AI adoption in legal field will have a big impact: Forum

I read with interest the article “New AI service to help lawyers go through 15,000 judgments in Singapore’s legal history” (Sept 11).

It was reported that lawyers in the Republic can now use a new artificial intelligence (AI) service – LawNet AI – to research and summarise walls of text from some 15,000 case judgments throughout Singapore’s judicial history since 1965.

The legal landscape is evolving rapidly, and not just in Singapore. A recent LexisNexis survey of 1,200 legal professionals in the UK found that almost 62 per cent of law firms have already changed their day-to-day operations because of generative AI.

In the coming years, AI will likely herald a revolution in legal practice, not just in streamlining workflows, but also in redefining the role of legal professionals.

In this regard, LawNet AI serves as a potential game changer for the domestic legal market. I am confident that LawNet AI, being a powerful new tool for the Singapore legal practitioner, is well poised to deliver significant time and cost savings for the legal profession.

As mentioned in the article, the system comes with guard rails to counter what are known as AI hallucinations. One such example would be a tool to highlight parts of LawNet AI’s response that may deviate significantly from the original judgment. Global developments in AI promise significant progress in combating such hallucinations, particularly through innovations in small language models and retrieval augmented generation.

It is exciting to see what LawNet AI can bring in dispute resolution and litigation – where legal research is paramount in crafting effective written submissions and arguments to be advanced during the trial.

As new practitioners enter the legal profession, data, AI, and technology will create a new paradigm in how legal services are delivered. The local legal market’s adoption of AI lets it stand at the cusp of a transformative future.

From document automation to due diligence to AI-powered tools, the impact of AI on the legal profession is vast, and I am excited to see the innovations that lie ahead for the Singapore legal market.

Marcus Ho Kan Jie

Source: Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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