Can It Replace Junior Associates and Cut Law Firm Costs?

Description

• Q&A clip with Harrison discussing the potential of Chat GPT and AI in legal research.
• Harrison believes that Chat GPT is not fully developed yet, but can help with researching the law.
• Google Scholars is recommended for case law research.
• Effective use of Chat GPT requires knowing what questions to ask and what to review.
• Harrison thinks it could cut costs and be a good research tool, but not a threat to junior associates' work.
• Overall, AI in legal research is similar to online legal research and will change the legal industry.

Transcript

Transcript:

I don't think Chat GPT or any AI program is there yet. , I think that there are certain things it can do in terms of researching the law and other things. I don't know that Chat GPT; it's only updated through 2020 or 21. I wonder if it would have a different type of case law.

I think Google Scholars is outstanding, by the way, for case law. I've always liked that, different things. But yes, Chat GPT can summarize different areas of the law and other things that junior associates typically would do. At the same time, you need someone to ask questions and know what questions to ask Chat GPT or any programs like that.

So it will only be effective if someone knows the questions to ask. But I think it could help with research and reduce legal bills to some extent for clients if clients know how to use it. I think that only some things could be done by it. But again, I'm not an expert in AI and what something like Chat GPT does, and there have been many programs around like that for a long time.

There's Jarvis, and there's a bunch of other things. But yeah, I think it could probably help with many tasks. But at the same time, you still need someone to know what to ask and then know what to review. Otherwise, I think a lot of mistakes would be made, but I think for people to know how to use it, I think it's a good research tool.

I don't know that it's something that is going to take over the junior associates' work, but I do think it could cut costs. Which I think is a good thing for clients. People who know how to use things like that can probably do much more effective research. I remember when I was practicing, and some people didn't know how to find cases and things using Lexus or Westlaw. Certain people knew how to do that; for others, it was no different than knowing how to look things up without a computer. It's so that you have to know what you're doing.

So I don't know that it's much of a threat, but I do think that based on what many of these AI programs can do, and they've been around for years, it's just as online legal research changed everything. It will do the same.