The Digital Transformation of Law: Are We Prepared for Artificially Intelligent Legal Practice?


Paper by Larry Bridgesmith and Adel Elmessiry: “We live in an instant access and on-demand world of information sharing. The global pandemic of 2020 accelerated the necessity of remote working and team collaboration. Work teams are exploring and utilizing the remote work platforms required to serve in place of stand-ups common in the agile workplace. Online tools are needed to provide visibility to the status of projects and the accountability necessary to ensure that tasks are completed on time and on budget. Digital transformation of organizational data is now the target of AI projects to provide enterprise transparency and predictive insights into the process of work.

This paper develops the relationship between AI, law, and the digital transformation sweeping every industry sector. There is legitimate concern about the degree to which many nascent issues involving emerging technology oppose human rights and well being. However, lawyers will play a critical role in both the prosecution and defense of these rights. Equally, if not more so, lawyers will also be a vibrant source of insight and guidance for the development of “ethical” AI in a proactive—not simply reactive—way….(More)”.