What AI Means For Lawyers, Law Firms, And The Future of Legal Work

As a lawyer who runs a law firm, I’m somewhat reluctantly accepting that AI can now do a lot more things better, faster, and cheaper than I can.

Fighting that feels pretty futile.

I’m seeing the changes play out in our legal practice in real time.

What I’m seeing is also being validated by what I hear from my colleagues and law students alike.

These shifts have serious implications not just for what it means to be a lawyer, but for how we run our legal business going forward.

AI And The Future Of Lawyers

For me, it’s now more about working out what machines can’t do and may never be able to, and making sure that’s where our value sits.

It is difficult, but it is where most of my attention and focus sits these days.

Someone asked me the other day whether they should still bother going to law school in light of AGI coming.

I thought it was a fair question.

No one really knows what the future of law looks like.

We are all trying to figure it out as we go.

One thing is for sure.

It won’t look anything like it did before.

Paul Ippolito is Principal of Ippolito Advisory. He is a legal futurist, lawyer coach and consultant to the legal profession. Paul is available for media enquiries, speaking, coaching and consulting. You can contact him here.