PBI Intern, Riley Kelly
Background: Advancements in artificial intelligence technology have the potential to revolutionize legal practice and, in turn, improve pro bono services. With legal service organizations being forced to turn away around 50 percent of potential clients who qualify for pro bono services due to a lack of capacity, pro bono services by lawyers and law firms are vital to narrowing the access to justice gap.
AI allows lawyers to significantly increase their efficiency when completing basic tasks such as reviewing documents and drafting letters, accomplishing in minutes what would take humans hours of time. By increasing productivity and efficiency so dramatically, the amount of time needed to assist clients on a per-matter basis may be significantly reduced. By reducing time spent on basic tasks, lawyers can spend more time building human connections with their clients and devoting their efforts to tasks where their expertise is needed most, maximizing valuable pro bono resources. Law firms that leverage these emerging AI technologies will be able to offer lower cost, more efficient legal services with higher chances of favorable outcomes. This is revolutionary in the context of pro bono, where significantly more clients in need can be reached.
Challenges with Adoption in Legal Practice: Generally, efforts to leverage emerging AI tools have faced some resistance in the legal field. One common concern is the risks involved if these technologies are not used properly. There are ethical risks, such as data privacy and confidentiality concerns, as well as accuracy concerns caused by “hallucinations.” AI hallucinations are inaccurate or misleading results generated by the AI tool. They can be caused by several factors, including insufficient training data, false assumptions made by the tool, or biases in the data used to train it.
Also, stark inequalities have been observed in the adoption and use of AI tools. A recent study on AI tools indicated that men are more likely to be trusting and open to using these new tools than women. The study found that 47 percent of men reported using AI in their work, in comparison to only 17 percent of women. Women were similarly far less optimistic about the tools – 50 percent of women reported that they were unsure of or were not planning to use AI in their work in the future, compared to just 28 percent of men.
Many of the challenges to AI adoption, from distrust of the technology to accuracy concerns, stem from a lack of education around the technology. To utilize AI responsibly while maximizing its advantages, users must be trained and educated in it. For example, users should understand the differences between consumer grade versus professional grade AI tools, should be trained to validate and verify AI generated answers, and should not view AI as a monolith. They must also be aware of current court rules and ethical obligations pertaining to the technology.
Power of Training: Having reached the point where AI proficiency is more widely recognized as a fundamental and valuable skill for legal professionals, dedicated training is necessary. Research has shown that the way training is conducted and the way AI tools are introduced in legal settings matter.
Researchers at the University of California Berkeley Center for Law and Technology and Miriam Kim, partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson*, conducted a randomized controlled trial to evaluate how the manner in which an AI tool is introduced impacts uptake rates and user experience. All participants in the study were provided 1-2 months of access to paid generative AI tools, but a randomly selected group of them also received “concierge support services” in the form of weekly emails with sample use cases, invitations to tailored trainings by representatives of the companies producing the tools, and weekly office hours.
While exposure to the tools seemed to benefit both groups, with 90 percent of participants reporting increased productivity and 75 percent reporting that they intended to continue using generative AI tools, results suggested that participants receiving the concierge services had significantly better outcomes in terms of productivity, satisfaction, quality of output, frequency of use, attitudes, and prospects for continued use than the control group. For example, 88 percent of the concierge support group reported a positive impact of the tools, compared to 62 percent of the standard access group.
The trial also showed promising results for overcoming gender disparities in adoption. While women were far less likely than men to use the tools before the trial, this distinction disappeared by the end of the trial. All participants learned that they could manage risk concerns by focusing the tools on lower-risk tasks such as document summarization, translation, confirmatory or preliminary research, preparing first drafts, brainstorming, conducting nonlegal writing and related tasks, and performing initial client intake functions. Participants reported about a 50 percent productivity increase on these lower-risk tasks. These results indicate the importance of the way AI tools are introduced to lawyers. Assistance and adequate training improve technology adoption because they help legal teams see AI as augmenting, rather than threatening, their work. This is critical given that using AI tools may become ethically required in certain instances, as lawyers will not be justified in billing their clients for hours of work on a task that AI is capable of performing in mere minutes.
AI Training for Law Firms: Lawyers with AI skills are in demand. Nearly 73 percent of lawyers polled reported that they plan to use generative AI in their work over the next year. This means that lawyers will need to develop key skills such as choosing the right AI tool for a given task, engineering effective prompts, and evaluating the relevance, quality, and accuracy of generated responses. To successfully integrate AI tools into the work of law firms, firms will need to implement appropriate and ongoing training programs so attorneys can responsibly adapt to this new environment.
