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Generative AI Implications for Law Firms
By Mike Brimberry
Published June 29, 2024
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

You’re a managing partner, principal, or senior IT staff at a law firm. Your team is starting to tap into AI tools like ChatGPT and other legal-specific platforms to help streamline your work. Maybe you’re even using them yourself. These tools are incredible for speeding up research, reviewing documents, and improving client communication, but there’s a catch – they’re not inherently secure.

You handle a lot of sensitive data, and you need to be extra careful about what you do with these AI tools to avoid exposing confidential information. Realistically, you don’t have the time to constantly worry about AI security with everything else on your plate, and hiring a full-time cybersecurity expert is likely out of the budget.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss how generative AI is transforming law firms and how a Virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) can help you keep your sensitive data secure without breaking the budget. We’ll also explore how you can continue enjoying the benefits of AI at your firm while staying compliant and respecting the data of the clients who trust you to do things by the book.

How & What AI Tools Are Improving Law Firms’ Efficiency

AI tools like ChatGPT and other legal-specific platforms are designed to handle repetitive tasks like document management and research quickly and accurately. Here are a few AI tools that firms are using:

These tools can sift through vast amounts of data and pinpoint relevant information much faster than a human could. Instead of spending hours or days manually going through documents, AI can complete the task in minutes. This speed boosts productivity and reduces the risk of human error, leading to more accurate results and better decision-making for your clients.

  • Casetext: This legal research platform uses AI to help lawyers find relevant case law, statutes, and regulations quickly and efficiently.
  • Harvey AI: Built on OpenAI’s GPT, it assists with tasks like contract analysis, due diligence, litigation, and regulatory compliance.
  • Blue J Legal: Uses AI to streamline legal research and analysis, helping lawyers predict the outcomes of legal cases and analyze complex legal issues.
  • LawGeex: Automates the contract review process, ensuring consistency and saving time.
  • Diligen: Extracts key terms and provisions from contracts, improving with each review to meet specific user needs.

AI also excels at handling routine tasks, freeing up your time to focus on more complex legal work. It’s like having an additional assistant dedicated to mundane but necessary tasks.

Streamlined Document Review

One of the most time-consuming tasks in any law firm is document review. AI can automate this process, making it faster and more accurate. Tools like Casetext and Diligen use advanced algorithms to scan documents, identify key terms, and flag important information. This automation not only saves time but also reduces the risk of human error, reducing the likelihood that crucial details are overlooked.

Enhanced Document Security

In an era where data breaches are increasingly common, ensuring the security of legal documents is paramount. AI tools can provide advanced encryption and real-time monitoring to protect sensitive information. Platforms like LawGeex and Blue J Legal offer robust security features that safeguard client data against unauthorized access and cyber threats.

Accelerated Legal Research

Legal research can be a daunting and time-consuming task, but AI can expedite this process significantly. Tools like Westlaw Edge and Harvey AI use AI algorithms to quickly identify relevant cases and legal precedents, providing more accurate and comprehensive research results. This not only saves time but also ensures that your legal arguments are well-supported by the latest case law and regulations.

Making Sure Your Firm’s AI Use Is Compliant

Laws like GDPR, CCPA, and ISO set high standards for data protection and privacy. For AI use to be beneficial and compliant, law firms must understand and navigate these regulatory requirements. Ensuring that your AI tools comply with these regulations is essential to avoid hefty fines and keep your client’s trust.

Want to identify which compliance controls your law firm needs to have in place? Get a free 90-day demo of our AI-powered vCISO platform. Our portal allows you to assess your firm and create a roadmap to get compliant and use AI securely to improve your firm and increase revenue.

AI Compliance Best Practices

Here’s a list of best practices to make sure your AI tools are compliant with industry standards and regulations:

