Law Firm Professional Development Steps To Thrive In AI Era

Originally published in Law360 on September 8, 2023, link here.

The vast majority of law firms are now encountering questions specific to artificial intelligence and generative AI in client requests for information.

Clients want to understand the extent to which these emerging technologies are integrated into the firm's processes, the benefits they can expect from such integration, and the measures the firm is taking to ensure ethical and secure practices amid rapid technological advancements.

Professional development leaders are now tasked with the crucial role of educating lawyers within the firm about the array of generative AI support options available and emphasizing its necessity.

This is far from a simple endeavor, and the challenges are multifaceted, including the need to navigate internal political complexities, foster innovative cross-disciplinary collaborations, and develop new programs that equip lawyers with skills for technologies that are new and ever-evolving.

Here's an overview of the current landscape, along with three strategic approaches that law firm professional development leaders can employ to ensure their organizations thrive in this new era of generative AI.

The Challenges Ahead

Lawyers who fail to stay abreast of emerging technologies like generative AI risk being sidelined, leading to significant competitive disadvantages for themselves and their firms.

This imbalance in technological adoption creates not only a competitive gap between firms, but also internal discord within the firm.

Practice areas that are quick to leverage these technologies can improve their value propositions, client outcomes and overall relevance, while their analog counterparts languish, risking client attrition to more agile competitors.

There is also the significant — and justified — fear of reputational damage. This fear looms large for most firms, as lawyers without adequate training on these technologies could mistakenly depend on flawed, tech-generated outcomes, thereby providing erroneous legal advice — a scenario that is unacceptable at best.

Professional development departments face their own potential set of credibility challenges. For instance, if the information technology or legal technology group invests in an ill-suited tool that the professional development department has actively promoted or trained lawyers on, then the department's reputation becomes inexorably linked to that tool's success or failure.

Should that tool falter — either because it was premature in the market or simply because a superior alternative emerges — lawyers may justifiably vent their frustrations and assign blame, a situation no professional development leader would want to confront.

Finally, generative AI technology, exemplified by systems like ChatGPT, is still in its nascent stages, but holds unparalleled promise.

As legal tech expert Richard Susskind observed, the technology underpinning large language models, such as neural networks, is evolving at an astounding rate — doubling every 3.5 months and set to increase by a factor of 300,000 over the next six years. This pace of innovation makes it challenging to predict future capabilities and, consequently, leaves us grappling with an unsettling question: How do we prepare for an undefined future landscape? Susskind goes on to state, "We have no sense of what's coming next, [and] there is no finishing line."[1]

Professional development leaders are thus faced with the daunting yet essential task of solving a paradoxical question: How can we equip lawyers with the skills and understanding for a technological landscape that is still largely unknown?

Fortunately, there is still time to prepare and implement a plan to address these significant challenges. Here are three strategies to consider.

Strategies to Consider

1. Act now — time is of the essence.

Memes abound satirizing law firms for initiating innovation initiatives, only to evaluate new ideas based on whether other firms have already adopted them. Similarly, adages such as "the second mouse gets the cheese" echo through the corridors of major law firms in the context of generative AI.

When it comes to technology investment and adoption, being second can be a sound strategy. When it comes to learning and training, however, the entire industry is already behind — and there are no shortcuts.

Education takes time. The winners of this race will invest early, and if they haven't already, they will start now.

The consensus among law firms is that a fundamental understanding of generative AI is essential for everyone within the organization. Many firms are initiating this learning curve with client-facing lawyers to capitalize on the unique insights gained from client interactions, insights that are not easily accessible through traditional industry resources.

Afterward, training programs are being expanded to encompass all lawyers and even mandated for business staff, to ensure a uniform understanding of how the practice of law is evolving.

With urgency established and target audiences identified, the next looming questions are: What should be taught, and how? These questions will be addressed in the following sections.

2. Foster interdepartmental collaboration and leverage unique professional development expertise.

Professional development leaders are joining executive-level task forces focused on generative AI, alongside innovation teams, IT departments, knowledge management and general counsel, among others.

These groups are individually adept in areas like data analytics, operational excellence and risk management. However, professional development departments possess a unique skill set — expertise in instructional design tailored specifically for lawyers.

While other departments and external partners may have valuable content to contribute, only the professional development department knows which offerings will resonate within their firms and how to transform associated content into the blended approach required for best practices in lawyer learning.

Professional development departments are also adept at contextualizing learning within the lawyer's operational environment, ensuring immediate applicability of the learned concepts.

In these collaborative efforts, the professional development department stands out as the custodian of high-quality legal education, despite the challenges and red tape commonly experienced in cross-departmental collaborations.

3. Focus on tool-neutral, critical topics for effective training.

What is the No. 1 way to get a lawyer to stop listening to you? Try to sell them something.

Upon a whiff of a sale, lawyers will immediately tune out a speaker. When it comes to generative AI, this presents a challenge. Legal technology companies may be eager to share relevant knowledge with lawyers.

Those responsible for training are wary of inviting these companies in to help, however, given the risk that the lawyer audience will perceive a sale and stop listening.

Generative AI training must be high-quality, immediately relevant, and actionable to get the credibility and attention it deserves internally. In addition to the risk of ineffective training and credibility concerns — especially at the outset — professional development teams should be mindful to train on the concepts underpinning generative AI and avoid focusing on specific tools for two primary reasons.

First, professional development departments have the challenging task of preparing lawyers for a technological landscape that is still unfolding. Training must therefore foster adaptability, ensuring lawyers are nimble enough to evolve along with emerging technologies.

Second, associating the professional development department with a particular technology that may later fail could jeopardize its own credibility within the firm.

To address these concerns, professional development departments should focus on universally critical topics.

These include the danger of shadow tools, i.e., software used that is not authorized by IT teams; use cases in legal practice; data privacy and trade secret implications; accuracy; and data use and confidentiality.

After these foundational concepts, consider the next tier of concern, including trust in generative AI tools; how these solutions collect, store and use information; disclosure requirements; prompt engineering; discovering new use cases; and the uniquely human skills lawyers should emphasize as they, themselves, become increasingly blended into the workflow with these tools.

This strategy not only prepares lawyers for current challenges, but also makes them agile enough to adapt to unforeseen future developments.

Conclusion

Currently positioned at the forefront of navigating the transformative impact of generative AI on the legal sector, professional development departments play an instrumental role in equipping both lawyers and business staff for the paradigm shifts ahead.

In collaboration with innovation teams, IT departments and specialized task forces, among others, professional development departments can effectively catalyze the strategic execution of generative AI initiatives, preparing professionals for critical client dialogues and facilitating seamless technology adoption.

By initiating educational programs immediately, leveraging their unique expertise in instructional design tailored for adult learners, and concentrating on universally relevant, tool-neutral teaching, professional development departments can empower legal talent with the essential skills and knowledge they require.

This strategic approach not only ensures that professionals stay relevant in a rapidly evolving field, but also positions them for continued success in an increasingly complex technological landscape.

To learn more about the resources available to train lawyers and staff, contact Anusia Gillespie at anusia@skillburst.com.

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[1] Professor Richard Susskind OBE KC (Hon) - The Lionel Cohen Lecture 2023, The Hebrew University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAcNvdgodvA&t=4197s at minutes 19:46 and 21:33