INTRODUCTION
The developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have improved several fields, the biggest target being the legal profession. Factually, AI tools have redefined how legal professionals work, including contract analysis tools, legal research programs, and predictive analytics.[1] With the rise of robot lawyers comes a question or two: Can AI replace human lawyers? Would worthwhile changes occur within the legal field? This blog will discuss AI’s capabilities and limitations in law, and it will try to see if human lawyers would be replaced or whether AI would be used just as a helping tool.
THE ROLE OF AI IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION
AI has transformed the legal landscape. Law firms and most start-ups in legal technology are now relying on AI-based platforms for automating the drudgery of processes, making them fast and affordable.[2] Some of those fields are:
- Legal Research: The new AI’s entry into legal research is that it comprises portals such as Westlaw and LexisNexis and others. Such portals carry out speedy and precise legal research by scanning their massive database for case laws, legislation, and legal records.[3] Although classical legal research would take hours to days, AI would execute such a function within minutes, hence today’s optimal efficiency and cost savings in legal research.[4]
- Contract Drafting and Review: AI software such as Kira Systems and LawGeex can finish the entire review of a contract; highlight concern areas, and even draft legal agreements with minimal human intervention.[5] AI automatically identifies problematic provisions, inconsistencies, or gaps to help lawyers efficiently draft flawless contracts.
- Predictive Analytics: Predictive analytics of AI is employed for forecasting results of legal cases through examining historical case data that help the lawyer come up with litigation strategies.[6] Although patterns are devised that could affect judicial verdicts, AI provides lawyers with insight into how they could lose or win their court cases.
- E-Discovery: AI programs reduce the effort and time needed in reviewing electronic documents by completely automating the process[7]. Whereby highly advanced machine learning programs are coded to scan thousands of documents, would search for what is important. This way, the efforts are significantly decreased for the law firm in preparing their case.
- Chat Bots and Virtual Assistants: This artificial intelligence could notify users regarding fighting parking tickets, bringing small claims actions, and obtaining legal knowledge without human attorneys. It gives much-needed rudimentary legal services to poor individuals, who would otherwise be unable to afford them.
- Case Management and Document Automation: Case management solutions based on AI are useful in managing case files, maintaining deadlines, and automating all the administrative work in law firms[8]. Automated document generation software would be required to assist a lawyer in preparing a routine legal document- thereby increasing productivity.
LIMITATIONS OF AI IN THE LEGAL FIELD
There are flowering expressions about the capabilities of AI today, while on the other hand. Apart from these, the very limitations of AI make it impossible to completely replace human lawyers.
- Mostly lacking are human judgment and ethos: Legal practice, as one can imagine, needs ethical reasoning, negotiation skills, and discretion all of which are not delivered by AI[9]. Courts and the legal system want a very profound understanding of human emotion and moral consideration which are yet beyond the possibilities of an algorithm.
- Interpretation of Law and the Nuances: Sometimes, the law needs interpretation. Some of these involve subtlety that often surpasses the ken of AI.[10]
- The Attorney-Client Relationship: A client would have confidence in human attorneys being able to give them strategic advice, emotional support, and representation which AI cannot provide. A very critical aspect of lawyering is that of huddling up with clients and understanding their individualized typology of concerns, which AI poorly possesses.
- Ethical and red tape of regulation: AI throws additional Interlacing complications by having an ethical chin on legal rulings mainly regarding: attribution and accountability; algorithmic bias; and possible violations of data privacy. AI models are unbiased merely as devoid of considerations in the training data. Historical bias found in the decision-making elements of the law carries on bias within the AI, even if everything has been done to undo that.
- Possibility to Train in a Country of New Law: AI models are provided training on pre-existing data and, thus, are sluggish towards emerging precedents, new lawyer laws, or jurisdictional deviations. Human lawyers keep abreast of the legal changes, while AI would require retraining and reprogramming.
WILL AI REPLACE HUMAN LAWYERS?
AI is playing a disruptive role in the field of legal services but it cannot replace lawyers completely. AI is more likely to act as an associate for speed, cost reduction, and possibly freeing humans to address more complex tasks outside the AI’s capabilities. AI may be capable of routine functions like document review and legal research, but human lawyers are indispensable for litigation work, advocacy, negotiations, decision-making, and ethics.
Both the law-related regulatory frameworks and bar associations impose their ethical obligations on lawyers; thus, AI remains a tool rather than a substitute.[11] In the future, law will be the joint efforts of humans and AI, where mundane tasks will be taken care of by machines freeing up the minds of legal professionals for higher-order thinking and, of course, for clients.
AI cannot replace litigiousness either. All these require human intuition, empathy, and experience must be able to argue persuasively, cross-examine witnesses, and think on one’s feet in court. Above all, it is not creativity, which is essential in drafting fresh arguments and devising new case strategies, that AI possesses.[12]
FUTURE OF AI AND LEGAL PRACTICE
“The Entrance of AI in legal practice ticketed- an enabling outcome and not a dislocating one. Firms are already pouring money into AI derivatives to make their workflows less strained by the human element. It is quite likely that technology will soon handle such administrative assignments, making lawyers spend much more time on worthwhile legal engagements that need strategic thinking.
The ethical framework should be put in place by governments and legal authorities to regulate AI’s use in law. Transparency in AI decision-making, accountability for AI-generated legal advice, and safeguards against bias will be the foremost priorities that ensure that AI adds to the value of justice instead of having it compromised.”[13]
CONCLUSION
AI disruptively plays all forms of functions automating tasks to ensure the efficiency of the legal profession the contrary, none will adequately replace judges’ orchestrated activities with lawyers’ infrastructures in ethical reasoning, accounting for critical thinking, de facto advocacy, among others. AI cannot replace lawyers, rather, it is likely to complement these professionals and build a future where legal services are enhanced by technology while human professionals continue to provide expertise, empathy, and judgment in law practice. Hence, the legal profession should embrace AI as a means to achieving more productivity at work but not without paying attention to ethical and regulatory concerns in its application to practice. Lawyers adept at using AI-driven instruments will have a competitive future edge, and those who resist will likely find their pace hard to keep in the emerging era of law.
Author(s) Name: Nikita Tayal (Bennett University)
References:
[1] (H Surden, Artificial Intelligence and Law: An Overview (2019) 35(4) Harv JL & Tech 1)
[2] (Legal Technology and Innovation Report 2023 (International Bar Association, 2023) <www.ibanet.org> accessed 17 March 2025)
[3] (Westlaw AI Research Tools Report (2024) <www.westlaw.com> accessed 17 March 2025)
[4] (R Susskind, The Future of the Professions (Oxford University Press 2015) 92)
[5] AI in Contract Analysis and Automation (2023) Journal of Legal Tech 14(2) 177)
[6] K Ashley, Artificial Intelligence and Legal Analytics (Cambridge University Press 2017) 211)
[7] P Samuelson, ‘AI and E-Discovery’ (2022) 50 Journal of Law & Technology 297
[8] Digital Justice: Technology and the Internet of Disputes (Oxford University Press 2017) 66)
[9] J Herring, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility (3rd edn, Oxford University Press 2020) 181
[10] AI, Law, and Interpretation Report (2023) Oxford Institute of Legal Studies <www.oils.ox.ac.uk> accessed 17 March 2025
[11] Legal Technology and Innovation Report 2023 (International Bar Association, 2023
[12] AI and Advocacy: The Human Element in Legal Proceedings (2023) Oxford Journal of Law & AI 7(3) 198
[13] AI and Law: Emerging Trends in Legal Tech (2023) Stanford Law Review 36(2) 142
