[Editor’s Note: EDRM is proud to publish the Hon. Ralph Artigliere’s (ret.) advocacy and analysis. The opinions and positions are Judge Artigliere’s (ret.) October 2, 2023 © Ralph Artigliere.]
The rise of AI tools like ChatGPT promises huge time-savings for lawyers. But simply gaining efficiency does not guarantee better work-life balance. Without intention and planning, lawyers may find themselves working more instead of gaining any personal time. This article provides five strategies lawyers can employ to truly benefit from AI’s efficiency gains.
Technology Is a Tool and Not Necessarily Your Friend
I practiced law and sat on the bench from the mid-1970’s until well past the Millenium, while law practice progressed from typewriters and copy machines to powerful desktop computers; from a paper and book law library to online media and the cloud; and from exchanging letters in the mail to instantaneous responses in emails and texts. Every technological advance promises time savings and efficiency, but every significant upgrade in office tools over the past five decades just upped the ante on pressure and stress. And today the pace of law practice is far beyond anything I had to endure. Emails and texts lack the buffer of drafting, editing, and sending a letter, leading to muddled or rude communication, which adds to stress. Pressure mounts from time sensitive deadlines and clients expecting unrealistic turnaround time and texting or emailing you at night or on the weekend.
Invest the time gained from incorporating GAI in your practice in tasks that set you above others, which are those requiring your specialized knowledge and good decision making. Organizing and prioritizing your highest and best role in this fashion will pay off.
With GAI proliferating in legal practice, is it possible to halt the pressure for immediate output? Without your intervention and planning, probably not. Ask yourself if you will work smarter or just work harder… again. The answer lies in planning and managing how you will use the time gained by using GAI. Do not lose the benefits by letting the conversion to GAI roll over you. Find ways to fashion your own efficiency and practice law the way you want to do so.
Ways to Capitalize on Time Saved Using AI
1. Prioritize executive thinking.
GAI has great potential where general knowledge and rote tasks are concerned and limitations when it comes to specialized legal tasks. ChatGPT is not capable of determining right answers from wrong answers and quite poor at specialized knowledge. Fortunately, using ChatGPT as a complement to human effort rather than an independent producer of work product is the solution. Use the tool for rote tasks, office management, and to help with fast, effective written work product. Then use the time for thinking and learning to improve your decision making on important, specialized matters, which is what lawyers are trained to do. The highest and best use of your time is not ensuring boilerplate information is presented in proper grammar and form to the court, client, or opponent. Allocate time saved on routine tasks to focus on higher-value work, such as identifying key issues, case management, strategy development, or client interactions. Your time should be spent making the decisions that make a difference in outcome in a given case or improve the management of your practice.
The tough decisions are not easy. That is why lawyers are trained and paid to make them. Having the breathing room to think about the best solutions and workflow is critical to success. Invest the time gained from incorporating GAI in your practice in tasks that set you above others, which are those requiring your specialized knowledge and good decision making. Organizing and prioritizing your highest and best role in this fashion will pay off.
2. Invest time in training and mentoring your staff.
Investing quality training time with your staff is a way to parlay your time savings to create more time savings by improving the efficiency of your team and improving the climate in the office. How much time do you spend correcting or redoing work by associates or assistants? Training and mentoring are lost arts these days, not because of effort- but just due to lack of time. Simply finding time to gracefully provide feedback can make a difference in aptitude and attitude of those who work with you. With time comes the ability to have patience and patience begets kind communication and better results. As a young associate, I had a partner/advisor who spent incredibly valuable time with me finding out how I was doing at work, asking about my family, and giving me guidance that led to faster improvement in my work product as well as my ability to handle the pressures of the job.
Better yet, teach your staff to use GAI to improve their work product even before you see it. But please give them enough time to do their work. Do not fall into the cycle of demanding work product faster because ChatGPT improves the ability to get it done faster.
Also, GAI presents another opportunity with staff training. Use GAI to review and improve staff work product. Better yet, teach your staff to use GAI to improve their work product even before you see it. But please give them enough time to do their work. Do not fall into the cycle of demanding work product faster because ChatGPT improves the ability to get it done faster.
