Legal Tech for Transactional Lawyers Newsletter: #13

Be the bridge between lawyers, clients and legal tech, some solid article links and why ChatGPT is like backyard camping!

Excited to start the second year of this newsletter!

In this edition I discuss why lawyers, clients and tech providers should work together to deliver impactful solutions.  Also included is an example of AI flagging a material diligence issue and why ChatGPT is like backyard camping for GenAI.  Article links include a thought-provoking piece on the law firm economic model, some solid CRE content and several other great reads.  

Hopefully you find it useful and fun.  Please feel free to share with anyone that may be interested and have a great weekend!

Matt Basile

If you find this content valuable, please connect with me on LinkedIn.

 🌉Be the Bridge

Lawyers often don't reach out to clients to show them new technology tools that might help deliver better and/or faster service because (in no particular order):

😯 They are worried the client will not allow them to use the technology.

 💲  They think the client might ask for a fee reduction because of the time saved.

✔ Approvals to use the new technology might take a long time to get from the client and that could be a barrier to performing work they have no barriers to perform now.

⏳ They think the client is too busy to take the time to hear about the solution or thinks they are going to bill them for the time.

🛑 The law firm IT team is the gatekeeper for all software and it is too time consuming to get approval for new tech even if it looks great.

These are all totally legitimate concerns on the law firm side, so maybe someone needs to act as the bridge that connects lawyers, tech providers and clients to speed up adoption and reduce friction.

👌 Clients can be the bridge by reaching out to lawyers and asking them to explore using new products.  This will help lawyers feel comfortable that this is something the client wants and values even if it means changes to the way services are delivered.

⚖ Lawyers can be the bridge by picking up the phone (or email) when they see something cool that could help them or their client and suggesting it.  Clients almost always appreciate this!

🖥 Tech providers can be the bridge by connecting lawyers and clients with solutions that are designed to be shared by both lawyers and clients.  This is harder, but often where the most value is unlocked.

Be the bridge!  It may not be in your comfort zone, but it is the fastest way to make sure you don't miss out on leveraging new apps because there is no bridge between the islands!  🌉🤘🚀

🔍 AI in Real Estate Due Diligence

At some point in the near future it is going to be malpractice not to use AI to augment attorney review of due diligence documents.

Can you read the image below? It is almost illegible to the naked eye, but our new title app actually flagged that there was a commercial use restriction in the document in our summary. 🔍🔍

Reading nearly illegible old documents is an awesome example of how you can combine existing tech (OCR) plus GenAI / LLM technology to provide real value to users.

The OCR isn't perfect and many words are missing when you translate old script / bad scanned documents, but since LLMs are in essence next word predictors, they do a great job at cleaning it up.

The old way would have been either sending this to document production to spend hours trying to read / translate or a junior associate would perform the same task at $400 per hour.

In both cases, they probably miss the covenant. Exciting to see how legal diligence will change in the coming months and years as AI gets embedded into apps! 🚀🚀🤘

Articles and News

🙇 Change to Law Firm Economic Models

Here are links to two really good thought provoking articles from Richard Tromans at The Artificial Lawyer.  The first one talks about why it is going to be a long but worthwhile road to changing the law firm economic model.  The second article highlights why lawyers need to start thinking about owning the combination of tech tools and process now to prevent software companies from controlling the production of certain aspects of legal work.  I think there there is a huge opportunity for law firms to change now and be way ahead many of their peers as the delivery model changes. 

⏳ Innovation Esq

Congrats to Tara Waters on the launch of the Innovation Esq. brand and website.  Some really good legal innovation content so far and look forward to continuing to follow the content going forward.

🎯 Accuracy Matters in AI Use Cases

Checkout the latest article by Jack Shepherd that digs in why some use cases are better candidates than others due to the need to trust but verify the accuracy of the output.  I think some of the best use cases right now are leveraging AI as a second set of eyes on due diligence tasks and to provide a roadmap for the review of a document (almost like a checklist).  Often AI can catch small details that might be missed by a human.

🏗 Commercial Real Estate Finance Content

Follow Brandon Roth if you are not already for some really good content on commercial real estate finance transactions and market information.  Here is a link to some top posts from November.

⛰️ Chat GPT is Like Backyard Camping

I took our kids backyard camping recently. It was the first time in a tent for our three-year-old and he was pumped to finally be able to join his big brothers and loved seeing the stars from the roof of the tent. He did great and lasted until about 2AM before he went up to his bed. 🏕️⛺🛌

If we were at a campsite, the meltdown might have been a bit problematic for all of us.

Chat GPT and other general AI tools are like backyard camping for learning what is possible for using AI in professional settings. You can experiment with low-risk non-confidential use cases and then brainstorm how it could apply to your professional workflows.

Once you have a good understanding of what is possible, you can get creative with your in-house tech team, engage with vendors or start building a product.

Follow Allie K. Miller for practical tips on using GenAI in your business and personal workflows and Ethan Mollick for more technical information about LLMs and AI developments. Both are excellent.