In association with Relativity
Will AI fundamentally change the nature of in-house lawyers’ relationships with external litigators? The question is one that is top of mind for both internal and external lawyers alike.
Much of the discourse on the boom in legal tech over the past few years has centred on how it will affect the world’s thousands of law firms. However, the number of in-house counsel in businesses has grown significantly in the last few decades, with in-house litigators becoming increasingly common in more recent years. Now coinciding with the advent of AI, much more work could soon be – and already may be – taken away from external disputes lawyers, handled instead by AI.
The potential for this change was the subject of a recent dinner hosted by global legal data intelligence company Relativity and The Lawyer. As guests basked in the glow of England’s defeat of the DR Congo in the World Cup earlier in the evening, they discussed how AI is changing the role of their external lawyers, and where they expected it to go from here. 
The attendees were all in-house lawyers at companies that ranged from major international financial institutions to start-ups. Reflecting the wider legal market, all were at various stages of their own legal AI journeys, with some still very much exploring their options, and others having adopted legal AI platforms and integrated them into their work with rigorous use policies and supervision in place.
Those already using AI are employing it in their day-to-day work, from contract review to research. On the disputes side, more intensive work, including the likes of internal investigations and disclosure, could be a particular area where the use of external counsel might change. Its rise may lead to clients engaging more directly with barristers and tech providers.
Clients will increasingly want to see value from external lawyers when it comes to work that could be, and is, done by AI. External counsel may become increasingly valued for their specialist advice and judgment on disputes, and less so for the chunky leg work that often forms part of litigation.
It was apparent that AI is also changing how clients agree terms with law firms. Some clients want more clarity on how AI will be used, and how that will impact what they are charged, albeit there was some understanding that this is a balancing act for firms. One attendee, for example, pointed to the fact that their company now requires all law firms it engages to tell them how they use AI, and what they are using.
The question of jurisdictional differences also came up. This was in relation to the approach to AI in different jurisdictions within the same company, and where data used by AI is actually stored for privacy purposes. Some guests noted there are vastly different expectations in terms of AI use, and personal data more generally between jurisdictions.
What was clear from the discussion is just how quickly the landscape is changing, and how opportunities and challenges will continue to grow.
Thoughts from Relativity’s Erica Albertson, director of AI transformation, international at Relativity
A recent dinner with The Lawyer reflected that AI is reshaping how in-house counsel work with external lawyers.
As AI takes on more resource-intensive work that, traditionally, was outsourced, in-house teams are re-examining how they leverage external counsel. They aren’t looking to eliminate these relationships, but to redefine them around what AI cannot replicate: strategic insight, specialist expertise, nuanced judgment, etc.
None of this suggests in-house teams don’t need external lawyers, they just need something different from them. The firms that thrive will be those that can clearly demonstrate value once resource-intensive work is no longer theirs to bill.
Sponsored by
Relativity is a leading legal data intelligence company that builds technology to help users organize data, discover the truth, and act on it. Its extensible, AI-powered cloud platform, RelativityOne, transforms complex data into actionable insights at massive scale for litigation, investigations, regulatory inquiries, data breach responses, and other legal use cases. The world’s largest law firms and corporations, government agencies, and a robust network of channel partners rely on Relativity’s legal AI software to securely surface and manage the most relevant and impactful information in their matters. The company also expands access to technology by providing its platform at no cost to academic institutions through its Relativity Academic program and to organizations supporting pro bono legal work through its Justice for Change initiative.