelligence, providing comfort and support that AI cannot replicate. Whether handling a personal injury case or a family dispute, the human connection remains essential for a positive client experience.
Creative problem solving
Crafting innovative legal strategies often requires experience, intuition, and creativity – qualities that are inherently human.
While AI can assist by analysing data and providing insights, it is the lawyer who interprets this information within the context of each unique case, developing strategies that only a human professional can provide.
AI as a valuable tool
It’s helpful to view AI as a highly skilled assistant rather than a replacement. The key is collaboration. Like workflow automation, AI can streamline administrative tasks, allowing lawyers to focus on more strategic and impactful aspects of their work.
For example, AI can perform legal research by scanning thousands of documents for relevant case law in minutes. It can review contracts for errors or inconsistencies, providing an initial draft that lawyers can refine. It can even assist in document drafting, generating templates or summaries.
These applications save time and boost efficiency without diminishing the value of human expertise. When combined with automation, AI can drive productivity and allow lawyers to focus on higher-value tasks, all while maintaining exceptional client service.
Preparing your law firm for the AI future
AI won’t replace lawyers but it will change their roles. Instead of fearing job displacement, lawyers should see AI as an invaluable assistant that enhances their practice.
By taking over repetitive administrative tasks and time-intensive research, AI provides more time for the skills that set lawyers apart: client care, strategic thinking, and problem-solving.
While adopting AI requires preparation, the benefits are immense. To help your firm make the most of AI, here are three steps to get started:
1. Stay informed
Keep up with developments in legal technology by reading industry blogs, subscribing to newsletters, and attending webinars and conferences.
Pay attention to case studies that demonstrate successful AI applications in law firms similar to yours. Staying informed will allow you to identify emerging trends and find AI tools that could improve efficiency, client service, and competitiveness.
2. Invest in training
Ensure your team is equipped to use AI tools effectively by offering training. This could range from basic AI software education to more advanced topics like integrating AI into your firm’s workflows or crafting effective prompts.
Ongoing workshops or expert partnerships can help build confidence and ensure a smoother adoption process, yielding higher productivity.
3. Adopt a strategic mindset
View AI as a tool for innovation rather than just automation. Identify areas of your practice that would benefit from AI – whether it’s research, document drafting, or client communication – and create a roadmap for adopting AI.
A proactive, strategic approach will help your firm integrate AI as part of its growth strategy, rather than as a one-off solution.
Embrace AI to support your law firm
AI is here to support, not replace, lawyers. While sophisticated, AI lacks the human qualities – such as empathy, judgement, and creativity – that define great legal professionals. Instead, AI enhances a lawyer’s ability to provide exceptional client service and foster practice growth by tackling time-consuming tasks.
By embracing AI as a tool and not as a competitor, lawyers can stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry and work smarter, not harder, ensuring long-term success.
To answer your question, the correct answer is not yet. Whilst you are part of the early stages of the utilisation of AI in the legal world, computers will gather data overtime and develop some kind of artificial expertise. Afterwards what his expertise but something learnt from the correct application of the law to the problems that requires solving by your client.