Entry Details

About the Entry

Category: 
All Content > Innovation Article > Northeast

Title of entry: 
Am Law 100 AI Usage

Issue or Publication date:
1/29

Publication name: 
The American Lawyer

View Website home page:
https://www.law.com/americanlawyer

Links to entry URLs

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Entry URL(s), if applicable:
Please enter a URL that will direct judges to the entry: 
https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2024/01/29/we-asked-every-am-law-100-firm-how-theyre-using-gen-ai-heres-what-we-learned/

Entry Essay: 
The American Lawyer broadly serves an audience of movers and shakers across the legal industry, all who came into 2024 trying to make sense of how generative AI might wind up remaking the long-established business model for large law firms.

But in addition to fears of a destabilizing new technology, many in the industry are also curious about what positive changes AI could bring. Some firms are embracing the technology, recognizing that first movers can potentially earn an advantage in the market. And we were hopeful that some of these first movers would fill us in on how they’re putting it to use.

In an all-hands-on-deck reporting effort, Law.com's Business of Law Team reached out to the 100 largest law firms in the U.S. to understand how they use generative artificial intelligence, the policies and guidelines they put in place to govern its use and how firms have balanced internal tool development versus purchasing tools from third-party vendors. This was not a mass email effort or survey. Reporters set up calls and spoke to 41 firms to gather the qualitative data on genAI usage in firms. The conversations unearthed a treasure trove of information as typically risk-averse law firms race toward innovation. In the lead article for the multipart series, Justin Henry worked with Law.com's Multimedia Team to visualize firms' most common use cases, opportunities and impacts and concerns.

Firms in this tier are fierce competitors and many see adoption of generative AI as an imperative to continue to compete. This early, comprehensive analysis of genAI use provided a benchmarking opportunity for readers and a snapshot of where the industry is headed.

Justin’s story highlighted a widely shared conclusion that generative AI will make legal operations more efficient, reducing the time lawyers spend on non-billable tasks and low-value commoditized legal work. But it also identified law firm leaders’ uncertainty and doubts about the ultimate impact of this unproven technology.