Intersection of Law and Technology

Intersection of Law and Technology

Technology is ubiquitous, instantaneous, all-pervasive. It touches all aspects of life, including areas which call for human intellect, knowledge and nuanced application. Technology has been major transformative force in the legal services industry for some years now and has been used for automation for the purposes of research, e-discovery and document review. The use of virtual legal assistants and cloud-based solutions has been steadily rising, and AI enabled tools hold promise for predictive and retrospective analysis.

We are hearing reports of tech being used in unprecedented ways. For example, an application DoNotPay used in US and UK to deal with routine issues like contesting parking tickets, drafting legal letters, etc., is set to defend a person in a court of law¹. A judge in Columbia recently stoked controversy when he admitted to using ChatGPT to make a court ruling on the medical rights of an autistic child! The judge clarified that the use of AI-produced texts is not to replace the judge's decision, but to optimize the time spent drafting judgments after corroborating the information provided by AI². Allen & Overy, a London-based law firm has deployed a generative AI chatbot named Harvey to help its lawyers draft contracts, merger and acquisition documents, and memos for clients³.

The sheer pace and scale at which technology is permeating the industry is astonishing. Technology is changing the legal landscape in numerous ways; significant areas of intersection include intellectual property, privacy and data protection. For the sake of deliberation, it may be broadly viewed in two aspects.

First, is the direct impact of tech on how services are delivered – the means and modes. Until a few years ago, junior professionals spent an enormous amount of time in the library for research, they would often find themselves performing odd jobs like collating papers, maintaining files, or managing the schedule for senior advocates. Now with advanced research tools, the required information is just a click away and there is a reduced incidence of error. Briefings can be done remotely, electronic filings have replaced physical submissions, service of court summons / notices are being accepted by some Courts via email / WhatsApp⁴, in addition to the conventional modes of dasti or speed post. Virtual hearings were inconceivable until COVID-19 happened. The pandemic accelerated acceptance of technology as a necessity.

At Accenture, we have the advantage of being one of the most digitally enabled enterprises in the world, and we embarked upon our legal technology transformation journey many years ago. With a large team spread across the world, we operate at the scale of a full-service top tier global law firm to service our internal clients. Like all corporate legal functions, we are challenged with doing more for less and meeting the ever-growing expectations in terms of technology and innovation. Our key legal technology and innovation programmes include:

• Digitization – with a centralised digital contract repository of all our contracts, ALICE, we can run deep analytics in minutes to address immediate business needs. Our technology leverages AI and translation to allow searching across multiple languages including English.

• Automation – we are using AI capabilities to support the review of NDAs. This is driving huge benefits in terms of business experience and freeing capacity for higher value work. We also leverage a user-friendly contract generation tool enables us to work on contracts more efficiently.

• Analytics - We use a cloud-based SaaS contract management solution, Manage myDeal, that streamlines the workflow process across the organization and standardizes and simplifies contract tasks. For example, lawyers can insert the latest precedent language into a contract with one click or easily create client-specific templates. Beyond this core functionality, the tool is a transformational solution with built-in advanced analytics that yields powerful insights.

There is surge in the adoption of tech across law firms and corporates. According to Future Market Insights⁵, the legaltech market revenue was about $27.6 Bn in 2021. The market size is expected to reach $69.7Bn by 2032 growing at a compound annual growth rate of 8.9% for 2022 to 2032. The figures indicate continuous growth and advancements in the sector, attributable to faster, better and more accurate outcomes to meet the ever-rising business expectations.

Second aspect is the (incidental) impact of technology in changing the nature of legal issues itself. With the exponential growth of technology, new legal issues are constantly emerging, challenging the existing legal framework and requiring new solutions:

• Blockchain applications like NFTs, cryptocurrencies. While the technology itself is considered secure from a verification and traceability standpoint, there are issues around IP rights, taxation, money laundering, governing laws, and legal validity of the digital asset itself.

• Virtual Reality has brought up new challenges. In addition to privacy and copyright issues, there are reports of misdemeanour and hate speech in the Metaverse. It is yet to be seen how the real-world laws would be applied to / adapted for the virtual world.

• "Generative AI" tools like ChatGPT and Dall-E create content in form of text, songs, blog posts, images etc. at just a prompt. Not long ago it was believed that content creators / artists would remain unscathed. The commercial exploitation / ownership of such content has already sparked a debate.

On one hand technology has enabled the creation of new tools and methods to make life easy and address existing issues. At the same time, it has contributed to increasing the complexity of challenges. There is both progress and peril in the connected world. As we look forward to an era of further advancements and disruptions, it is pertinent to reflect on what the future might hold and how to keep pace with what is coming.

The legal profession being information-intensive and document-intensive, is very amenable to technology. If routine, repetitive, and data led work is made tech-led, it can give professionals more mind space to focus on strategy / intellectual work and thought leadership. But the question is - will tech take over only the mundane work? What prevents it from replacing lawyers and judges?

Technology may be able to give right answers, but it cannot replace a professional's counsel in asking the right questions. Legal systems are meant to deliver justice and equity. Each instance is unique and requires application of intellect, emotional and intelligence quotient besides review in the given social and cultural context. Law is an intensely human domain. The hallowed idea of justice is richly layered in perspective, ramification of result, impact at a larger scale and the overall sense of closure. The overarching aspect of ethics and fairness are at the heart of all law and legal systems. Therefore, it seems implausible, in the foreseeable future, that the construct based on judgement, beliefs, empathy and creativity can be entirely taken over by machine learnings or robotic interpretations. Having said that, we are seeing unimaginable possibilities unfold; if there is anything we have learnt recently it is – never say never!

Talking of the brighter side, experts believe that digitization will create new avenues. Development and implementation of new systems, processes and solutions would require engineers with legal knowledge, risk managers, process analysts, design experts – likely to enhance the demand for law and engineering experts, which until now is mostly relevant in the IP sector. Similarly, there will be demand for professionals with different combinations of expertise – law and economics, law and biology, law and chemistry, etc. The evolving landscape also calls for revisiting the existing legal education system, structure of the course and curriculum. Very recently, in a different context though, the Delhi High Court emphasised on the need to include other subjects in law courses to increase diversity of knowledge – combination courses to be introduced to have well qualified people, adept to deal with challenging issues that the courts are likely to face in future⁶.

While human intellect and creativity are the only limiting factors for technology, there are several factors at play when it comes to making laws, in addition to the legislative process itself. It is, therefore, inevitable for laws to lag behind tech. However, with legislators becoming conversant with the far-reaching implications of technology, laws are being formulated on digital domains - to create an agile framework, enabling provisions and acceptable standards within which technology can thrive. This too will bring up new areas of practice and opportunities in policy making, drafting, implementation, consultations, etc.

Whether tech will remain an enabler, or perhaps someday serve as prosecution, defence and judge, remains to be seen, but it is certain that there is no escaping the tech wave. Risks of being on the wrong side of the technological divide are higher than ever. It is not just interesting, but also necessary, to reflect upon emerging technologies and the practice of law. Adapt, upskill and be versatile to build a meaningful and rewarding career.