Washington Lawyer - September/October 2024 - 8

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
We Can No Longer Ignore AI
By Kaitlin E. McGee
A
s artificial intelligence
(AI) grows in popularity
and accuracy, I thought
that attorneys would be
adding it to their practice management
tool kits. I was wrong.
Last March I started incorporating AI topics and
demonstrations into the D.C. Bar's monthly
Basic Training & Beyond program. I was a new
user of ChatGPT and thought the technology
held great potential for solo practitioners and
small firms. But in each session the following
few months, only one or two lawyers said they
had experimented with ChatGPT. Most lawyers
I talk to today still don't use ChatGPT.
EMBRACE THE POSSIBILITIES
While there are lots of reasons to be cautious
in using ChatGPT and similar programs for legal
work, I think it's a mistake to ignore these AI
tools altogether. Just as lawyers were initially
wary about using email for client communications
and storing client files in the cloud, I think
ChatGPT and other large language models will
eventually become commonplace, and these
worries will fade.
One of the toughest aspects of running a law
firm is the need to constantly shift gears. You're
responsible for the legal work and management
of staff, but you're also the administrative,
IT, and marketing person. In a single day you
might write a motion, meet with a client, spend
an hour on hold with a vendor, review and
send invoices, and take out the trash. Even
owners of larger firms find themselves wearing
multiple hats on any given day.
Growing your team and delegating tasks can
be beneficial, but investing in software and
practice management systems first is often
quicker and more efficient. Once you have
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* SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024
these systems in place, you can assess your
needs and hire appropriately.
So where does AI fit into law firm practice management?
I see ChatGPT helping lawyers the
most by speeding up mundane administrative
work and reducing the need to delegate or
outsource certain tasks altogether. For example,
ChatGPT can help draft a cover letter or fix
an IT issue on your laptop. Need help writing
a monthly newsletter? ChatGPT can use your
notes or previous articles to create a first draft.
Want to create video or podcast material for
LinkedIn or other social media platforms? The
editing tool Descript will transcribe your video
or audio and allow you to edit it quickly and
easily.
The paid version of ChatGPT allows you to upload
documents and images. I took a photo of
my handwritten notes from a conference and
had the program transcribe it into text for
me. To further explore ChatGPT's possibilities,
I asked it to review briefs filed in a case I was
studying. ChatGPT summarized the briefs,
highlighted the most convincing arguments
on each side, poked holes in arguments, and
even analyzed the implications of the case
overall. Since I was already familiar with the
case, I was able to evaluate the quality of the
output.
Of course, ChatGPT is not appropriate for every
task. For example, it struggled with scheduling
issues I asked it to solve, making it quicker for
me to handle them myself.
TIPS ON MAXIMIZING OUTPUT
To be safe, ask ChatGPT questions you already
know the answer to - its real value is in refining
and enhancing your work. Ideally, you
would ask ChatGPT to help brainstorm or organize
ideas for a project and after you do the research
and work yourself, ask it to refine your
work. If you want it to interpret a set of facts
based on a rule or case, upload the text of the
rule or case for ChatGPT to base its answer on.
If you don't like what it produces, ask it to do
it again, provide a template, or revise your
prompt.
If you're just getting started with ChatGPT, work
on developing some custom instructions
based on the kind of work you do and how
you'll be using the program. Even users of the
free version can do this. Try these tips:
* Adjust verbosity levels. Control the wordiness
of responses. In my verbosity instructions,
" V=0 " means terse and concise, and
" V=5 " means most verbose and comprehensive.
I usually gravitate toward " V=2, " but it's
helpful to adjust responses accordingly.
* State " Don't tell me to talk to a lawyer. "
I never want ChatGPT to tell me to speak
with a lawyer, doctor, or other professional.
* Ask it to avoid the sentence " I hope this
message finds you well. " Without custom
instructions, this is how every letter, email, or
message it creates will begin.
When working on a new project in ChatGPT,
break down the task into manageable parts.
ChatGPT will choke on overly large tasks. Instead
of drafting an entire contract in one
prompt, ask it to revise sections or provisions
based on specific facts or objectives.
Although integrating AI like ChatGPT into a
solo or small law firm may seem daunting,
you'll be using it daily once you get the hang
of the technology. By relying on AI to handle
mundane tasks, lawyers can focus more on
substantive legal work, client interaction, and
business development. Start small, experiment,
and adapt the technology to your specific
needs.
D.C. Bar practice management advisors Dan Mills
and Kaitlin McGee can be reached at dmills@dcbar.
org and kmcgee@dcbar.org, respectively.
Washington Lawyer - September/October 2024

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