Technology predictions for 2020 – the impact of AI in the legal sector

The legal sector is quickly moving to embrace digital transformation and leaning towards innovation as it recognises the opportunity to improve customer services, drive productivity and adhere to the raft of compliance checks that all law firms have to meet. In fact, in feedback from legal professionals in our recent Advanced Trends Survey Report 2019/2020, only 40 per cent felt their law firm wasn't acting fast enough to keep up with the pace of technology innovation – so that means 60 per cent are acting with pace and are certainly well ahead on that journey. To encourage greater innovation, one technology that we predict will have a transformative effect on the industry is Artificial Intelligence (AI). Although AI is still in its relative infancy, it is already helping to change the way many industries operate and the legal sector is increasingly recognising its potential benefits. For example, a recent Deloitte study estimated 100,000 legal roles will be automated by 2036, leaving legal professionals to concentrate on higher value, client facing tasks.