AI and ML document verification in a law firm

Petro Krasnomovets
By Petro Krasnomovets,
6th October |
90

For lawyers, the daily work consists of many tasks, some of which are easy to automate. These are document management, working with clients, and project or personnel management. But there is one more direction that should be optimized. This is the analysis of documents, their verification and comparison, classification, and other working moments in which AI could significantly reduce the burden on lawyers. 

Consider a few key points that are characteristic of the use of AI and ML in the work of a law firm. Separately, we note those areas of application that are of the greatest interest. 

What are the differences between Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning?

To fully understand all the possibilities that AI provides, let’s identify the features of the methods that are used in general for project automation and in particular in legal tech:

  • Artificial Intelligence is directly AI in the broadest sense of the word. These are self-learning systems that mimic human behavior and can solve problems inherent in human intelligence. 
  • Machine Learning is a section of AI that is actively used to solve everyday practical problems. It is often used in business and the optimization of production. 

ML is the applied method that is used to create a variety of products for companies. It is used in Data Science — Machine Learning is relied on to analyze data, create working models, and many other tasks.

Why are AI and ML used in the legal industry?

In general, AI is used to effectively solve those tasks that would have to be done manually. Among such processes is working with documents, which very typically takes even free time from lawyers. Too many tasks on which you need to spend a large amount of effort and a violation of the work-life balance is inevitable stress and professional burnout. 

Reducing the processing harmful to lawyers helps the use of the ML method, which allows you to increase the efficiency of the business. This is one of the basic elements of digital transformation for law firms. Self-learning systems are very valuable in working with large arrays of documents. For example, to check the contract, you do not need to spend a lot of time and search for unwanted wording manually. You can use special solutions for this, thanks to which AI will cope with this task in a matter of minutes. 

Also, do not forget that the use of AI/ML ultimately creates surplus value for the business, because it immediately solves two pressing problems. The first is the rational use of the entire potential of the company and all its resources. The second is to help you make reliable predictions and automate complex tasks. 

ML-based due diligence: working with documents using AI methods

Among the basic tasks in the work of a lawyer is a comprehensive check, which covers the confirmation of facts, the comparison of figures, the search for various formulations, and other specific tasks. Also in the list of these tasks can be included an assessment of the legal situation. All these processes are very important from the point of view of planning the work of a lawyer with a client.

The specialist applies a comprehensive check to identify various risks, and determine possible options for action when working on the case. However, lawyers are faced with a problem, which is a very long and tedious process of manual verification. At the same time, do not forget about the human factor — specialists can be prone to mistakes during exhausting work.

Software capable of performing automatic verification of contracts. This allows you to increase the speed of work and relieve the burden on lawyers. Using cloud technologies, automated search systems and software can recognize text data. So you can optimize the work on several contracts at once. ML uses data arrays for self-learning. It allows you to extract the necessary information and create reports, as well as other documentation that is necessary for analysis.

As an example of an ML solution that optimizes the work with contract verification, we can consider such a software product as eBrewia. According to the company’s research, automatic verification of documents can reduce the time that is spent on this procedure by 50%. Also noted are time savings of 30-90% and an increase in accuracy of 10-60% than manually checking contracts.

Another case that demonstrates the advantages of using AI/ML in the work of a law firm is the experience of LawGeex. The company applies a multifunctional tool in the work on the verification of contracts. The solution combines document review engines, text analytics, document editing, approval capabilities, and machine learning. The study of the effectiveness of such a solution according to the company allows for reducing the time of work on the verification of contracts by 80%. This speeds up the closing time by 3 times. LawGeex experts claim that the use of an automatic system 90% saves money when carrying out inspections.

Difficulties of implementing AI in a law firm

Despite the benefits of implementing AI/ML, not all law firms are ready to fully embrace the full potential of AI. There are good reasons for this. Most often, we are talking about the fact that the company believes that the development of special software solutions will be too expensive. Also, difficulties frequently arise with the involvement of IT specialists, if the company needs to get a difficult decision. 

The difficulties of using all the features of AI include the situation when the company does not implement cloud technologies in its work. Then the costs of creating digital solutions will be voluminous.

Therefore, creating effective working systems for legal tech require a special careful approach on the part of IT specialists.