Introduction

Artificial intelligence has found its way into the legal profession and is playing an increasingly transformative role in helping lawyers and clients Whilst application of AI in the legal space is cautionary, areas legal researchers, paralegals, lawyers, and litigators alike are relishing the great support it offers. Notably, there will always be concerns about reliance /over-reliance on technology, the offerings thus far are  largely beneficial.

Some of the main applications of AI in the Legal sector include the following:

1.1 Contract Review

A contract review is a thorough examination of a legal agreement before it is signed to ensure that everything stated in the document is clear and accurate, and that the parties involved are comfortable proceeding in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Lawyers review contracts on a daily basis, make comments and redlines, and advise clients on whether to sign contracts “asis” or try to negotiate better terms. These contracts can be simple or complex. A backlog of contracts to review can create a bottleneck, causing transactions to be delayed (and  of course the associated revenues). Lawyers, particularly inexperienced ones, can overlook critical issues that can come back to bite their clients later.

AI can help with both bulk and individual contract review. For example, JP Morgan uses COIN (short for Contract Intelligence). It is a technology developed inhouse that extracts 150 predictors (which influence results) from 12,000 commercial credit agreements in only a few seconds. This is estimated to be equivalent to 36,000 hours of legal work by its lawyers and loan officers according to the company.

1.2 Litigation Prediction

Legal prediction appears to be a ruse, doesn’t it? But it is not; in the end, everyone wants to win. Predictive AI allows one to evaluate one’s strengths from a bird’s-eye view and see possibilities where there are none. AI can determine the risk associated with cases and predict court outcomes, which can help companies plan their litigation strategies. This assessment can help to expedite settlement negotiations and reduce the number of cases that need to go to trial. A variety of predictive software have been created. BlueJ Legal, for example, claims to be able to predict case outcomes with 90% accuracy. There is also Cara from Casetext that claims to allow lawyers to forecast an opposing counsel’s arguments by finding opinions that were previously used by lawyers. Users can also detect cases that have been negatively treated and flagged as something that lawyers may deem unreliable.

In conclusion, artificial intelligence is already having a significant impact on the legal world. As  technologies develop, the adoption and/or influence of AI in this space will only increase. Not only will applying artificial intelligence in law and legal systems help to streamline processes it will also help to save time, allowing skilled professionals to focus their talents where they are most needed. But the implementation must be guided by the applicable laws relating to personal data protection amongst other laws applicable in the legal sector.

The NITDA has been directed by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to develop an Artificial Intelligence policy which will enable them to regulate the use and operation of AI in Nigeria.