Technology has entered into legal practice

Technology in all sectors…, we will know how easily it is incorporated and the benefits it has among us.

We live in a world dominated by technology in which we have access to a multitude of means that make our lives easier and new technologies are constantly appearing to surpass existing ones. The ease that technology brings is gradually being applied to all areas of our lives.

The legal world is no stranger to such technological advances. Some firms are very keen to implement and adapt to this technology. We do so by introducing new tools into our daily work that help to make the work of lawyers more efficient and reliable.

At Pinsent Masons, we have been committed for years, in anticipation of technological development, to innovative ways that would allow us to employ our own tools in our day-to-day relationship with our clients. By retaining control we are able to make all the necessary adjustments to improve these tools, in addition to marketing them for our clients’ specific needs.

In this article we are going to present only some of the tools we employ that present the greatest attraction in terms of their numerous benefits.

Firstly, we have a tool that employs artificial intelligence to make massive documentation reviews. The only requirement for its use is that the documentation to be reviewed has a certain degree of homogeneity. Thanks to this tool we are able identify which documents follow the same model and which contain more specific clauses that require greater attention, therefore reducing the time required for analysis. The tool can also be used to search for a specific clause. For example, in a very short time we can identify how many of the mortgage loan contracts that make up a portfolio contain a ‘floor clause’. There is no need to review the loan contracts individually: the system identifies them.

Another tool is the automation of contracts. The starting point is a basic document (let’s say a lease contract) which incorporates all the options to vary the clauses that the customer will reasonably use (with or without additional guarantees, extensions, obligations…). Along with the basic model, a questionnaire is prepared that the user will have to complete to create his contract. A first version of the contract, which is consistent in itself, is available in a few minutes. This tool also provides reliability by reducing human intervention. Moreover, as the base document can be modified and corrected, if an error is detected it can be corrected in the base document to prevent that error from being repeated. As a result, the lawyer is no longer vitiated by spending hours working on the same document, so that details are collected much more quickly.

One might wonder if this means the end of the lawyer since much of his work is done by the tool. The answer is no. The intervention of the lawyer is necessary to, depending on the case, prepare the result to be obtained (as in the automation of contracts) or to analyse the results obtained (as in the massive revision of documents). Moreover, the lawyers are the ones who know how to improve the tool by understanding how the tools’ infinite possibilities should be combined with a rigid environment such as the law.

The great value of using these types of tools is that lawyers have more time available to focus on issues that provide more added value. This is possible thanks to the fact that work with a high mechanical component is done more quickly and efficiently, also reducing the percentage of errors.

What is indisputable is that we lawyers now have tools that help us provide services to clients and that these tools also help clients by making operations more agile. Moreover, as we pointed out at the beginning, new tools will surely appear to replace and improve the existing ones.

“However, what is certain is that technology and law are already valuable friends”