AI and the legal sector: Opportunities, challenges and predictions

Robert Morley, chief operating officer at Excello Law, examines the use of AI in the legal industry. Alongside Brexit and Donald Trump, artificial Intelligence (AI) kept headline writers working overtime in 2016 – each competing for our attention in a world of increasing uncertainty. Online, a clear winner has emerged from this unlikely trio of scary topics: AI returns nearly two billion results in Google search, whereas'The Donald' scores a more modest 368 million and Brexit a mere 108 million. Among articles and blogs about the future of law firms, AI has similarly dominated attention as the number one theme. Underpinned by dystopian visions of lawyers being replaced by robots and the growing ranks of tech companies dedicated to replacing the human element from much of day-to-day legal practice, the future for the lawyer has seemed bleak.