How Lexis+ AI and LEAP Bridging the Generational Gap
LexisNexis revealed advanced AI tool Lexis+ to boost productivity in the legal sector, amidst a growing trend of AI and automation in the industry.
Welcome to your Law Tech briefing for Oct 27, covering what happened in legal tech recently.
TLDR; Listen instead:
Have less than a 1 min? Three takeaways from yesterday
- Embrace AI and Automation: Tools like Lexis+ AI and WealthCounsel's drafting solution can revolutionize daily legal practice, boosting productivity and efficiency. They facilitate faster legal tasks like citation validation, document drafting, and case summarization and should be increasingly integrated in legal workflows.
- Focus on Professional Development: Addressing generational gaps in work ethic and professional development is key. Fostering a work culture that offers clear guidance, emphasizes continuous learning, and accommodates modern needs for flexibility and empowerment will be beneficial for overall productivity and firm growth.
- Adapt And Evolve: The industry should welcome changing attitudes and the contribution of younger lawyers. Adapting to these changes can stimulate an industry-wide tech-fueled transformation, which will not only yield efficiencies but also enrich the future of legal practice.
Briefing
Here's what happened in legal tech recently...
It's been a busy week in legal technology, capped by LexisNexis's introduction of its advanced AI tool, Lexis+ AI. Designed to enhance productivity in the U.S. legal sector, the tool leverages sizable language models like Anthropic’s Claude 2 and OpenAI’s GPT-4 and ChatGPT. It boasts an array of features, including citation validation, document drafting, case summarization, and document upload capabilities. In other significant development, LEAP Legal Software integrated WealthCounsel's drafting solution to boost the productivity and drafting capabilities of estate planning lawyers.
Trends
The day underscored a growing trend of AI and automation in the legal industry, with a marked shift towards integrating these technologies into everyday practice. Responding to generational gaps in work ethic, law firms began to focus on offering clearer guidance, professional development, and creating a culture facilitating learning. The success of legal technology solutions like Lexis+ AI shed light on the critical role that AI can play in bridging this gap. Meanwhile, UK law firm Howard Kennedy demonstrated the perceivable benefits of automation, reporting a significant increase in efficiency and profitability by automating banking and real estate finance operations. Customers, on the other hand, showed keen interest in AI-powered research tools, as evidenced by the 2023 Start/Stop survey.
Analysis
The legal technology space is rapidly evolving, with companies like LexisNexis and LEAP making noteworthy strides. The launch of Lexis+ AI is a significant leap, consolidating AI and legal research to optimize the legal process. It combines LexisNexis's proprietary search technology and Shepard's Citations to facilitate faster, more efficient legal tasks. Meanwhile, WealthCounsel's drafting solution, integrated into LEAP's platform, streamlines the document drafting process for estate planning lawyers. These developments are expected to increase interest in AI-powered legal tools as automation becomes central in addressing capacity challenges and improving process efficiencies. Simultaneously, addressing generational gaps in professional development emerges as a growing concern. The industry may benefit from embracing a more empathetic and progressive work culture, accommodating younger lawyers' need for flexibility, transparency, and empowerment. Indeed, while AI and automation are ringing changes, law firms must also adapt to the evolving attitudes and expectations of the next generation of partners. In an industry where change is often painstakingly slow, these are positive signs of an industry poised for a tech-fueled transformation.
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Key stories
LexisNexis has launched their legal generative AI tool - Lexis+ AI, which is now available to US customers. This move follows testing and refining periods across Am Law firms, corporate legal departments, small law firms and US courts. The product merges generative AI with proprietary LexisNexis search technology, Shepard's Citations and other researched content to provide legal document drafts, answer research questions and summarize legal issues. The mentioned advantages of Lexis+ AI include speed, productivity and enhancement in work quality for legal professionals. Furthermore, LexisNexis stresses the security features of Lexis+ AI, making certain that user-uploaded documents are automatically purged after each session or inactivity. There are plans for functionality expansion of Lexis+ AI in the future, as well as ongoing enhancements to its accuracy. However, media outlets have not been allowed to test the product before the launch. The product's affordability is subject to the individual needs and content access preferences of the customer.
