As I answered questions from the 20 practicing attorneys at a recent training session, their curiosity was peaked at the possibilities of utilizing AI to increase productivity.
I was invited to the Continuing Legal Education (CLE) session to answer technical questions on the application of AI for practicing law and running a legal firm. Their interest in AI was not on industry disruption but on increasing efficiencies. It didn’t take long before the conversation turned to “How can we eliminate repetitive tasks?”
Without saying it, these lawyers were asking how to use AI to help with the more boring tasks of their jobs. And I think executing tedious tasks is one of the most immediate opportunities of AI.
The question that bubbled to the top of the conversation was using AI to assist with common contracts and agreements. The session host gave an example of a narrow type of Non-Disclosure Agreement with very specific provisions. Finding past examples always seemed to take longer than it should, and copying and pasting and then editing is even more tedious.
The opportunity exists to have every NDA created by a firm retrievable by a chatbot and for it to return a blended and sophisticated answer to a very specific request using all of the relevant data in the firm’s database. This would be executed almost instantaneously. Think of the possibilities.
AI offers a great solution for this type of information retrieval and thoughtful, refined writing. It’s just a matter of how you want to execute the process. You could use an out-of-the-box system like Chat GPT, but the attorneys were concerned about security, privileged information and Chat GPT’s Terms and Conditions regarding data use. What’s exciting – and more budget intensive – is a proprietary chatbot on a private server.
No one has ever said, “I love doing proposals. They bring me great joy.” Enter AI. Skapa is also receiving inquiries about using AI to assist with Request For Proposal responses. Many firms we talk with balance a blend of repetitive questions with more complex questions requiring singular data or calculations.
I am in discussions with architecture and engineering firms exploring the possibility of automating their RFP response processes to extract technical data from RFPs and also formulate answers to specific questions using the firm’s database of previous responses.
What’s the repetitive task you’d love to eliminate or dramatically shrink the time needed to complete? What questions do you have about AI? Feel free to send me a note, and I’d be happy to learn more and give you my thoughts.
