Examining Five Legal Use Cases for LLMs

In today’s dynamic corporate world, large language models are increasingly playing a crucial role in legal processes — from drafting documents to performing in-depth legal research. An article by Olga Mack and Kassie Burns on ACC Docket’s website highlights five legal use cases for adopting large language models (LLMs), boosting efficiency and decision-making capabilities.

Brainstorming: LLMs excel in brainstorming, offering diverse perspectives and innovative strategies that can revolutionize legal thinking. They assist in risk management, contract negotiation, and crafting legal arguments. However, the risk of generating content that is factually incorrect, known as hallucination, necessitates rigorous guidelines and thorough vetting against established legal standards.

Authoring: LLMs streamline the process of drafting contracts, legal memoranda, and other critical documents. While they speed up negotiations and ensure comprehensive and well-structured legal briefs, all AI-generated content must be meticulously reviewed by experienced legal professionals.

Transforming documentation: LLMs enhance efficiency in transforming texts and documents by summarizing lengthy legal texts, translating documents for cross-border practices, and fine-tuning legal communications. While the risk of hallucination is lower here, reviews by legal experts are still necessary to ensure accuracy and maintain high standards.

Legal research: LLMs act as modern law librarians, quickly accessing and analyzing vast amounts of legal information. They assist in vetting precedents, interpreting statutes, and ensuring regulatory compliance. Verification protocols and secondary confirmations by legal experts are vital to safeguard against potential inaccuracies.

Document interrogation by LLMs: This involves sifting through documents to extract critical data and ensure consistency. The risk here is minimal, as LLMs focus on factual information. However, controlled prompts and cross-referencing with authoritative documents are essential to maintain precision and diligence.

These legal use cases for LLMs illustrate how the artificial intelligence (AI) technology can redefine legal services, enhancing productivity while preserving the integrity and trustworthiness of legal work. Careful management and human oversight are critical to the process.