First edition of the Thomson Reuters international innovation event brought together international experts and discussed the impacts of AI on the law market, trends for the next decade, privacy, the future of work and the ecosystem of legal startups
The Innovattion Summit was attended by around 80 people, including law students, lawyers, representatives of companies and law firms. “It was an excellent opportunity to discuss the paths of technology applied to Law with some of the main names that operate globally within this market. We brought new ideas, discussed the future of the profession and enabled a very valid interaction for the Brazilian legal ecosystem ”, says Ralff Tozatti, Marketing Director at Thomson Reuters Brasil.
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The main subject discussed was the use of Artificial Intelligence applied in the legal market. At the opening, Professor Kevin Ashley recalled that AI and process automation were of significant importance to streamline the work of lawyers, but that the advisory content will always be in charge of the lawyer. “The computer is able to extract information and cross data, but only the human eye is capable of making the best final decision”, explains the professor at the University of Pittsburg.
Bart Verheij pointed out that the main trend in the segment today is to use AI to identify patterns and make an intelligent analysis of the data to predict the possibilities for an action to be successful, likely results of processes and to target efforts more precisely. “Law is difficult for the machine, as it consists of a series of factors and distinct and complex details. Currently, the lawyer is able to make use of Big Data and Machine Learning to better understand the behavior of each market where he operates and have a much better decision making ”, says the representative of the University of Groningen.
Roland Vogl also stressed that lawyers' analysis and interpretation will always be essential. “Artificial Intelligence can only be considered as a threat to those who stick to traditional practices of law. With technology, less experienced lawyers are already able to be as consultative as professionals with decades of experience who have not updated themselves. Innovation improves the performance of the lawyer, it will never be a substitute ”, guarantees the CodeX Executive Director. For him, these innovations, which are mainly fostered by the community of legal startups (legaltechs and lawtechs), have the main challenge of solving the demands of companies and customers for faster, cheaper and more transparent actions.
Still on the impacts on the labor market, Vogl says that the key to obtaining perfect legal practice is to define the tasks that must be done by the machines, especially the dull and repetitive activities, and leave the intellectual task to the lawyers. “Almost half of the law professional's time is in activities that are not strategic. Eliminating this will create new opportunities and more specialized lawyers, ”he adds.
With this, the professional needs to acquire new characteristics to stand out with the increased use of technology. “It is essential to have a good understanding of what are the problems that companies face and how technology helps to find these solutions. The lawyer will have a much more consultative job ”, assures Vogl.
Another subject discussed at the meeting was the development of innovations for the legal market. According to Ashley, the ideal is to identify what are the important tasks that need to be improved and, subsequently, exchange information with researchers to outline what is the appropriate technology to solve this problem. “Lawyers and technology professionals need to interact. Each of them has different knowledge and this union provides the best understanding of all the possibilities to be achieved ”, he explains.
Privacy
One of the most talked about topics today is privacy, after the approval of the General Data Protection Law in Brazil and the entry into force of similar legislation in the European Union. “I hope that we will have a second revolution within this segment, with the so-called Responsible Artificial Intelligence. It will be the trend for the next 10 years ”, says Verheij. The expert says that the use of this technology should be guided by ethics and privacy.
Within the proposals for security, innovations are being developed that make use of blockchain within the legal area. “It would be fantastic to be able to use blockchain in the legal community. There is great potential, as it is a safe environment for storing and exchanging information. It really makes us dream, but there is still a long way to go before it becomes a reality ”, concludes Verheij.
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