Beyond Traditional Tools: Leveraging AI for efficient law practice management

For a lot of legislation corporations, legislation apply administration software program is the spine of their enterprise. It streamlines workflows, reduces administrative burdens and facilitates environment friendly billing processes—growing productiveness and profitability. From lead consumption and case monitoring to managing deadlines and dealing with funds, legislation apply administration instruments guarantee efficient collaboration and environment friendly agency operations.

When synthetic intelligence performance is added to legislation apply administration software program, the potential for newfound effectivity will increase exponentially.

AI options can automate routine duties, corresponding to doc creation and modifying, doc summarization, textual content translation and case standing summaries. Automating routine and tedious duties saves time, permitting authorized professionals to give attention to higher-level duties, corresponding to case evaluation and consumer communications.

Over the previous yr, many main legislation apply administration firms have introduced AI plans, starting from roadmaps and beta releases to public releases of AI performance into their platforms. Firms have approached AI implementation otherwise, with options, performance and pricing various broadly.

Under, we’ll assessment AI bulletins and releases from many firms and supply an outline of their choices, together with pricing when out there. However first, let’s assessment the problems that it’s best to think about when adopting AI instruments into your agency.

Selecting AI instruments for legislation apply administration

At the beginning, as a result of AI instruments are usually cloud-based, you’ll entrust your agency’s confidential consumer knowledge to a 3rd celebration. Moral guidelines require you to completely vet the cloud supplier internet hosting and storing your agency’s knowledge. This obligation features a thorough understanding of how that firm will deal with the info; the place the servers on which the info will likely be saved are situated; who may have entry to it; and the way usually and when will probably be backed up, amongst different issues.

When contemplating AI instruments to your agency, vetting suppliers requires asking about accuracy charges, how the corporate will shield your knowledge, and whether or not your group’s knowledge inputs are used to coach AI fashions to enhance responses. To help you with the provider-vetting course of, you will discover an inventory of advised inquiries to ask cloud and AI suppliers right here.

In case your agency is new to LPM software program, reap the benefits of free trials and demos of the LPM software program and out there AI options earlier than investing in a instrument. In case your agency is already utilizing an LPM platform that has begun to roll out new AI options, make sure that you totally perceive how the corporate handles AI knowledge enter earlier than permitting using these options in your agency.

With that recommendation in thoughts, let’s have a look at the AI panorama for LPM software program. We’ll spherical up most of the firms which have introduced AI growth plans and options and share pricing data, if out there.

Publicly launched generative AI LPM instruments

Leap’s AI options have been introduced in July and embody a authorized assistant instrument supported by people on the again finish, AI-assisted doc technology, and the power to ask questions on case-related knowledge and acquire insights.

The web site signifies that the AI authorized assistant is “included together with your Leap subscription at no further value in choose states and matter sorts,” however the price of the opposite AI options isn’t supplied. Leap’s pricing for its LPM system can be not out there on the web site.

Subsequent, MyCase’s AI instrument, MyCase IQ, was launched in beta in January. Since then, MyCase, an AffiniPay firm (be aware that I’m employed by AffiniPay), has publicly launched generative AI textual content modifying, which permits customers to enhance their writing or change the tone of textual content to formal, assertive, persuasive, empathetic or advisory.

One other AI characteristic just lately rolled out publicly is the interpretation performance, which permits textual content to be transformed from English to Spanish or vice versa. Extra languages will likely be added within the close to future.

There are plans so as to add case and matter summaries to the AI roadmap, as properly, and AI performance may even be rolled into different firm merchandise, together with Casepeer, Docketwise and LawPay. The AI options are at the moment supplied at no extra value within the professional and superior tiers, and pricing is accessible on the web site.

Lastly, Filevine presents an LPM authorized assistant, SidebarAI, which gives customer support help to assist navigate the Filevine platform.

It additionally assists in creating workflows and summarizing the standing of the final seven days of a case. It’s included within the base tier, however pricing for this tier is unavailable on the web site.

For an extra however unspoken value, Filevine additionally presents LeadsAI, an add-on to its Lead Docket software program, and AI-enhanced summaries and evaluation as a part of the Doc Meeting add-on. Stand-alone AI instruments embody DemandsAI for creating demand letters, which could be built-in with its LPM, and AIFields, which summarizes and extracts data from uploaded paperwork.

LPM AI instruments introduced however not but out there or at the moment in beta

Clio introduced its imaginative and prescient for AI, Clio Duo, in October 2023. No details about Clio Duo is accessible on its web site, and it has not but been launched.

The announcement indicated that will probably be accessible in Clio Handle as soon as launched, with plans to combine it into different Clio software program merchandise, as properly. Options are anticipated to incorporate matter overview summaries, doc summarization and technology of straightforward paperwork, and reminder prompts for overdue duties or invoices. Pricing data has not been made out there.

Smokeball’s AI options have been launched in beta in March and haven’t been launched publicly. The beta instruments embody reviewing and summarizing authorized matter paperwork, drafting emails and correspondence in Outlook, acquiring solutions to questions on issues, and producing consumption types.

Smokeball AI consumption options can be found in LeadPro (consumption), and the matter administration AI assistant is accessible as an add-on with two Smokeball tier ranges. Pricing for the AI add-ons isn’t supplied on the web site.

In September 2023, Caret Authorized introduced the beta launch of its AI doc summarization characteristic, which might extract and summarize clauses and knowledge obtained from authorized paperwork. This performance is included at no extra value in each tier besides the entry-level tier. Pricing for all plans is accessible on the web site.

Is your agency prepared?

In the event you’re contemplating investing in AI instruments within the close to future, you’ll have to look no additional than the LPM that your agency already makes use of. Whereas many firms are initially releasing a number of fundamental AI options, AI integration into apply administration software program will grow to be more and more refined, given the fast technological development. This can undoubtedly occur extra rapidly than anticipated, so the sooner that your agency adapts to those modifications, the higher.

AI-enhanced apply administration software program will quickly be mandatory for corporations looking for to set themselves aside in an more and more aggressive market. Is your agency prepared for the following stage of computing? If not, there’s no higher time than now to analysis your choices and make investments sooner or later success of your agency.

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York-based lawyer, creator and journalist, and he or she is the principal authorized perception strategist at MyCase, an organization that gives authorized apply administration software program for small corporations. She is the nationally acknowledged creator of Cloud Computing for Attorneys and is co-author of Social Media for Attorneys: The Subsequent Frontier, each revealed by the American Bar Affiliation. She writes common columns for ABAJournal.com and Above the Regulation, has authored lots of of articles for different publications, and repeatedly speaks at conferences concerning the intersection of legislation and rising applied sciences. Comply with her on X (previously Twitter) @nikiblack, or she could be reached at niki.black@mycase.com.

This column displays the opinions of the creator and never essentially the views of the ABA Journal—or the American Bar Affiliation.