From Paul Weiss to DLA Piper, 5 lawyers share how they're using AI at work

Samantha Lee/InsiderAI adoption in legal circles is growing as tech meets accuracy standards.Lawyers use AI for tasks like document summarization and spotting risky clauses.Attorneys ensure human judgment remains crucial by implementing strict AI guardrails.Artificial intelligence has a reputation problem in legal circles.Outside the profession, the popular assumption is that attorneys—whose livelihoods still hinge on hours logged—have little incentive to automate themselves out of billable work.Inside the profession, the story is more nuanced.Precision isn't optional in a court filing or a merger agreement, so before any Big Law litigator or solo practitioner lets an algorithm near client work, the tech must meet an uncompromising standard of accuracy and accountability.That bar is finally being cleared, and curiosity is turning into adoption.From global firms juggling multimillion-dollar matters to personal-injury practices compiling medical records, many lawyers are cautiously testing AI for specific tasks, such as summarizing documents, surfacing precedents, and spotting risky clauses. Whether they sit in a glass tower or a strip-mall office, the aim is the same: trim some time from routine steps and, where possible, pass modest savings and clarity onto clients.Business Insider asked five attorneys from Big Law, boutique, and solo practices to share the AI tools they love. Here's how they're using AI — and the guardrails they've built to keep the judgment human.Katherine B. Forrest, partner at Paul WeissKatherine B. Forrest, partner at Paul Weiss.Paul WeissAs chair of Paul Weiss' digital technology group, Katherine B. Forrest counsels clients on the thorniest questions surrounding digital assets and artificial intelligence.She also turns to some of the same platforms she advises on for legal work, letting her pressure-test the tools for clients while steadily tightening the gears of her own practice.She's a Harvey power user. Harvey functions as a virtual junior associate: a platform steeped in case law, statutes, and a firm's own documents. Lawyers can dump thousands of contracts, filings, or emails into its secure "vault," then ask the chat interface to summarize, compare clauses, or draft new language on the fly. Every answer comes hyperlinked to the exact source text, so attorneys can audit the reasoning before it ever reaches a client or court.Forrest said she uses Harvey to speed up research and review, not as a substitute for legal judgment. "How do you determine that apart from speed, you've got accuracy and analytical excellence?" she asked. "You've got to have a human who's trained to evaluate that for now."She also uses Hebbia to sift through filings and other documents and answer complex legal questions about their contents. The company sells its software primarily to asset managers and investment banks but is making inroads with law firms like Orrick and Fenwick.Forrest said one tool truly stunned her: ChatGPT's Deep Research. She asked it to assess antitrust risks in a proposed merger and draft a pitch that maximizes the prospect of clearance. She asked three attorneys to vet the output, and they confirmed it was "100% accurate."Drew Morris, partner at First Circle LawDrew Morris, partner at First Circle Law.First Circle LawWhen Drew Morris saw the potential of artificial intelligence to provide better legal service at a reasonable rate, he left his general counsel post to start his own supercharged law firm, First Circle Law. He works with early to midsize startups on funding, business contracts, and corporate governance matters.Morris explained that as a solo practitioner, he turns to artificial intelligence tools for all the tasks he would typically delegate. "I use it for everything I would otherwise rely on a junior associate to do," he said.He lives on two platforms. The first is GC AI, which is designed for in-house legal teams. He uses the platform to conduct legal research, create template board consents (a legal mechanism that allows a board of directors to approve a specific action), and redline contracts with proposed changes and revisions.He opens a plug-in from the legal startup Spellbook in Microsoft Word for deeper contract review and editing. Spellbook lets lawyers provide a prompt, such as "modify this agreement to be suitable in California," then, it marks up the contract with suggested changes for the lawyers to accept, reject, or modify.John Hamill, partner at DLA PiperJohn Hamill, partner at DLA Piper.DLA PiperWhen John Hamill was just starting as an attorney, his firm's partners would hand back paper drafts with their suggestions scribbled in the margins.Then Microsoft changed the game with track changes in Word, Hamill said.Now, the commercial litigator said the legal profession is again changed with generative artificial intelligence.At DLA Piper, where he helps train young attorneys as part of leading the firm's affirmative litigation practice, Hamill encourages his team to use "the latest and greatest software" to sharpen their writing skills and think outside the box."Some of the tools that are now available on the market can give pretty insightful suggestions to the developing writers on what to do and why," Hamill said.He likes Microsoft Copilot, BriefCatch, and Harvey, among others — though he's reticent to pick a favorite, saying that the best product today could be dramatically different two months from now.Hamill also recognized the potential for copilots to respond with erroneous information. He tells his team always to check the writing assistant's work."We think of it as a smart, creative intern who works really fast," he said, "but just like a new lawyer, consultant, analyst — it's going to make some mistakes."Sarah Tuthill-Kveton, partner at Chock Barhoum LLPSarah Tuthill-Kveton, partner at Chock Barhoum LLP.Chock Barhoum LLPInsurance litigator Sarah Tuthill-Kveton remembers the first time her husband, Scott Kveton, showed her ChatGPT. He used it to whip up a love note.Months later, Kveton outdid himself: He started a company to make his wife's job in personal injury law easier.CaseMark's platform allows lawyers to upload a plaintiff's medical records and receive an auto-generated medical chronology — a detailed, organized timeline of a patient's medical history. Lawyers use these to clarify the sequence of events and build their arguments.Tuthill-Kveton, who defends self-insured companies, insurance carriers, and independent contractors in the gig economy, said reviewing medical records is tedious and slow. She estimates that using CaseMark to produce medical chronologies saves her firm up to a hundred hours each case.The time she gets back, she said, she puts toward taking on more clients.Justin Parsons, partner at Erickson Immigration GroupJustin Parsons, partner at Erickson Immigration Group.Erickson Immigration GroupImmigration lawyer Justin Parsons helps tech companies hire top talent from abroad. These days, he's leaning on an artificial intelligence tool called Parley to write first drafts for visa applications.Parley's platform allows an attorney to upload documents such as a client's résumé, college transcript, and job offer letter. It then assembles this evidence to draft an attorney's support letter confirming the applicant's eligibility.Parsons said he's using Parley for various matters, including national interest waivers, EB-1 extraordinary ability petitions, and O-1 visas, a temporary work visa designated for individuals with a record of extraordinary ability in their field.In immigration law, many attorneys charge a flat fee rather than an hourly rate, especially for standard services like visa applications. Parsons said it's for this reason that immigration attorneys are quicker to adopt new technology."The fees are flat, so it's in our best interest to make things go faster," he said.Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at [email protected] or Signal at @MeliaRussell.01.Read the original article on Business Insider

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