What We’ve Learned, Two Years In
By Guest Author Amanda Branch, Senior Counsel, Elastic
It’s been approximately two years since ChatGPT was first introduced to the public by OpenAI in November of 2022. Since it and other generative artificial intelligence platforms (GenAI) — such as Claude, Gemini, BERT and others — took the world by storm in the months following, we are discovering both the wonders and the limitations of large language models (LLMs) in the legal profession.
Interesting: In early 2023, when these platforms really began to pick up steam, many were heralding a new reality, in which GenAI was to replace everything, from attorneys to teachers. Soon after, the naysayers and pragmatists had their say, and we were treated to the cautionary tales focusing on the potential pitfalls that such tools can present if not applied and monitored correctly.
So where do things stand in November of 2024? Somewhere in between life-changing and Armageddon. What we do know is this: GenAI has become a powerful tool that legal teams can use to enhance productivity and focus on higher-value work. In-house counsel looking to adapt to a modern reality and adopt technology that can improve their workflows and work product for clients are wise to explore the best use cases for GenAI.
Here are six ways that attorneys can leverage GenAI to streamline their day-to-day duties as in-house counsel:
1. Understand the Technology and Terminology
Before diving into using GenAI, it’s critical to have a firm grasp of the technology itself. There’s a lot of confusion surrounding AI-related terms—machine learning, deep learning, language learning, GenAI—often used interchangeably but carrying distinct meanings. For in-house counsel, it’s important to understand these differences, particularly when interfacing with engineering teams or reviewing marketing materials.
Pro Tip: I recommend creating a glossary of terms that everyone in your organization can reference. This ensures everyone—from legal to technical and marketing teams—is aligned in their understanding and use of these terms.
2. Leverage GenAI for Routine, Repetitive Tasks
Many of the tasks that occupy an in-house legal team’s time are ripe for automation. For example, in my own role, I frequently conduct intellectual property (IP) monitoring, which can be highly time-consuming. Manually scanning the internet for unauthorized trademark use or monitoring social media for infringement takes hours, but GenAI can significantly reduce that time by automating these searches and flagging potential issues.
Pro Tip: Look for areas in your own practice where you find yourself conducting repetitive tasks. For example, in contract drafting, AI can assist by generating fallback provisions for common clauses that are frequently negotiated, allowing you to avoid reinventing the wheel with every new agreement.
3. Streamline Collaboration and Intake Processes
GenAI can also facilitate smoother collaboration across legal and other departments. I have seen teams explore the use of AI-powered intake forms that route requests based on predefined responses. For example, if an employee wants to contribute to a third-party publication, he or she might answer a series of questions through a form. Based on their answers, the request would either come to the legal team for additional review or continue forward through our standard process without needing further legal input. This reduces the bottleneck and makes it easier for non-legal teams to interact with legal in a structured, efficient way.
Pro Tip: Find yourself routinely answering the same questions? AI-powered chatbots on your internal legal webpage or intranet can help answer these frequently asked questions, guiding employees to the right resources without requiring your manual input.
4. Enhance Legal Research
Legal research is another area where GenAI shines. AI tools can quickly sift through vast legal databases to find relevant case law, statutes or legal opinions, and can even draft summaries of findings. This can help reduce the amount of time and energy you have to spend researching precedents and noting up cases.
Pro Tip: Proceed with caution! All of that said, while AI can dramatically speed up this process, it’s important to fact-check and validate results. As you likely know by now (and referenced in the open), there have been notorious cases where lawyers unknowingly cited non-existent case law generated by an AI tool. So while AI can assist, human oversight is still necessary.
5. Improve Client Communication
Client-facing legal teams may find they often receive the same questions repeatedly, such as requests for advice on including legal notices or how to indicate trademark or copyright ownership. In these instances, GenAI can help create customizable templates for common questions, saving time and ensuring consistency in responses. In your quest for efficiency, don’t forget about human oversight! It is always recommended to have a human review new applications or questions to ensure accuracy.
Pro Tip: Tired of trying to organize your emails? Instead of scouring old emails for a previous response to a similar inquiry, GenAI can store and retrieve the best answers, so you’re not starting from scratch each time. Go a step further and automate a response workflow to save you time and repetitive effort!
6. Track and Measure Use of Legal Resources
Finally, GenAI can provide valuable insights into your legal team’s resource allocation by tracking metrics related to question volumes from different departments and helping to identify trends and patterns. For example, if most legal inquiries are coming from your marketing team, it might indicate the need for self-help resources or additional training on issues like avoiding misleading advertising or conducting comparative advertising. The key here is applying the right query, so you get the right answers. Prompting Gen AI is a skill that can be learned quickly to improve search outcomes. The resulting insights can help you prioritize resources and improve overall efficiency.
Pro Tip: What gets measured gets done! When you are so busy completing your immediate daily tasks, it can be difficult to justify spending time on other projects. With AI generated data and statistics, you can more easily see where your time could be better spent. For example, if the data shows you answered a similar trademark question multiple times per month, you could create self-help guidance or an automated workflow to address these questions, and free up your time for higher-value work.
To Be Continued
Things in the world of AI are moving fast, as you know. Even the rate of change is accelerating. There will likely be much more to say on this topic as the technology evolves and the legal industry continues to adopt best practices. In certain situations, not consulting GenAI given its prevalence in use by both lawyers and non-lawyers, may create outcomes that could be incompletely informed. As Gen AI enquiry becomes more standard, lawyers will increasingly be asked to justify answers inconsistent with it.
For now, we know this: In-house counsel should view GenAI not as a replacement for human judgment but as a tool that allows for better management of routine tasks, freeing up time for more strategic work. By understanding the technology and leveraging it for tasks like IP monitoring, contract drafting, legal research and internal collaboration, attorneys can improve efficiency and focus on delivering higher-value legal counsel to their organizations.
This is just the first in a series of articles we are developing regarding the application of GenAI in the legal workplace. Our next installment will take a closer and more nuanced look at the use of GenAI in the realm of IP monitoring, specifically. If you have thoughts on that topic or would like us to cover a specific aspect of that use case, please let us know!
————-
About the author: Amanda is an experienced senior attorney with a strong focus on marketing, advertising, and intellectual property law. Known for a practical, business-oriented approach, Amanda helps clients navigate complex legal landscapes while supporting innovation and growth.