How AI is changing the work of IP juniors

With the increasing rollout of AI tools in law firms, young legal professionals are finding opportunities to stand out and do more interesting work, finds Marisa Woutersen.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in law firms is changing the way lawyers work—but perhaps more for some than others.

A Thomson Reuters Institute survey discovered that 82% of legal professionals believe generative AI tools can be used in legal work, and 51% believe they should be used.

These tools, whether offered by Big Tech such as Microsoft Copilot or startups like Solve Intelligence, can perform tasks that were traditionally given to junior associates such as document review, research, and administration, faster than a human.

So how are firms managing this change? And what do junior lawyers think of their new AI colleagues?

“Today’s generative AI models are clearly nowhere near perfect for legal work, so I am not worried about my job yet,” says Max Gross, a trainee at Bird & Bird.

“However, they are improving rapidly so let’s just say I’m grateful to be a junior lawyer in 2024 and not 2030.”

Sunny Kumar, partner at Ashurst, rejects the idea that AI will replace the role of junior lawyers. The role involves advising on complex negotiations, acting in highly regulated environments, and dealing with lots of intangibles that tech is “nowhere near grasping”, he says.

This is echoed by Kirkland & Ellis litigation partner Josh Simmons, who highlights that with each technological advance “junior lawyers have learned how to use the new tools to make their practice better and more efficient.”

AI’s role in task time

Magdalena Borucka, senior associate at Taylor Wessing, says that by speeding up existing junior tasks and potentially removing human error, junior lawyers can focus on more complex tasks.

Or as Gross puts it AI is “great for speeding up tasks that involve summarising large amounts of information”.

This is helpful in advisory work, where there is a significant volume of relevant material and clients need quick and simple explanations.

But Gross warns that the AI’s work needs to be checked and it often makes mistakes.

“The technology is still prone to spitting out fake cases and non-existent sections of legislation. It is also not clear how up-to-date the answer will be, so I would never rely on output in this context without double checking,” he says.

The benefits of AI, such as speeding up “duller” tasks, allow for “more time to devote to more interesting tasks”, adds Gross.

In fact, by adapting and taking on new tasks such as reviewing AI outputs, junior lawyers will “learn to better evaluate their work,” believes Borucka.

Kriti Sharma, chief product officer at Thomson Reuters, echoes this by explaining that for junior lawyers working on tedious activities such as research, AI can “unlock their time so they can focus on more complex work.”

AI-powered tools can search thousands of files in seconds, precisely surfacing the data and language that are most relevant to the matter.

This can free up both lawyers and support staff for “more interesting and substantive work, and more importantly, junior lawyers can begin delivering more value more quickly,” says Ellen Keenan-O'Malley, senior associate at EIP.

AI: Your due diligence friend

One area where AI is making a significant impact is in tasks like due diligence and disclosure.

Oliver Fairhurst, partner at Lewis Silkin, emphasises that AI tools can efficiently review large document sets, providing a preliminary analysis and flagging items for senior review.

It can enable firms to do interesting but more costly work that may not previously have justified the expenditure required in the pre-AI world, suggests Fairhurst.

Elena Glengarry, an associate from Taylor Wessing's technology, IP and information team, regularly handles multiple legal proceedings or disputes in different countries, all with competing deadlines—she uses AI tools to help deliver timely and accurate work.

“By making some aspects faster, I like being able to spend a bit more time thinking about a problem and devising the solution,” she adds.

And Glengarry agrees with always checking the output of AIs as they “can’t do it all”.

“It's not uncommon for the machine assessment of a trademark risk to be very different from my own or that of my supervisor because we're having to make multi-factorial assessments based on likely human perceptions,” she says.

Additionally, Keenan-O'Malley suggests that junior lawyers can direct leftover time to gaining new skills and working on personal development, such as networking and building client relationships—which is now increasingly important to acquire early in their careers.

“Ultimately the quality of work junior lawyers undertake will be better and more useful for their development,” agrees Kumar.

More interesting, more inclusive

The positive impact of AI on junior associates extends beyond efficiency gains.

Using AI for accuracy checks can also “provide lawyers with more confidence”, helping to “alleviate pressure and fear surrounding making errors or missing details,” explains Sharma.

AI not only enhances productivity but also opens up new career paths within the legal profession.

The adoption of AI, according to those who have seen it in their own firms, exposes junior lawyers to a broader range of cases, enriching their early career experiences.

Sharma says that AI will allow younger lawyers to “tackle more intellectually challenging work” earlier in their career.”

Sharma highlights the Thomson Reuters Future of Professionals survey pointing out three-quarters of UK lawyers (75%) believe AI will lead to an increase in the amount of work carried out by individuals without traditional legal qualifications, and 78% see AI opening up new career paths for the profession.

Those with backgrounds in mathematics and computer science “now have a route in,” and this is likely to “broaden the gender, ethnic and socio-economic diversity of the profession,” says Sharma.

Knowing how to use AI can get you noticed

Kirkland & Ellis’ Simmons is among those who predict that understanding and adopting AI technology will give junior lawyers a competitive edge. The consensus is that those who grasp AI's potential early in their careers can demonstrate initiative and innovation, setting themselves apart from their peers.

Toby Bond, partner at Bird & Bird, says the benefits can be seen in personal productivity and finding shortcuts to complete some more laborious tasks, which involve extracting, summarising or transforming information.

“A key skill is being inquisitive and willing to try things out and see what works and what doesn’t,” says Bond.

To encourage this, he often asks trainees and junior lawyers to spend a few minutes before they start a task to think about how their GPT model can assist them, and to have a “play around with it”.

“It doesn’t always work, but when it does there’s a real sense of achievement, and a desire to share their success with others,” he explains.

Increased competition in the field

Junior associates have to demonstrate an “active interest in the subject matter” and take “initiative sooner” in their careers, according to Keenan-O'Malley.

“Young lawyers can no longer hide from innovation and have to adapt quickly,” adds Borucka.

Gross feels a “pressure to master the technology” as it grows rather than getting left behind.

One challenge noted by Simmons is junior lawyers may face changing from the initial drafters of legal analyses to reviewers and supplementers of the AI-generated summaries.

Ultimately, the expectations of junior lawyers will perhaps be higher due to the level of responsibility and work they will have access to.

However, Keenan-O'Malley believes this enables junior lawyers to assess early on in their career if law is what they want to pursue long term—something she views as a positive aspect.

She thinks lawyers should “always be self-reflecting” on their learning and future. And if AI can allow a junior associate to decide their career path “sooner rather than later” it is a positive.

Register for WIPR’s upcoming webinar, ‘What Junior IP Pros Want: A Guide to Keeping Talent Happy,’ scheduled for March 26th to find out what motivates, attracts, and turns off trainees and solicitors at the early stages of their career.