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Uncertainty is ‘part of the nature of legal practice’
Amid growing client expectations and the rise of new technology, those in the legal profession may (understandably) feel uncertain as to what’s to come. However, additional education and transparency will allow lawyers to move forward, according to one PhD candidate.
Lauren Croft
Chantal McNaught is a PhD candidate at Bond University and a practice advisory manager at LEAP.
Within the legal profession, there has been a rapid uptake in the amount of legal tech and AI used in workplaces, resulting in a lot of uncertainty around the future of the profession. Uncertainty, however, is constantly something those in the legal industry are grappling with, according to McNaught.
“The concept of uncertainty and how it has impacted the law hasn’t been something that is entirely new. In fact, it is something that is quite literally part of legal practices. Most people will tell you in the law, the law changes. There’s an element of uncertainty when you give advice to a client or you run an argument at court, whether that’s going to hold or whether that precedent might be overturned at some point,” she said.
“So, there’s always going to be, or always has been, an element of uncertainty as a flavour, as part of the nature of legal practice. Where this has become a critical moment for asking this sort of question right now is really in relation to the context of what’s happening in the broader context of society, because law doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Law exists because of society, and it is a deep-seated structure.”
External factors driving uncertainty in the profession include technology, particularly generative AI.
“The externalities, the things that are really coming to the practice of law from the outside, are around the bias and fairness aspects. Until we see models that are designed entirely from a legal framework and they are being developed, there is going to be that uncertainty when it comes to how those tools should be adopted. But then you’ve also got that balance with the client’s expectation. Clients are increasingly expecting their legal teams to be using technology as effectively and as efficiently as possible,” McNaught said.
“When you have all of those external factors of AI coming through, of those client expectations, it is important to use these sorts of conversations to talk about the humans behind the lawyers. There has to be that balance, and why the whole idea or outcome of my thesis is going to be around a way in which to navigate some of these conflicts and complexity that has happened.”
With a wide variety of other tech that lawyers are now utilising day-to-day, McNaught said that additional training and education can help ease some of those uncertainties lawyers may be feeling.
“I think we also have the power to make this a bright future, and some of the practical things as well that lawyers can be using. Even if you’re not a law firm leader, you can always take your own education and professional development in your own hands. There are many, many courses that are very credible that can help give those edge edges internally,” she said.
“It is incredibly important to go and take a look at what you need as far as your skill set in order to move it forward and to move towards your goals. There are also other things that you can do that are practical. I understand that law societies and legal organisations, as well as inter-law firm groups, are rapidly developing ethics committees and roundtables around how to address ethical conduct around the concept of AI, but also other automation technologies and, of course, transparency, too. It’s incredibly important to be transparent in how we are operating.”
The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Chantal McNaught, click below:
Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
