The Future Of The Law Firms: Building An Effective Relationship Between Millennials And AI

The role of the Millennial lawyers and the recent incorporation of Artificial Intelligence ("AI") in law firms are current trending topics. As a 27-year old associate of a law firm based in Guatemala City, every time I read about AI and that global law firms are incorporating AI to their practice, I ask myself, will I be replaced by it (or IT)? In the article "The world's first artificially intelligent lawyer was just hired at a law firm" published by the author Chris Weller in Business Insider, the author sets a good example of this recent trend, the incorporation of IBM's Ross Software by New York-based law firm Baker and Hostetler LLP to their legal practice, used in the Bankruptcy practice of the law firm. This software is able to answer legal questions in natural language and provides all citations and legal precedents for each answer.

Many prestigious law firms have already adapted this new technology, which is efficient doing legal research in a few minutes, a task that can take lawyers hundreds of billing hours. AI is a very promising tool, which is meant to help firms to simplify lawyer's work in an efficient way. AI could be a threat to the legal profession, especially for Millennial lawyers who might be considered as a "handicap" to law firms and AI might be a good solution to replace part of the such young manpower of law firms.

Moreover, some younger lawyers lack interest on becoming the future partners of the law firms and are focused on becoming in-house lawyers or migrate to other professional work as investment bankers, or perhaps inventing the new "boom" of social media applications. According to the article "Attracting and Retaining the Millennial Lawyer" published by Christopher Imperiale in Law360 website, it might be necessary to make a few changes in the business model of today's law firms in order to maintain and develop their next generation of partners. Citing the words of Christopher Imperiale, Millennials are usually stereotyped, as "a generation of whiners who lack a work ethic, need constant praise and hand-holding, tend to be less loyal, and have an over-inflated sense of entitlement". However, I agree with mister Imperiale's idea that more than thinking of Millennials fitting into such characteristics, we are a generation with "...entrepreneurial spirit, a collaborative attitude, technological know-how, a keen ability to multitask, and an appreciation of individualism and diversity in the workplace".

Yet...