Existing examples of AI trainings for lawyers include workshops, seminars, and hands-on training on specific AI tools. These trainings should include the basic mechanics of the tools, what services they should be used for, examples of prompts and questions to ask the tool, and how to address ethical risks involved. Several major law firms are ahead of the curve and are leading the way in implementing AI trainings. For example, K&L Gates†, Orrick†, and Dechert* each have instituted AI programs for summer associates, training them on the AI tools the firms use. Summer associates learn how to use the research and chatbot tools used by the firm for tasks like legal writing, document creation and summarization, drafting, proofreading, and more. This development signals a commitment to new technology, paving the way for young lawyers to develop these critically important competencies.
- K&L Gates: Brendan McDonnell, K&L Gates AI Solutions lead, highlights that it is important to teach people how developments in AI will change the way they work. Summer associates go through firm-led generative AI training, introducing them to CaseText’s Co-Counsel, a legal AI assistant used for case research and summarizing dispositions. Afterward, each associate is matched with a lawyer identified as an AI “power user” to learn to use the technology in their day-to-day work. This training is not limited to summer associates, K&L Gates is also partnering with the tech learning platform AltaClaro to provide firmwide trainings on specific topics such as prompt engineering. AltaClaro has partnered with 15 Am Law 200 firms on generative AI trainings, showing the increasing prevalence of this type of education for lawyers.
- Orrick: Orrick also utilizes AltaClaro training and incorporates it into summer associate training. Orrick summer associates receive prompt engineering and generative AI training, culminating in an “AI day” full of related activities designed to educate the next generation of lawyers. Orrick intends to roll out the training to additional Orrick attorneys in the future. As a firm, Orrick uses generative AI tools such as DraftWise, a drafting and negotiation assistant, Kira, an AI contract analyzer, and Westlaw’s Precision, an AI-assisted research tool. Orrick has also incentivized increasing AI familiarity across the firm by offering attorneys billable hours credit for work on innovation projects.
- Dechert: Dechert runs a one-on-one style training program for summer associates with attorneys from the firm who regularly use AI tools in their work. This allows the summer associates to develop a familiarity and competency with the tools while simultaneously learning how and when to use them for specific legal tasks. Dechert has also launched its own internal chatbot, DechertMind.
In addition to these individual examples, eleven global law firms have signed on to the Generative AI Training Consortium, the first of its kind, to build a series of interactive training programs in generative AI for lawyers and legal professionals. These firms receive early access to SkillBurst’s generative AI training modules, which aim to ensure that everyone, regardless of experience level, is able to understand and engage with these new tools, while understanding their risks and how to mitigate them. For example, SkillBurst developed a series called “Generative AI Fundamentals for Law Firms” aimed at addressing privacy and security concerns, implications of data bias, ethical considerations, and liability and accountability. Firms that have signed on include Eversheds Sutherland†, Hogan Lovells*, Norton Rose Fulbright*, Taft†, Thompson Coburn†, and Womble Bond†. Non-member firms may also purchase access to the programs.
Takeaways for Successful AI Training by Law Firms: For firms and lawyers beginning to explore the fast-developing landscape of AI tools and training modules, the following are some key takeaways for structuring a successful AI training program.
- Make the training hands-on and human to human: Learning from another person who can demonstrate the tool serves as proof that the technology is helpful to a person doing similar work, rather than just an abstract application.
- Create a community for sharing AI practices: By sharing advice on best practices and specific use cases, lawyers can learn from each other about ways generative AI can be applied to legal tasks to maximize productivity.
- Demonstrate tools in context: Trainings should translate to a lawyer’s work as directly as possible. Not only does this increase efficiency and enhance lawyers’ capability, but it also reinforces to young lawyers that these tools are “allowed” and encouraged by the firm for specific tasks.
- Manageable time commitment: Using bite-sized training modules that can be completed in short increments is an effective way to make trainings interesting and attractive to busy lawyers.
- Ongoing education: As the nature of legal work continues to evolve alongside ever-changing technologies and generative AI capabilities, trainings must likewise respond with an emphasis on making lawyers’ use of these tools accessible and effective.
As the legal community increasingly accepts the impact that generative AI is having on the practice of law, lawyers effectively adopting these technologies will reap the rewards of enhanced efficiency, accuracy, and productivity. But simply making generative AI tools available does not guarantee equitable or optimal outcomes. Comprehensive training and collaborative sharing of information are the keys to unlocking the full benefits of AI tools in the legal world. Law firms are leading the way by providing AI trainings to their lawyers.
Incorporating Innovation into Law Firm Pro Bono Programs
Law firms deploying AI trainings and tools to enhance their practice should consider the unique and impactful ways these tools can increase access to justice. Pro bono programs can greatly benefit from the efficiencies created by new technologies. As innovation programs develop at law firms, it is important to be intentional about ensuring that firms’ pro bono practices are brought into the fold. Getting lawyers thinking about the extraordinary promise of AI in our legal system early and often will foster the skills, creativity, and determination that is needed to help the next generation of lawyers continue to work toward bridging the justice gap.
† denotes a Law Firm Pro Bono Project® member
* denotes a Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® signatory