生成式AI ChatGPT所掀起的“人工智能热”似乎久久无法褪去，它的火爆也引发了法律界的关注。据BBC报道，使用了AI技术的法律科技工具，如ROSS、TAX-I、Litigate等都已被多家律所“雇用”。
领先的国际律所伟凯律师事务所管理合伙人李得伟律师指出：“法律科技不再仅仅是个‘好东西’，而是大型律师事务所的 ‘必备品’。”确实，法律领域已出现众多AI先行者，我们也正在见证传统法律工作方式的转变。
谁在使用AI工具？
最近动态：安理国际律师事务所（A&O）宣布与人工智能平台Harvey建立独家合作关系，该平台是ChatGPT的进阶版。A&O新加坡办公室联席管理合伙人Tim Beech告诉ALB，早在去年11月，A&O律师便加入了市场创新小组（Markets Innovation Group, MIG）与Harvey开发者共同开始Beta测试。
• “A&O大约有3500名律师就他们的日常法律工作向Harvey提出了大约4万个查询。”
• “Harvey不仅是一个人工智能平台，更是一个法律服务游戏规则的改变者。”
使用经验：伟凯律师事务所在法律业务中也已经使用了多种人工智能工具，通过其持续主动学习（Continuous Active Learning, CAL）和技术辅助审查（Technology Assisted Review, TAR），来帮助律师在无损工作质量和准确性的情况下更为快速地满足客户紧迫的需求。
• 公司业务方面，伟凯使用尽职调查及合同审查平台Luminance，在节省30-40%成本的同时更为有效地分配资源，以帮助律师快速总结关键的合同条款并完成尽职调查。
• 诉讼业务方面，伟凯使用业界领先的人工智能工具，如Brainspace和Relativity，加速文件审查，并从律师的决定和编码中进行 "学习"，从而识别潜在的风险，更好地产出应对策略。
李得伟律师表示，除了目前正在使用的技术工具，伟凯也正在对ChatGPT和类似的法律技术工具进行评估。
AI工具的使用能为律所带来哪些好处？
专家说了什么：李得伟律师指出：“人工智能或将在很大程度上改变法律界的工作方式，律所在众多业务领域将变得更有效率，并为客户提供更高质量的法律服务。”
Tim Beech也直言：“Harvey使得律师的工作更为高效，同时也使A&O在法律市场上具备更加显著的竞争优势。”
• “随着人工智能的大型语言模型（large language models, LLM）逐渐成熟，我们可能会看到人工智能被更频繁地用于那些耗时和劳动密集型的任务，例如法律研究、初稿框架或特定条款的文件起草。”李得伟律师说。
• “编辑任何一种类型的文件都要比从一张空白页开始要容易得多，Harvey代表着你永远不会从一张白纸开始。虽然我们不能完全依靠
Harvey的输出来提供法律建议，但它确实意味着律师可以把他们聪明的脑力集中在最有价值的地方。” Tim Beech补充道。
值得注意的是：“我们对人工智能工具的发展感到兴奋，这其中蕴含着巨大的潜力，但也藏有一定的风险。”李得伟律师补充道。
• 根据李得伟律师的经验，在考虑将人工智能技术应用于法律事务时，人们最常听到的担忧是“准确性”。
• 人工智能“开箱即用”的特性并不意味着它所提供的信息不需由专业人员进行进一步的审查。
• 律师深知人工智能具有“局限性”，因此能够依据手头工作性质，决定是否要寻求AI工具的帮助。
因此，面对律师是否会被人工智能所淘汰的争议，结论是：没有任何人工智能工具可以替代律师。
进一步的研究：面对不断推陈出新的法律科技工具，律所也并未止步于当下。
• 伟凯部署了多元化业务服务团队，持续评估和选择能够帮助律师改善其现有工作流程的新兴人工智能工具。
• 该团队还不断设计改进人工智能工具的最佳使用方法，并提供无缝衔接的技术支持。
• 在领导层面，伟凯组建了一个工作小组，旨在研究新的人工智能技术对律师业务实践可能造成的影响，并就律所该如何对待并适应提出建议。
AI tools become a “must have” for big law firms
The fever caused by generative AI - ChatGPT lingers, and its popularity has sparked interest in the legal industry as well. According to BBC, legal technology tools adopting artificial intelligence, such as ROSS, TAX-I and Litigate, have already been hired and utilized by a number of law firms.
