Will AI Replace Lawyers (Forbes)?
Recent article from Forbes, Highlighting Capita
Recent March 20 excellent article in Forbes highlighting some product and impacts and opinion on AI + Law.
References upcomer Capita (for automated legal) and Harvey also DoNotPay and some olders, so I put it through my AI machinery and here is a summary for you
Companies/Organizations:
Capita - Described as "the world's first AI lawyer," a company that automates legal processes for startups 1 2 3
Harvey - An AI-powered legal startup that raised a $100 million Series C round at a $1.5 billion valuation 4 5
DoNotPay - Described as "the world's first AI-robot lawyer," founded by Joshua Browder in 2015, which was fined by the FTC for falsely advertising their AI capabilities 6
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) - Regulatory body that fined DoNotPay in September 2024 6
WordPerfect - Software mentioned as an early legal automation tool that supported macros and structured templates 7
London School of Economics - Educational institution where Jide Afolabi earned his master's degree 8
Osgoode Law School - Where Jide Afolabi graduated from 4
ChatGPT - AI tool mentioned in the context of legal work and experimentation 9
Kelvin - A specialized model trained to handle legal and financial documents, including SEC filings 9
People:
Hessie Jones - The author of the article, described as a strategist, entrepreneur, and investor covering AI 10
Ben Su - Co-founder and Head of Growth of Capita 4 1 2 3
Carey Lening - A legal-tech consultant and "recovering" attorney who focuses on privacy and data protection 4 7 9 6 11 12 13 14
Jide Afolabi - A probate lawyer with over 20 years of experience, graduate of Osgoode Law School 4 8 15 16 17
Joshua Browder - Founder of DoNotPay in 2015 6
Leonard Park - Mentioned for using LLMs for contract analysis 9
Dazza Greenwood - Mentioned alongside Leonard Park for using LLMs for contract analysis 9
Michael Bommarito - Associated with Kelvin, a specialized legal AI model 9
[THEY SPELLED MY COLLEAGUE MICHAEL BOMMARITO’S NAME WRONG!]
Summary of "Risk Or Revolution: Will AI Replace Lawyers?"
The article examines the rapid integration of artificial intelligence into the legal industry, with 73% of legal experts planning to incorporate AI into their daily operations and $477 million invested in AI-powered legal startups in 2024.
Industry experts including Ben Su (Capita's co-founder), Carey Lening (legal-tech consultant), and Jide Afolabi (probate lawyer) discuss how AI tools can automate approximately 44% of legal work, potentially saving lawyers 4 hours per week and increasing annual billable time by $100,000 per lawyer. [-AIC - MUCH MORE THAN 4 HOURS!]
While automation in law isn't new, today's AI represents a significant advancement in sophistication and capability compared to earlier tools like WordPerfect's macros from 2001. 1 2 3 4 5
The article highlights innovations like Capita, which uses AI as a constant companion for clients, automating legal document generation and strategy development while offering fixed monthly fees instead of traditional hourly billing.
[Capita in Canada based, came out first as a fund raising platform and is moving into AI for Law]
However, challenges remain, including AI hallucination in 1 out of 6 legal queries and concerns about consumer-facing legal AI tools like DoNotPay (which was fined by the FTC for overpromising). Experts emphasize that AI should enhance rather than replace human legal expertise, with Lening noting that "many lawyers think AI is a magic box" and calling for better education on both AI capabilities and limitations. 6 7 8 9 10
The discussion extends to legal education and the future of the profession, with Su criticizing the traditional apprenticeship model and suggesting AI could reduce workload on young lawyers.
Lening advocates for updated curricula that combine analytical thinking with technical literacy, preparing future lawyers to audit AI outputs and collaborate with engineers. The article concludes that the integration of AI into legal services represents a transition comparable to past technological revolutions, with the consensus that "the future isn't AI versus lawyers—it's lawyers with AI," making legal services more affordable and accessible while maintaining human oversight. 10 11 12 13 14 15
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-AIC Pro Bono Legal Aid HUGE ROOM FOR GROWTH can be fixed worldwide in a very short amount of time with AI automation, working on this in addition to, think my BP for it was July last year.