Top lawyer foresees shifting roles in new tech-driven legal world
The chair of US law firm Paul Weiss predicts that junior associates will be “supplemented, if not significantly replaced”, by technologists and data scientists in the years to come.
Brad Karp made the eye-catching comment whilst speaking about the firms bumper financial results, which have seen revenue jump by 31.6% to $2.63 billion (£2.09 billion), with its average profits per equity partner increasing by 14.7% to $7.51 million (£5.95 million).
Karp told website Law.com (£) that this growth has been driven by the firm investing “hundreds of millions” across the board, he said, including into artificial intelligence (AI). This includes partners, technologists and other staff members focussed on adapting, testing, and deploying AI tech.
“We are currently using cutting-edge AI tools, in close collaboration with our clients, to facilitate document analysis and extraction, synthesise complex documents and agreements, automate legal and non-legal drafting, enhance legal research and increase work-flow efficiency,” Karp said. “This new tech will impact the firm’s hiring, billable hours, leverage, and client service and spend.”
Karp then made a bold prediction about the future of lawyer roles in a tech-driven legal world.
“Over time, I believe we will see junior associates supplemented, if not significantly replaced, by technologists and data scientists for a broad portfolio of projects. We will see more and more work come to be characterised as commoditised and increasingly be handled by AI technologists and data scientists, under the supervision of lawyers”
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