Think AI is just a buzzword in the legal world?
Meet Atty. Ria Alazas, a dynamic contracts and commercial transactions lawyer at AEV, who once viewed technology with skepticism. But when Ria took the plunge into the world of AI, she discovered a powerful ally. Her story is a testament to the fact that even in the most traditional corners of the legal field, innovation can unlock new levels of efficiency and precision.
Join us as we dive into Ria’s inspiring journey and uncover the incredible impact of embracing new technologies and cultivating a culture of innovation.
Experimenting with AI turned out to be a pleasant surprise for me. Initially, I was hesitant, thinking it might consume time better spent elsewhere. But this was mainly because I am not a very techy person and had no idea what ChatGPT or Gemini was capable of. I assumed it was just a fancy Google search that could answer questions and generate content. As a contracts and commercial transactions lawyer, I didn’t see how that would be useful in my daily work. But, my assumptions couldn’t have been more wrong.
When I started using ChatGPT, it was like opening a treasure chest and discovering a whole new world. I was amazed at how quickly it could find key information and identify relevant clauses. It could flag whether a clause is consistent with standard market practices. Its ability to quickly analyze long documents and compare contract clauses saved me a lot of time while mitigating the risk of manual errors. By cross-checking my analysis with AI’s, I was able to spot overlooked details. I’m pretty sure there are more tricks up its sleeve. I just need to improve my prompting skills.
At one point, we were tasked with customizing our own ChatGPT. I created a version that could highlight deviations from our standard provisions, flag risks, and suggest better language. I called it, Mrs. Clause. But Mrs. Clause has a lot to improve on. During this process, I learned that there are several things AI cannot do just yet like marking up documents with revisions, comparing multiple documents, and generating images with text. But it continues to evolve and improve its functionalities every week.
That being said, AI’s benefits are undeniable. Integrating AI into my practice has been a game-changer. It has transformed the way we do things in our team. What I thought was a nuance significantly enhanced my contract review process by speeding up task completion, freeing up some of my time, and reducing my workload. It’s like having an extra team member! With AI taking care of routine tasks, the legal team can re-allocate resources to more complex and strategic work, and focus on higher-value activities.
Honestly, it kind of feels like when the internet first became popular. It was a little scary because we didn’t really know what to do with it, but once we got the hang of it, we can’t imagine life without it.
Once I’ve integrated AI into my workflow, it’s hard to imagine working on my daily tasks without it. In short, AI helps me accomplish more for less by working smarter, not harder.
