Artificial intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm, and legal teams are racing to jump on board. It’s a technology that promises a complete overhaul of how the world works, from automating mundane tasks to generating human-like text and more.
It’s already led to breakthroughs in science and controversies in the court.
There’s no doubt that AI is set to transform any and every industry it touches, but without guidance and a solid AI use policy, that transformation may be more harmful than beneficial.
And that’s especially true in the legal realm and with contract management software.
In this guide, we’ll cover why your legal team needs an AI use policy and how to create an effective one, and share a template to help you get the gears turning in your office.
While AI contract management offers exciting possibilities, it's important to implement these technologies responsibly.
A well-defined AI policy safeguards your firm from potential risks and ensures the ethical and efficient use of these powerful tools.
Here's a breakdown of why your legal team needs a comprehensive AI policy:
AI is Pandora’s box, and we’re only beginning to scratch the surface of what it can do and how it can impact businesses. Being proactive is key to creating a culture of responsible use in your organization, ensuring you maximize the benefits and minimize the risks.
Creating an effective AI policy requires a strategic approach. The policy should be:
Ready to harness the power of AI responsibly?
Here's a step-by-step guide to crafting an effective AI policy for your legal team:
Before diving into policy specifics, it's important to understand the current and future landscape of AI legal tech within your team. This self-assessment will serve as the foundation for crafting a relevant and effective AI policy.
First, take stock of your current AI landscape. This can include things like:
Next, consider how you might use AI in the future. Think about features like:
Even if you’re just planning to use AI to organize a digital repository, understanding how you use it now and how you might use it in the future will help you create a policy tailored to your team’s specific needs.
Crafting an effective AI policy requires a well-rounded perspective. To achieve this, assemble a team with a diverse range of expertise, including:
With a diverse team of knowledgeable pros sharing their perspectives, you may uncover potential issues you may not have considered previously.
Before diving into the nitty-gritty of policy details, you need to define your goals for AI integration. These objectives will act as the roadmap for your policy, ensuring it supports your strategic vision and operational needs.
Forget vague pronouncements like "improve efficiency." Instead, craft specific, measurable objectives that outline how AI will enhance your legal practice while ensuring compliance and maintaining high-security standards.
Think about goals that can be tracked and quantified.
For example, you might aim to boost document review efficiency by 20% within a year by utilizing AI-powered contract review tools, while also ensuring that all data processed meets stringent security protocols, such as GDPR compliance.
Or you might try to reduce research time for complex legal issues by 15% using AI-powered legal research assistants, ensuring that all data sources and outputs adhere to your firm's data protection policies.
So, how does this help create an effective AI policy?
Having a clear understanding of your objectives allows you to develop a policy that addresses the specific ways you’ll use AI within your firm.
For instance, a policy focused on boosting document review efficiency might address:
By aligning your policy with your AI objectives, you create a framework that empowers your team to leverage AI responsibly and achieve desired outcomes.
AI thrives on data, but with great power comes great responsibility.
When crafting your AI policy, consider these key questions to ensure your firm handles data privacy and compliance appropriately:
The legal framework surrounding AI is a fast-moving target. Your AI policy should be nimble enough to keep pace. To do this, schedule regular checkups and stay informed on the evolving tech.
While AI offers significant potential to enhance the legal field, there are some concerns regarding potential biases that may be present in AI tools.
These biases can stem from the data used to train AI algorithms, leading to discriminatory or unfair outcomes.Here’s how you can address ethical considerations in your policy:
And bias mitigation is only one of the many ethical concerns your organization will need to consider. It can also have an impact on clients, your own workforce, and data management.
Here are some additional tips to stay ahead of the ethical impacts of AI:
Addressing ethical considerations head-on and implementing a robust bias mitigation strategy will ensure the responsible and ethical use of AI within your legal practice.
Just like any powerful tool, AI requires clear governance and accountability structures to ensure its responsible use.
Your policy should define who makes the decisions about AI use in your firm and who will enforce the rules. This might involve creating a dedicated committee or assigning a specific team or team member to the task.
A well-defined governance structure ensures clear decision-making, while a culture of accountability promotes the responsible use of AI tools by everyone in your firm. This combination empowers your team to leverage the power of AI ethically and effectively.
Successfully integrating AI requires an empowered team. Your AI policy should emphasize the importance of continuous learning about AI legal tech, its applications, and ethical considerations.
By staying up-to-date on the latest developments, your team can maximize the benefits of AI and navigate potential challenges with confidence.
AI is still relatively new, and that means the tools and rules around its use are going to change a lot in the coming years.
Your AI policy should be a living, breathing document that’s regularly reviewed for relevance and flexible enough to accommodate growth.
To guarantee your policy evolves with new developments in the regulatory realm, establish a schedule to revisit the policy every few months.
Things to look out for include:
Encourage team members to share new developments or provide feedback on their experience using the tools and how they align with the policy.
A flexible and adaptable policy built on collaboration will help your team stay ahead of the curve and leverage AI responsibility in an ever-evolving legal landscape.
This policy template can act as a tool to help your legal firm form its own policy:
ContractSafe is a contract management software focused on simplicity and security.
ContractSafe’s AI revolves around extracting key data from contracts and facilitating its use in a way that helps contract managers do their jobs better while keeping precious data safe.
It’s not reinventing the wheel — just making the wheel faster and more efficient.
Want to see how ContractSafe can help you leverage AI in a way that won’t keep your compliance team up at night? Schedule a demo today and see the difference for yourself.