University of St. Thomas Law Journal

Navigating the Future of Law: How AI is Reshaping Legal Practice

Jake Heyer*

Is the legal profession on the cusp of a technological revolution? While artificial intelligence (AI) is making its way into legal practice, questions remain about how deeply it will transform the profession. The integration of AI is increasing quickly, with a recent LexisNexis survey revealing that nearly 50 percent of lawyers believe generative AI will significantly transform their business and an overwhelming 92 percent expect some level of impact.1

The Current Legal AI Landscape

The use of AI in law firms has accelerated rapidly, with at least forty-one Am Law 100 firms now using generative AI technologies since the popularization of Large Language Models (LLMs).2 These law firms are using AI across many areas of their work¾from speeding up research and drafting documents to summarizing transcripts and creating marketing materials.3 After attorneys in New York were sanctioned for submitting a brief that was generated using ChatGPT, the use of AI for legal purposes was questioned.4 This made many firms hesitant to use AI, leading them to initially restrict access to the technology.5 They have since, however, developed more nuanced and innovative approaches to AI integration.

With AI becoming more common in the industry, LexisNexis surveyed 7,950 legal professionals to understand their perspectives on the technology.6 According to the survey, the most promising application was found to be research, with 65 percent of lawyers believing AI will enhance their research.7 Document drafting was close behind at 56 percent, while document analysis and email writing received support from 44 percent and 35 percent of respondents, respectively.8 The findings offer valuable insights into how the legal profession is leveraging this technology and where it plans to use it in the future.9

A few firms have been pioneers in AI adoption. A&O Shearman, under David Wakeling’s leadership, began using GPT-4 and Harvey, a law-specific custom version of an LLM, before either were publicly released.10 They also developed ContractMatrix, a “contract negotiation workflow driven by generative AI.”11 They report the system increases productivity by five to ten hours per week per attorney.12 Similarly, Wilson Sonsini’s Chief Innovation Officer, David Wang, has headed the firm’s AI initiatives.13 The firm’s Neuron platform, which digitizes and automates legal processes for startups, now includes autonomous capabilities with an AI-powered contract review service for cloud service agreements.14 While human lawyers still oversee the work, this new feature operates as a fixed-fee service.15 Finally, Dentons’s fleetAI, a customized version of ChatGPT, helps its attorneys with tasks like drafting witness statements and summarizing complex documents.16

Ethical Implications and Challenges

Integrating AI into practice has brought several important ethical considerations to attention. While the case in New York was an important reminder of the professional obligation attorneys have to ensure accuracy and maintain ethical standards, the challenges extend beyond these concerns.17 Two of these challenges include data privacy and billing.18

Client confidentiality and data privacy is one of the largest concerns. Firms are required to protect the sensitive information of their clients, and AI poses a serious risk.19 This requires firms to understand how client data is processed, stored, and potentially retained by the AI systems they implement.20 Firms who now use generative AI have the added task of instructing their attorneys on how to avoid any violations of attorney-client privilege. Confidentiality will continue to be a challenge, especially when using publicly available models, like ChatGPT, because the LLM is trained with user data.21 A firm may want to get a licensing agreement with the AI provider to ensure confidentiality, but even so, “legal professionals should regard an LLM as being a still-insecure venue.”22

Another ethical concern that has emerged is the billing practices of firms using AI.23 Attorneys must ensure AI’s time-saving benefits do not result in inflated fees, especially under hourly billing.24 Tasks like crafting AI inputs or refining outputs are billable only for actual time spent.25 Overhead costs for firm-wide AI tools cannot be charged directly to individual clients, while direct costs require disclosure and client consent.26 Transparency in fee agreements and communication about AI’s use is vital, particularly with less sophisticated clients.27 Multiple states have issued ethics opinions about AI use, and they consistently state that attorneys must understand the risks and benefits of AI and ensure its use aligns with the Rules of Professional Conduct.28 Minnesota’s rules emphasize that attorney fees must be reasonable and transparently communicated to clients, a principle that will become particularly important with the use of AI tools.29

Future Implications for the Legal Profession

For students and young attorneys entering the legal profession, the impact of AI on the profession is also of concern. Importantly, it appears that AI represents a transformative shift rather than a replacement of legal professionals.30 Similar to the banking industry, where tellers were nervous that ATMs would replace them but ultimately expanded banking services, Ken Crutchfield explained that AI can create new opportunities while automating routine tasks.31 The transformation is expected to improve and increase the efficiency of legal services while still maintaining the essential role of human judgment.32 This should give some level of reassurance to individuals who are entering into the field at the same time that this new technology is being implemented.

AI also presents interesting implications for the future of law firm dynamics. Sean Schecter, a partner and AI committee member at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, notes that AI could disrupt the traditional law firm hierarchy. He states: “It will affect top 10 firms’ profits by taking [their] leverage model away. Firms like mine might make up for that by taking in more cases.”  This shift could allow smaller firms to compete more effectively with larger ones.

