Generative AI tools are proving to deliver productivity gains and improved customer satisfaction across the corporate spectrum. As legal professionals spend much of their time working on long and complex documents, the potential advantages of using this new technology are substantial.
“I think the efficiency gains are very obvious,” says Rhys McWhirter, Partner and Head of Technology & Data (Asia) at Eversheds Sutherland, who attended the Microsoft AI for Law Firms Summit in Singapore late last year. “It’s almost like having another lawyer within your team.”
However, some law firms are cautious about fully embracing generative AI. This was evident at the summit, where nearly a quarter of the legal professionals who participated in Microsoft polling indicated they planned to use AI but had no specific deployment timeline.
As some delay, others are taking advantage of transformative generative AI tools such as Microsoft 365 Copilot. Several legal leaders throughout the region who have already deployed AI are witnessing positive results. They’re encouraging peers to ride the wave rather than risk being left behind.
“My advice is definitely to start on the journey – experiment because it’s a changing world,” says Julian Barendse, Partner at Tokyo-headquartered international firm Mori Hamada.
“As legal service providers, we really have to be at the forefront of this new AI-enabled world so that we can continue to deliver the best for our clients.”
Benefitting client outcomes through improved productivity
Using generative AI for business and administrative tasks can be a good place to start. Leading firms throughout the region are already seeing significant productivity gains from using Copilot for these purposes. Lawyers and their associates now spend less time on tasks such as summarising calls, meetings and emails, extracting key information from documents and drafting formal communication.
“We’re using it [Copilot] both in the business of law and the practice of law – so use cases across the entire organisation,” says Michelle Mahoney, Chief Innovation Officer at King & Wood Mallesons in Australia.
“That’s everything from meeting transcripts, action points, summarisation through to finding that critical piece of information somewhere within the [firm’s] Microsoft ecosystem.”
That sentiment is consistent with assessments from other firms across Asia. “Our lawyers are really busy,” says Andrew Stoutley, Chief Operating Officer at Tilleke & Gibbins, headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand.
“And so, when we put Copilot in their hands, they were really happy to have something they can use to take care of all kinds of administrative tasks – and that saves so much time that unlocks their effort on more complex and high-value tasks.”
This feedback echoes results witnessed by another large Australian firm, Minter Ellison, which reported that half of the firm’s Copilot users saved two to five hours per day during the early stages of deployment.
These results help explain the considerable investment in Copilot and custom tools created using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service by firms such as Rajah & Tann in Singapore.
Approximately 81 per cent of Rajah & Tann’s staff now use Copilot for their daily work, saving time that can be redeployed to benefit the firm and its clients. For example, using Microsoft Teams and Copilot, firm employees could issue meeting minutes within two to three hours instead of one to two days.
Further, the firm has developed and implemented a bespoke AI-powered assistant, ‘Ask HR’, to help address common employee HR enquiries autonomously, supported by advanced analytics from Microsoft Fabric. The success of Rajah & Tann’s generative AI endeavours highlights the benefits of building custom tools to complement off-the-shelf products – especially if they all exist within the same secure digital ecosystem.
“Microsoft was the clear choice when balancing the functionality of generative AI tools with appropriate systems, training and resources to maintain a high level of security,” says Rajesh Sreenivasan, Head of Technology, Media and Telecoms Law Practice at Rajah & Tann.
“With the right protections in place, we feel emboldened to deploy these new tools and encourage our employees to use them.”
Enabling AI productivity gains with strong governance principles
While the potential benefits are substantial, early adopters stress the importance of having clear guardrails to govern the use, training and management of generative AI tools. These allow firms to improve the accuracy of outputs, comply with their professional obligation to keep client information and other sensitive data secure, and deter unscrupulous actors.
That’s a key learning from global firm Linklaters, which suggests that legal service providers must commence their generative AI initiatives with clear concepts regarding which employees or departments ‘own’ the deployment strategy and guidelines for use as the technology evolves.
“We have now rolled out Copilot across our entire network,” says Adrian Fisher, Partner at Linklaters. “So, nearly 6,000 users around the world – every lawyer, every business team member has access to Copilot across all applications.”
As such, the firm has developed a comprehensive generative AI charter, including points of contact for staff enquiries and clear principles dictating responsible use.
For example, all Linklaters employees must retain responsibility and accountability for work produced with AI assistance. The firm is also committed to actively participating in the global discussion on safe, ethical and responsible AI deployment.
These actions can help assuage client concerns. A 2023 KPMG and University of Queensland study into AI trust found that 75 per cent of people surveyed are more willing to trust generative AI with assurance mechanisms for ethical and responsible use.
Microsoft’s own experience deploying Copilot to its global Corporate, External and Legal Affairs (CELA) employees further reinforces the importance of strong governance and change management, especially as business demands continue to grow exponentially.
Mike Yeh, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Microsoft Asia is seeing the profound impact of AI for his legal team.
“The change process can take time to pick up steam, but now that using Copilot is a habit, it has transformed the way we operate and the value our team brings to the wider business,” Yeh says. “We’ve also started to apply Copilot agents to progress routine workflows faster, helping us keep pace with the incredible speed of change across this region.”
With a managed change process in place, including earmarking 40 individuals across practice groups to help drive adoption, Microsoft’s CELA professionals have supercharged how they perform tasks. For instance, a recent experiment with Microsoft lawyers using Microsoft 365 Copilot found that they completed tasks 32 per cent faster and with 20 per cent greater accuracy than their peers who did not use the generative AI tool.
Forecasting the future of legal work
While firms and individual legal professionals continue to weigh up the best ways to use generative AI and manage risk, several industry leaders are confident that it’s here to stay.
“My advice is to get amongst it,” says Hoi Tak Leung from global firm Ashurst. “Try it, use it – [there are] so many wonderful supporting resources out there, including from Microsoft and the Singapore Academy of Law.”
“I have been thinking about and working with various platforms and AI [technology] for a long time,” says Mohit Saraf, Founder and Managing Partner at Saraf and Partners, headquartered in Noida, India. “I believe that AI is not a choice but a necessity.”