Law firms are trialling AI for tasks including legal research and legal document drafting, supported by customised AI models trained on legal data. AI could speed up the provision of legal services, improve legal services costs and redirect lawyers to more complex matters.
Examples of the Australian legal profession embracing AI
Australia has a mature and highly innovative private practice legal market. It has been among the first legal markets in the world to see the potential of generative AI to accelerate and augment the provision of legal services to clients across the private and public sectors.
SEE: Here are some IT challenges Australia needs to address to seize the AI moment.
Though legal information services firms like LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters have been rolling out AI services in the U.S. market first, Australian law firms have been quick to trial them as they become available. They are also developing in-house AI models and approaches.
Clayton Utz
Clayton Utz is among the first law firms in Australia to trial Lexis+ AI, a new legal generative AI tool from LexisNexis, to generate drafts of legal documents and other communications. This follows other initiatives from the firm, including the use of Lexis+, an argument analyser, which can analyse legal documents and suggest improvements to a lawyer’s litigation strategy.
MinterEllison
MinterEllison was one of only two Australian law firms that Microsoft invited to participate in its Copilot for Microsoft 365 Early Access Program. The firm is also building its own generative AI tools, including Chat with ME, a bespoke internal research LLM using OpenAI’s GPT-4 in the firm’s private and secure Microsoft Azure environment, among other internal initiatives.
Holding Redlich
Holding Redlich is another Australian firm trialling
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Legal AI Is Taking Off in Australia and Could Shake Up the Private Practice Legal Market