If GAI accelerates work efficiency for you and your staff, investing time saved on both ends to teach them how to use GAI safely and efficiently and how to meet your expectations in work product will be a win-win.
3. Set clear expectations with colleagues and clients on response times.
Undoubtedly, most clients and law partners you work for will not have gotten the message that GAI should improve your lives, not clog them with more work and shorter deadlines. To the extent you have the ability to do so, establish clear boundaries and expectations with clients, bosses, and opposing counsel. Tactfully communicate that while AI can expedite certain tasks, it does not eliminate the need for reasonable response times. Remember that better rather than faster work product is the objective in law practice. Educate your clients about the benefits of AI in legal work, but also manage their expectations regarding response times. Be conservative with the time savings AI provides so you do not overpromise faster turnarounds. Encouraging a balanced approach to maintaining quality work benefits everyone.
Remember that better rather than faster work product is the objective in law practice. Educate your clients about the benefits of AI in legal work, but also manage their expectations regarding response times. Be conservative with the time savings AI provides so you do not overpromise faster turnarounds.
If you have control over undertaking client assignments, learn to say no when you are already overloaded with work or when the request is unreasonable. You do not have to accept every case or assignment that comes your way. You can also negotiate the scope, timeline, and fee of your work with your clients. Be honest and assertive about your capabilities and limitations. I personally know how hard this can be, having turned away work from an institutional clients more than once when my staff and I were swamped. It takes courage, but the alternative can be a catastrophe.
Dealing with deadlines from opposing counsel presents a different issue over which are able to exercise control. Unless otherwise required by law or contract, establish your own deadlines, and respond to opposing counsel when it is reasonable to do so. Just bear in mind that responsiveness and understanding travel a two way street, and reasonableness is the key. The way you treat opposing counsel will affect how they treat you. In my trial practice, I always felt that good communication positively impacted my relationship with opposing counsel. Explaining why you cannot instantaneously respond to their request or demand is usually better than not responding at all. Best practice is to meet all promised and required deadlines and be prepared to grant reasonable requests for extra time when opposing parties need it. That gives you the opportunity for return the favor when you need more time.
The key to managing expectations is consistency, communication, and firm commitment to not let expectations from others exceed your reasonable willingness to respond. Not addressing the issue from the start is a mistake. Craft a strategy to establish and communicate boundaries and follow through with the plan. This is a much healthier and safer way to go about your practice.
4. Set aside time for quality of life and take care of your physical and mental health.
Remember the importance of work-life balance. Use the time saved by AI for personal relaxation, reflection, and creative endeavors. Too many lawyers underrate personal time. This is a big reason lawyers become dissatisfied with their work, experience burnout, or worse. If you do not take care of yourself, no one else will.
Implement time-blocking techniques to ensure allocation of specific time slots for different tasks, including personal time. Stick to these schedules to avoid overburdening yourself. Assess which tasks can be delegated to paralegals or junior associates. GPT can assist in streamlining the delegation process by providing clear instructions and templates, and GPT can assist the entire team in timely producing and organizing work product.
But I do not want to bury the lead here, which is the value… no the necessity… of personal time. This is a need that impacts your health, well-being, and productivity. Find what makes you happy and balanced and make sure you set aside time for it. Those with commitments to family and loved ones have additional motivation to prioritize the personal time element of their lives.
5. Realize that adjusting to change is a process.
Stay updated on AI advancements and features. Continuous learning will allow you to maximize the efficiency of AI tools and remain competitive in the legal field. Regularly assess the impact of AI on your practice. If you find that AI is increasing demands excessively, adjust your strategies accordingly.
CONCLUSION
By implementing these measures, lawyers can harness the benefits of AI without sacrificing their well-being or the quality of their legal work. The key is being proactive about setting expectations and protecting your time. Make sure increased efficiency translates to better work-life balance for you rather than simply doing more in the same amount of time. It is a delicate balance, but with proper planning, lawyers can use AI as a tool to enhance their practice rather than letting it dictate their work pace. Make GAI a blessing rather than yet another burden on your professional life.
October 2, 2023 © Ralph Artigliere ALL RIGHTS RESERVED (Published on edrm.net with permission.)
NOTE: OpenAI and Claude were used to help draft and strengthen this article per EDRM GAI and LLM Policy.
