Law Firm Partners Envision Computers Replacing Young Lawyers

As long as they're billing...JL

David Kravets reports in ars technica:

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." —Henry VI, Part 2.
Shakespeare interpretations aside, it seems that artificial intelligence is on its way to, well, killing off lawyers. A recent survey (PDF) of law firm leaders say that within 10 years, new attorneys and paralegals could be replaced by an IBM Watson-like computer.
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." —Henry VI, Part 2.
Shakespeare interpretations aside, it seems that artificial intelligence is on its way to, well, killing off lawyers. That's according to a recent survey (PDF) of law firm leaders who say that within 10 years, new attorneys and paralegals could be replaced by an IBM Watson-like computer. The study, which included responses from high-ranking lawyers at 320 firms with at least 50 lawyers on staff, found that 35 percent of the top brass at responding law firms envision replacing first-year associates with some type of AI in the coming decade. Less than 25 percent of respondents gave the same answer in a similar survey in 2011. About 20 percent of those anonymous respondents also said second- and third-year attorneys could also be replaced by technology over the same period. Half of law firm leaders said that paralegals could be killed off by computers.
The AI findings were part of a much larger survey of the law firm landscape.

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The survey notwithstanding, artificial intelligence is already making its way into the law office. Dentons, a huge global firm, and others are working with a program called ROSS, the "artificially intelligent robot" focused on US bankruptcy affairs.
"Just like a human, it’s getting its experience in a law firm and being able to learn and get better," Andrew Arruda, a ROSS co-founder, told the Toronto Globe and Mail.
Another big firm, Latham & Watkins, said it is "test-driving new IBM Watson-based applications, including cognitive and predictive coding technologies," The American Lawyer said.
Some law firm bosses, however, disputed the survey's results. They said the young lawyers were at the center of adopting and embracing new technologies like artificial intelligence.