Washington Lawyer - September/October 2024 - 33

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SPECIAL SECTION
Earlier in her career, Seltzer signed up for one of these referral services
through another bar association and can attest to its shortcomings. " It
was in the '90s and very much had the air of being found by looking in
someone's Rolodex, if anybody remembers what that is, " she says.
Matchmaking under those systems was often inaccurate, resulting in
frustration for both the practitioner and the person seeking representation.
In addition, Seltzer had to agree to take a reduced consultation fee
to be part of that service.
It comes as no surprise that Seltzer was among the strongest advocates
of the proposal for the Bar to roll out an AI-based lawyer referral service.
" We are a mandatory bar, but we want to offer value to members, and
the LRS is an opportunity to do so, " Seltzer says. " [The Board of Governors]
felt that as long as we could do this in a state-of-the-art way, this
was absolutely something we should provide. "
SOPHISTICATED MATCHMAKING
The LRS addresses many of the issues identified by Luppi and Seltzer.
Rather than simply selecting a practice area, attorneys subscribed to the
system can draft a statement about their work, providing future clients a
more nuanced and detailed description of their practice.
" They can explain why they are passionate about their practice area, give
weight to one of the practices versus another, explain the specific kinds
of cases they represent, and so forth, and that goes into their profile, "
Luppi says. " Then a client can, in their own words, explain what issue
they have. The AI compares the client's issue with attorney profiles and
makes a match. "
" The large language model is so sophisticated that it can actually understand
the nuances of different cases, or recognize that a fact pattern
might be at the intersection of two or three different practice [areas], "
Luppi adds.
D.C. Bar CEO Robert Spagnoletti was heavily involved in training the AI
behind the LRS, drafting pages of natural language inquiries based on
his years in private practice. His examples will be immediately familiar to
anyone who has consulted clients. One reads: " My dad died about two
months ago, and he did not have a will. My six siblings are all fighting
over his bank account and his house. Is there a lawyer who can help? " In
the LRS, inquiries like this one, which never uses the keywords " trusts " or
" estates, " would nonetheless be directed to a trusts and estates attorney.
The LRS is also carefully designed to avoid issues relating to privacy and
conflicts of interest, according to D.C. Bar general counsel Erum Mirza.
" The information that the potential client enters goes into this database
where it is processed by the algorithm, and then it is gone. It is not
stored. The system will, for tracking purposes, keep track of some limited
information, " Mirza says, adding that personally identifiable information
is kept confidential.
The LRS architecture employs the Salesforce platform, an established
system that uses industry-leading security to protect private information.
The AI component is separate from the platform and will continue to
learn and develop through use. Luppi says that the bifurcation of the system
strengthens privacy and security, while also allowing for the possibility
of swapping out the AI component without a significant service
disruption if a superior large language model enters the marketplace.
" [The system] consists of two components. The one that holds the sensitive
data is very solid and established, while the one that is in flux because
the technology is developing is much more agile, " Luppi explains.
Mirza refers to the LRS as the legal referral equivalent of the dating app
Bumble. It is up to each person whether or not to proceed with contacting
a match.
Attorneys using the service will, however, be notified that they have been
matched to an individual's request for a referral. In addition, the lawyers
will receive reports on how their profile is performing, giving them an opportunity
to make adjustments to generate more or better results.
" In the future, there is the possibility of having AI generate an explanation
of why the profile performed the way it did, " Luppi says.
REVOLUTIONIZING ACCESS TO ATTORNEYS
The ability to develop and adapt the system drove some of the early decision-making,
including whether to build the service in-house. " There
were a lot of factors that played into our decision to move forward with
a custom-built solution, " Mirza says. " Depending on how this grows, or
how our members' needs change or the prospective clients' needs
change, we can adjust who we are targeting. " The system will also undergo
its own development process, refining its ability to matchmake
based on previous interactions.
The LRS is available to all active D.C. Bar members in good standing for
an annual subscription fee of $119. Spagnoletti emphasizes that there are
no additional costs to Bar members to use the service.
" Those who sign up now, before we go live, are paying $119, but it will be
more once we are actually live, " Spagnoletti says. " Even for a small firm
lawyer charging $250 or $300 an hour, it's worth half or less than a halfhour
of your time, and you're in it for a year. So, if you get one meaningful
referral during the course of the year, you have paid for the service
many times over. You can't buy ad space, either print or online, that will
get anywhere in any meaningful way. "
Darrin Sobin, the Bar's chief programs officer, agrees. " Referral services in
other jurisdictions want a big chunk of any settlement/recovery, and we
don't. That would be a huge differentiator for me if I was considering
ours or someone else's referral service, " Sobin says.
All of those involved in the creation of the LRS see it as just one step in
the Bar revolutionizing the delivery of legal services and continuing to
support its members' efforts to keep at the forefront of legal practice.
" I think that this is just the start of a discussion about how these tools
will impact our members' work and what the future of the practice looks
like, " Snyder says. " So, this absolutely fits with where we are going as a
Bar and will be integrated into the larger strategic plan that we develop
over the next year. "
Starting in September, the D.C. Bar will be launching multifaceted promotional
campaigns to inform the public about the LRS.
Reach D.C. Bar staff writer Jeremy Conrad at jconrad@dcbar.org.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024 * WASHINGTON LAWYER 33
Washington Lawyer - September/October 2024

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