In today's fast-paced technological landscape, generative artificial intelligence is transforming various sectors, including the legal field. Even for experienced in-house lawyers, the prospect of integrating this technology into the work of a legal department can be daunting. But the promise is real. This road map seeks to assist in-house counsel by setting out a baseline checklist to get this work started.

Gen AI's Use Cases in Legal Departments

To start, separate out two categories of use cases.

  1. Generic Use Cases: These involve using large language models (i.e., AI tools that draw from vast datasets) to answer questions or generate content based on their training data. For example, asking ChatGPT for information on a legal development or using a Gen AI tool to fill out a research task.
  2. Grounded Use Cases: These involve grounding the Gen AI in specific documents or datasets, enabling it to provide answers based on proprietary information.

Then there are a number of specific use cases that ought to assist in-house lawyers in carrying out their work.

  • Brainstorming: Gen AI can help overcome the "blank page syndrome" by generating initial drafts or ideas.
  • Authoring: It can create content from its training data or specific documents provided by the user, which in-house lawyers can then build off of with their own written work.
  • Interrogating Documents: Gen AI can extract answers from legal memos or documents, improving efficiency.
  • Summarization and Translation: Gen AI can summarize large documents or translate text accurately.
  • Legal Research: Gen AI can add research capabilities by grounding their models in extensive legal databases.

Efficiency Gains and the Human Element

Deploying Gen AI in these use cases need not raise the prospect of a threat to legal jobs. Instead, it's a means to improve efficiencies and to allow lawyers to focus their energies on priorities rather than routine matters. This improvement justifies investments in Gen AI technology. But the human element will always remain critical. And Gen AI may very well create new job opportunities for those lawyers versed in technologies in such areas as risk management, ethics and AI governance.