Unlocking the Power of Artificial Intelligence in the Legal Industry
A&O Shearman’s Latest Innovation
A&O Shearman has created an artificial intelligence tool to accelerate work performed by more senior lawyers, aiming to generate revenue from the disruption of the legal industry. The tool, developed in collaboration with AI start-up Harvey, focuses on time-intensive, low-billing tasks in areas such as antitrust and fund formation that require senior associate or partner input and oversight.
The AI Tool
The antitrust element of the model uses a company’s financial information to assess which jurisdictions a client might need to make a regulatory filing in for a merger. It then identifies what data is missing and drafts the information requests for each party. This exercise often takes hours of associate time and input from more senior lawyers, but the new tool aims to reduce this time and increase margins on such work.
The Benefits
The tool is designed to target more sophisticated legal work that requires the time and attention of senior lawyers. David Wakeling, global head of AI advisory and the markets innovation group at A&O Shearman, believes that the technology will not lead to job losses, as senior lawyers with freed-up time will be redeployed elsewhere. "We believe that AI will ultimately be transformative for our firm and we can actually create revenues from being part of that change," Wakeling said.
The Training Process
The AI model was trained by senior lawyers at A&O Shearman to solve problems in the way they do. The engineers then instructed the model to copy these processes and asked the lawyers to assess whether the AI model’s answers were acceptable or not. "The training is teaching [the AI model] how to think and how to reason" like a partner, said Winston Weinberg, chief executive and co-founder of Harvey.
The Company’s Goal
A&O Shearman aims to have hundreds of companies subscribed to the tool by the end of 2024. Currently, the firm has more than 40 large organizations signed up, including companies such as investment group Prosus, Japanese energy group Jera, and Dutch wind turbine company Sif-group.
Conclusion
A&O Shearman’s latest innovation demonstrates the potential of artificial intelligence in the legal industry. By leveraging the latest generation of OpenAI’s reasoning models, the firm is able to simplify processes and make junior tasks more efficient. The tool’s ability to think and reason like a partner indicates a significant step forward in the development of AI in the legal sector.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the main focus of the AI tool?
A: The tool focuses on time-intensive, low-billing tasks in areas such as antitrust and fund formation that require senior associate or partner input and oversight.
Q: How does the tool work?
A: The tool uses a company’s financial information to assess which jurisdictions a client might need to make a regulatory filing in for a merger, identifying what data is missing and drafting the information requests for each party.
Q: Will the tool lead to job losses?
A: According to David Wakeling, global head of AI advisory and the markets innovation group at A&O Shearman, the technology will not lead to job losses, as senior lawyers with freed-up time will be redeployed elsewhere.
Q: Who is behind the tool’s development?
A: The tool was developed in collaboration with AI start-up Harvey, with A&O Shearman being the first law firm to work with the company when it was founded three years ago.
Q: How many companies are currently signed up for the tool?
A: A&O Shearman has more than 40 large organizations signed up for the tool, including companies such as investment group Prosus, Japanese energy group Jera, and Dutch wind turbine company Sif-group.