Smaller firms could handle larger caseloads more efficiently, potentially disrupting the conventional market dynamics. Processing more cases with fewer resources could drive competitive pricing and make legal services more accessible to the general public. Additionally, this shift creates opportunities to move beyond the billable hour model, introducing service packages and pricing structures that better serve clients’ needs and budgets.

The legal profession currently stands at a technological turning point. Even though AI tools show impressive gains in efficiency, the core of legal practice remains tied to human judgment and potential ethical concerns. In this new era, success will depend on finding the correct balance between efficiency through technology and human judgment. We as legal professionals, present and future, must ensure AI enhances rather than replaces the necessary human elements of legal practice. As AI becomes a larger part of everyday practice, those lawyers who can use AI’s potential, while maintaining the highest standards of professional ethics and judgment, will see exponential growth in their success. And for my fellow students, there is still hope that we can prosper in the legal profession, but beginning to understand AI before entering into the profession will be crucial to our future success.

* Jake Heyer, J.D. Candidate, University of St. Thomas School of Law Class of 2026 (Associate Editor).

  1. LexisNexis International Legal Generative AI Survey Shows Nearly Half of the Legal Profession Believe Generative AI Will Transform the Practice of Law, LexisNexis (Aug. 22, 2023), https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/pressroom/b/news/posts/lexisnexis-international-legal-generative-ai-survey-shows-nearly-half-of-the-legal-profession-believe-generative-ai-will-transform-the-practice-of-law [https://perma.cc/WA6Q-TFHQ]. ↩︎
  2. Justin Henry, We Asked Every Am Law 100 Law Firm How They’re Using Gen AI. Here’s What We Learned, Am. Law. (Jan. 29, 2024, 5:00 AM), https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2024/01/29/we-asked-every-am-law-100-firm-how-theyre-using-gen-ai-heres-what-we-learned/?slreturn=20241215195726 [https://perma.cc/9R78-6KD5]. ↩︎
  3. Id. ↩︎
  4. See Dan Mangan, Judge Sanctions Lawyers for Brief Written by A.I. with Fake Citations, CNBC (June 22, 2023, 3:53 PM), https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/22/judge-sanctions-lawyers-whose-ai-written-filing-contained-fake-citations.html [https://perma.cc/PZM3-ETNV]. ↩︎
  5. Henry, supra note 2. ↩︎
  6. LexisNexis International Legal Generative AI Survey, supra note 1. ↩︎
  7. LexisNexis International Legal Generative AI Survey, supra note 1. ↩︎
  8. LexisNexis International Legal Generative AI Survey, supra note 1. ↩︎
  9. See LexisNexis International Legal Generative AI Survey, supra note 1. ↩︎
  10. Tom Davenport, Early Adopters of Gen AI in Law, Forbes (June 6, 2024, 4:59 PM), https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomdavenport/2024/06/01/early-adopters-of-gen-ai-in-law/ [https://perma.cc/UEU4-JTRN]. ↩︎
  11. Id. ↩︎
  12. Id. ↩︎
  13. Id. ↩︎
  14. Id. ↩︎
  15. Id. ↩︎
  16. Henry, supra note 2. ↩︎
  17. See Mangan, supra note 4. ↩︎
  18. The Key Legal Issues Relating to the Use, Acquisition, and Development of AI, Thomson Reuters (Mar. 1, 2024), https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/blog/the-key-legal-issues-with-gen-ai/ [https://perma.cc/AZ57-XHRA]; Cassie Hanson, Quandaries & Quagmires: Ethical Considerations in Billing for AI-Assisted Work, Minn. Law. (July 29, 2024), https://minnlawyer.com/2024/07/29/ethical-considerations-in-billing-for-ai-assisted-work/ [https://perma.cc/4T3E-NF96]. ↩︎
  19. The Key Legal Issues Relating to the Use, Acquisition, and Development of AI, supra note 18. ↩︎
  20. The Key Legal Issues Relating to the Use, Acquisition, and Development of AI, supra note 18. ↩︎
  21. Bryan Arnott, Yes, ChatGPT Saves Your Data. Here’s How to Keep It Secure, Forcepoint (Sept. 13, 2023), https://www.forcepoint.com/blog/insights/does-chatgpt-save-data [https://perma.cc/454H-LVQY]. ↩︎
  22. The Key Legal Issues Relating to the Use, Acquisition, and Development of AI, supra note 18. ↩︎
  23. Hanson, supra note 18. ↩︎
  24. Hanson, supra note 18. ↩︎
  25. Hanson, supra note 18. ↩︎
  26. Hanson, supra note 18. ↩︎
  27. Hanson, supra note 18. ↩︎
  28. Hanson, supra note 18. ↩︎
  29. Hanson, supra note 18. ↩︎
  30. See Ken Crutchfield, AI Won’t Replace Lawyers – But It Will Change How They Work, Above The Law (Mar. 26, 2024, 2:47 PM), https://abovethelaw.com/2024/03/ai-wont-replace-lawyers-but-it-will-change-how-they-work/ [https://perma.cc/TEP6-AYCS]. ↩︎
  31. Id. ↩︎
  32. Id. ↩︎

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