“No matter what you think of AI, you will be using it,” says Nicola Shaver, cofounder and CEO of Legaltech Hub, a global directory of legal technology tools and services. ChatGPT is the most widely and rapidly adopted technology in history, and it’s no fad—it’s the future. When GPT-4 scored in the top 10% of the March 2023 bar exam,“the legal industry sat up and took notice,” Shaver observes. She acknowledges that many attorneys fear AI, wondering, “Does this mean the end of my job?” She dismisses this concern, arguing that as attorneys using AI work more quickly and with greater accuracy, demand for their services will increase—especially in our increasingly complex legal and regulatory environment.
The landscape of legal technology grew rapidly in 2023 such that workflow pain points in nearly every area of law have a legal tech solution. AI isn’t perfect, but it is getting better and better. The increasing availability of domain-specific large language models focused more specifically on discreet areas of law are yielding results that are more accurate and nuanced. Shaver labels 2023 as “experimental” and 2024 as “the year of adoption,” projecting that law firms who invested heavily in AI during 2023 will enjoy a material advantage going forward.
Shaver urges attorneys to embrace technology in their law practice with excitement instead of pessimism and she encourages law students to incorporate AI into their everyday lives. “Use it! Be leaders, not laggers!”
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