“We understand that legal technology is no longer ‘good to have’, but ‘must have’ for a big law firm,” says David Li, Office Executive Partner at White & Case based in Beijing. Indeed, there are numerous AI pioneers within the legal scene, who’re driving a rapid shift from the legal traditions to new working models.
Who is using AI tools?
Up and front: Allen & Overy (A&O) recently announced a ground-breaking partnership with Harvey, the innovative artificial intelligence platform built on an enhanced version of Open AI’s revolutionary GPT models, to transform its legal services. Tim Beech, Singapore – based Joint Office Managing Partner at A&O tells ALB that Harvey has been tested in beta by a team of A&O lawyers and developers since November 2022.
• At the end of the trial, around 3500 of A&O’s lawyers had asked Harvey around 40,000 queries for their day-to-day work.
• Harvey is not just a platform, but a game-changer for enhancing and transforming legal services.
User experience: White & Case also uses a variety of AI tools in both corporate and litigation practices. By applying Continuous Active Learning (CAL) and Technology Assisted Review (TAR) of AI tools, the firm can help lawyers to meet tight client deadlines without any loss in quality and accuracy of review.
• On the corporate side, White & Case uses an AI-enabled due diligence and contract review platform, Luminance, to help lawyers summarize key contractual provisions quickly and with more efficient allocation of resources and 30-40% of cost savings.
• On the litigation side, the firm uses the industry leading AI tools, such as Brainspace and Relativity, to “learn” from the lawyers’ decisions/coding and identify potential risks, and better inform the legal strategy.
White & Case is not only constantly assessing their existing tools against new tools in the market, but also doing the same with ChatGPT and similar tools tailored or otherwise relevant to the legal sector, according to Li.
What benefits could AI tools bring to law firms?
What they’re saying: Li points out: “AI has the potential to significantly change how the legal profession works. With the use of AI, law firms are more efficient in many different areas and improve the quality of service for clients.”
“The Harvey platform enables lawyers to work more efficiently and effectively, as well as giving A&O a significant competitive edge in the legal market,” Beech also believes.
• “As large language models (LLM) gradually become more mature, we are likely to see AI being used more frequently in tasks that are time-consuming and labour-intensive, such as legal research or document drafting (initial drafts or specific clauses),” adds Li.
• “We could not rely solely on the outputs of Harvey for legal advice, but it does mean that our lawyers can focus their brilliant brain power where it’s most valuable: as we all know, it’s much easier to edit a document (of any sort) than it is to begin by staring at a blank page. Harvey means you’re never starting from a blank page,” says Beech.
Watch out for: “While there is great excitement and potential, there are also risks and we need to address both,” says Li.
• According to Li’s experience, concerns frequently hears from lawyers when considering using AI on their matters is “accuracy.”
• The information provided by AI “out-of-the-box” should not be considered a substitute for substantive review of documents by appropriately qualified persons.
• Awareness of the “limitations” of AI helps lawyers make a good decision about whether or not deploy AI to a task at hand.
Hence, faced with the controversy of whether lawyers will be replaced by artificial intelligence, the conclusion is: No AI tool is a replacement for lawyers.
Expecting more: Law firms are not stopping there.
• White & Case has a designated diverse business service team that consistently evaluates and selects new AI-enabled tools that can help lawyers improve their existing workflows.
• The team also designs best practices of using the tools and provides seamless technical support when needed.
• At the leadership level, White & Case also assembled a task force to study the implications that new AI technology may cause to the practices and to make recommendations on how the firm should approach and adapt to these new tools.
