I recently attended the Legal Technology Hub EY Gen AI & Data Enablement Conference, an event focused on innovation, legal technology, data, and knowledge management. The event brought together leading experts and practitioners from a broad range of legal disciplines, including corporate enterprise, global law firms, management consultants, and technology vendors.
The keynote speaker Jeff Saviano, Emerging Tech Strategy & Governance Leader, EY Consulting, brought front and center the critical need for the need for ethical frameworks alongside the development and application of AI in legal.
The sessions featured concrete use cases that showcased the transformative potential of generative AI in the legal sector. Below are some highlights from the keynote and the sessions I sat in on.
Robust AI governance is essential
"Ninety-four percent of IT decision makers feel that firms need to focus more on corporate responsibility and ethics while developing AI solutions." KPMG
In “The Future of Law,” Saviano, who collaborates with organizations such as Harvard, MIT, and the federal government, made his case that an ethical framework is essential for AI development and application in legal. He advised that law professionals review the American Bar Association (ABA) guidance on AI governance and ensure that their organization’s is appropriately robust.
In terms of government regulation, Saviano observed that it appears to favor innovation without heavy-handed intervention, thus far. However, the recent legal precedents raise significant considerations about the impact of AI on stakeholders. Erring on the side of caution may be the best strategy, going forward.
And while legal functions are still often viewed as cost centers, this perspective is shifting with the proliferation of AI tools and the efficiencies they promise.
Innovative applications make waves
In “Real Use Cases of Generative AI in Legal Organizations,” EY Senior Manager Ruchi Khurana Indirect Tax Technology and Transformation, EY, discussed some innovative applications of generative AI that are making waves in the legal world, showcasing a proof-of-concept EY developed for the Microsoft legal team to efficiently process regulatory updates.
The PoC demonstrates these multifaceted capabilities by ingesting documents, assessing them against defined regulatory guidelines, and preparing a comprehensive memo explaining the impact of the identified regulatory changes. The solution employs a complex, multi-stage series of prompts to extract, prioritize, and summarize critical information. It is part of a broader suite of generative AI agents in the PoC, which also includes a Cyber Security Assessment Agent and a VAT Regulatory Assessment Agent.
Higher-value capabilities bring tangible returns
In “Straight Talk: The Real ROI of Generative AI,” Heath Harris, senior manager of Legal Function Consulting at EY Law, shared strategic AI use case development with a global bank. He reported potential returns between $2 million and $8 million for individual projects and anticipated returns of $3.50 for every dollar invested.
To achieve this kind of ROI, organizations seeking efficiencies from AI may need to consider higher-value capabilities such as risk mitigation and stakeholder collaboration. To sell legal AI internally, they suggest recruiting champions and looking for use cases that appeal to the business, not just legal. Workflow management, confidentiality reviews, and compliance tasks are key areas where AI can be applied to deliver incremental improvements.
“Responsible AI” can produce clear ROI
The presenters of “Data Governance, Regulations, and Ethics in an AI-Driven World” said that an estimated 78 percent of General Counsel (GCs) are now involved in compliance and regulatory governance related to generative AI. About 50 percent have established privacy and data governance processes, emphasizing the need for a pre-existing governance framework before development begins. They cited the importance of prioritizing transparency and seeking informed consent from clients for all client-facing work produced by gen AI tools.
In short, they concluded that “Responsible AI” practices can produce a clear ROI, given the necessary preparation. But to build a solution that can be depended on to generate the desired outcomes, you must follow responsible design principles and perform rigorous testing, monitoring, and auditing.
AI can help us solve real-world problems
iManage is fully aligned with the core insights shared at this conference and is actively putting them into practice. It was gratifying to hear the industry echo the importance of what iManage has said for years while taking the steps to ensure that our customers and prospects are able to take advantage of the growth opportunity present in this rare moment in time.
Neil Araujo, our CEO, has emphasized our commitment to using AI thoughtfully and practically to. Innovative solutions such as iManage AI Enrichment and Mailbox Assistant are designed to streamline routine tasks, allowing knowledge professionals to focus on impactful work.
“When we announced our AI strategy last year, we were clear that we intended to use AI in a thoughtful and practical manner to address real-world business problems that our customers face,” said Neil Araujo, CEO, iManage.
The insights we derived from the discussions at the EY Gen AI Conference reaffirm the exciting advancements in AI both for the legal industry and for vendors on the bleeding edge, such as iManage. As we continue to navigate this evolving landscape, organizations like ours that prioritize ethics, governance, and effective data management will enable our customers to harness the full potential of AI technologies while credibly assuring their clients of the robust frameworks in place to safeguard their valuable data.
We have made impressive progress over the past year with AI and look forward to continuing to deliver new capabilities that provide our customers with a foundation for success with iManage AI.
About the author
Michael Powers