  • Approval of AI Tools: Make sure any AI tool aligns with your firm’s standards and is used securely:
    • Employees must submit any generative AI tool or platform for approval and review before use.
    • Conduct periodic inventories to detect and map all generative AI tools in use, ensuring alignment with approved applications.
    • Prohibit employees from using unapproved AI tools for any firm-related activities.
    • Create an awareness program to educate employees about approved AI tools, the dangers of unapproved tools, and the necessity of adhering to approved tools only.
  • Safe Usage of Consumer AI Products: Establish a framework to ensure secure, ethical, and responsible AI use:
    • Educate employees on prompt creation standards and safe use of generative AI services.
    • Prohibit using sensitive or private data in input prompts.
    • Ensure employees generating AI content follow ethical guidelines.
    • Prohibit generating content that could be used to commit fraud, crime, impersonation, or harm.
  • Generated Content Usage: Ensure reliability and accuracy of AI-generated content:
    • Proof AI-generated content before use.
    • Verify AI-generated content for factual accuracy.
    • Check AI-generated content for biases.
    • Label AI-generated content as to its origin.
  • Integrating AI into Company Products or Processes: Ensure AI aligns with organizational objectives and best practices:
    • Classify models based on the data processed.
    • Strictly control access to data models.
    • Monitor the usage of private AI models for both input and output.
    • Anonymize data before input into the data model.
    • Monitor data output for hallucinations.
    • Use only certified and non-vulnerable open-source models or secured foundation models.
    • Vet or fine-tune model training data.

If you’d rather have this list as a PDF for reference or to send to your internal IT department, you can download it here. You can also review the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and the NIST AI RMF Playbook for detailed guidelines on implementing AI responsibly.

How a vCISO Can Help Your Law Firm Implement AI Policies

If the depth of information about all the policies you need to consider makes your head hurt, there’s an easier option that doesn’t involve you doing all the work hire a vCISO. A virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) brings the expertise needed to secure your AI tools and ensure compliance at a fraction of the cost of hiring a full-time cybersecurity professional.

You can start a 90 day demo of our vCISO portal and services today. No matter who your provider is, a vCISO is an expert in cybersecurity, particularly in securing AI technologies. They stay up to date with the latest threats, regulations, and best practices so you don’t have to. This means they can quickly identify the specific needs of your firm and develop tailored strategies to address them.

Implementing Policies and Trainings

Setting up comprehensive AI policies and training programs can be overwhelming. A vCISO can help by:

  • Creating Policies: Developing detailed AI usage policies that ensure compliance with regulations like GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA.
  • Training Programs: Implementing training programs to educate your staff on safe AI practices, from prompt creation standards to the ethical use of generative AI.
  • Regular Audits: Conducting regular audits to ensure all AI tools and practices remain compliant and secure.

Prioritizing Security Measures

A vCISO knows what to focus on first to enhance your firm’s security posture. They can prioritize tasks based on the most critical vulnerabilities and compliance requirements, ensuring that your firm is protected efficiently and effectively.

Speed and Efficiency

With a vCISO, your firm can implement necessary security measures quickly, avoiding the slowdowns that can occur when trying to manage these tasks internally. This helps keep your operations running smoothly and reduces the risk of security breaches.

Financial Benefits

Improving your cybersecurity with the help of a vCISO can also lead to financial benefits, such as lower professional liability insurance premiums. One of our vCISO clients was able to reduce their professional liability insurance by 12% after implementing our vCISO portal at each of their offices.

By partnering with a vCISO, you can navigate the complexities of AI security and compliance with confidence, allowing you to focus on delivering top-notch legal services to your clients.

Conclusion

Integrating AI into your law firm offers incredible opportunities for enhancing efficiency, accuracy, and client satisfaction. However, it also brings significant compliance and security challenges. Following best practices—such as approving and inventorying AI tools, ensuring safe usage of consumer AI products, and verifying AI-generated content—can help your firm stay compliant and secure.

This is where a virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) can make a big difference. A vCISO provides expert guidance, customized security strategies, compliance assurance, and ongoing support, helping your firm implement robust security measures and navigate the complexities of compliant AI integration.

At Model Technology Solutions, we offer a vCISO platform that leverages AI-powered tools to enhance your firm’s security posture. By partnering with us, you can ensure that your AI use is secure and compliant, allowing you to focus on delivering top-notch legal services to your clients.

We’re also excited to invite you to our upcoming webinar on securing AI at your firm. This session is specifically designed for managing partners, principals, and senior IT staff at law firms. Join us on July 16th, 2024, to learn how to leverage AI securely and effectively in your law firm.

In whatever capacity, we’re honored to have the opportunity to help your firm equip your staff and serve your clients better with world-changing new legal AI technology.

Post Tags: AI | artificial intelligence | chatgpt | cybersecurity | managing principal
Article By Mike Brimberry
Mike is the Director of Cybersecurity at Model Technology solutions. Mike has over 20 years working experience for large and small organizations in service desk, endpoint management, data center, cloud, Cybersecurity, IT leadership and service delivery. He loves to travel, cook, listen to beach music, and he's a self-proclaimed Disney expert in addition to his numerous other areas of expertise. He currently lives in southern Illinois with his wife and 5 kids.

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