The results of an annual survey conducted among legal tech organizations as part of the 2023 Legal Information + Knowledge Services Conference shows an increased interest in generative AI, with 33 firms (93% law firms) participating and highlighting generative AI as a rising trend. This stems from the emergence of large language models (LLMs), but firms still grapple with establishing AI policies and product selection among a bustle of vendors. Another key finding was the influence of Thomson Reuters' acquisition of Casetext, termed a "shape-shifting" event, likely aimed at overtaking rivals. The study also witnessed some churn in the analytics realm. Lastly, CoCounsel was seen as the best new AI-Enabled research/knowledge product by a wide margin, with Lexis's AI products poised for implementation or evaluation. Legal publishers are increasingly incorporating AI in their products, hence the prospect of AI in legal tech seems robust.
All stories
LexisNexis announces the general availability of Lexis+ AI for US customers (Legal IT Insider)
LexisNexis Legal & Professional has introduced Lexis+ AI, an AI tool designed to enhance productivity in the U.S. legal sector. The tool, which utilizes large language models like Anthropic’s Claude 2 and OpenAI’s GPT-4 and ChatGPT, offers citation validation, document drafting, case summarisation, and document upload capabilities. Its goal is to optimize the legal process by leveraging LexisNexis' search and citation technology.
LEAP Legal Software has incorporated WealthCounsel's drafting solution into its cloud-based practice management software, enhancing productivity and drafting capabilities for estate planning lawyers. This integration, following LEAP's acquisition of WealthCounsel, eliminates the need for switching between platforms, thus reducing error risk. It enables attorneys to draft, save, and share documents directly from the LEAP platform.
Associates’ Success Is Not About Work Ethic: Common Concerns About New Lawyers (Attorney at Work)
Senior attorneys' frustration towards younger lawyers' work ethic is due to a communication and expectations gap, not lack of dedication. To bridge this generational gap, law firms should offer clearer guidance, professional development, and create a culture where mistakes are learning opportunities. The success of young lawyers depends on flexibility, transparency, recognition, and empowerment. Law firms need to adjust their perceptions and judgement of the next generation of partners.
LexisNexis Legal & Professional has introduced Lexis+ AI, a Generative AI solution for the US legal industry. The secure system offers encrypted results from Lexis's authoritative materials and Shepard's citations. It includes features such as conversational search, intelligent legal drafting, insightful summarization, and document upload. The system also mitigates the risk of fabricated content, verifies all citations, and allows immediate user feedback. Pricing will depend on the organization's size and market segment.
LexisNexis has introduced Lexis+ AI, an artificial intelligence solution for US customers that aims to revolutionize legal work. The tool provides linked legal citations, advanced search technology, and authoritative content. It also includes features such as conversational search, intelligent legal drafting, summarization, and document upload capabilities. The solution, developed in collaboration with leading tech companies, is designed to minimize the risk of invented content and deliver comprehensive results swiftly.
London law firm Howard Kennedy has increased efficiency and profitability by automating its Banking and Real Estate Finance team's processes. The changes have reduced transaction times by ten days and saved 90 minutes per case, setting a new industry standard. The firm's successful integration of technology demonstrates a shift in work approach and addresses capacity challenges.
Arctic Wolf provides suggested fixes for ServiceNow potential data exposure flaw (Legal IT Insider)
US software company, ServiceNow, has addressed a potential security flaw in its Access Control Lists (ACL) which could have allowed unauthorized data access. The issue was identified by security researcher, Aaron Costello. In response, cybersecurity firm Arctic Wolf has issued recommendations for ServiceNow customers to bolster their data security.
