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In just a couple of years, generative AI (GenAI) has made a big impact on the way people, companies, and entire industries think about work. Its helping doctors and nurses, who spend more than a third of their work week on paperwork, free up more time to focus on patients. Scientists are using GenAI ideation to achieve research breakthroughs. In the field of law, where time is so valuable its often measured in six-minute increments, GenAIs ability to understand and analyze documents faster than any person can is quickly becoming indispensable. Many legal teams doing text-heavy work are using innovative GenAI tools to speed their race against the ever-present clock. The next time youre in a time crunch with your work, GenAI can also come in clutch for you. Here are three inspirational ways that GenAI is giving legal teams an unmistakable advantage in speed. 1. Cut through the chaos Even the most sensational courtroom dramas rely on evidence. Complex matters such as criminal cases, business disputes, corporate mergers, and countless others are based on the facts found in millions of evidentiary documents. For example, litigation against the opioid industry has created more than four million documents. The vast majority of legal cases never make it to trial. Instead, they unfold in what feels like a game of chess, as opposing parties maneuver and negotiate back and forth. Knowledge and speed are strategic assets here, and GenAI has become an important tool that lawyers are using to achieve both. Cole, Scott & Kissane, a law firm specializing in civil litigation, has experienced the real-world impacts in resolving matters faster than before with the help of AI technology. “GenAI legal software proved helpful in reaching a settlement, Manuel Delgado, the firms litigation support manager told us. With it, we were able to quickly summarize dozens of financial reports prior to conference. Some of the insights we gained caught the plaintiff by surprise. A settlement was solidified thereafter, and our client was thrilled. 2. Find the needle in the haystack, faster Discovery is the stage of a civil lawsuit where opposing parties gather and exchange information and evidence relevant to their respective cases. It is part of the law of civil procedure adopted by the U.S. legal system in 1938. As recently as the late 1990s, discovery was a paper-based chore. With large cases, hundreds of cardboard bankers boxes would be delivered to law firms; junior associates then spent hours scanning thousands of pages, searching for bits of invaluable information like a needle in a haystack. It was tedious, brain deadening work. Today, the problem seems harder: Millions of discovery documents may arrive at once, electronically, often at the last allowable minute. Sometimes a needle is found in the haystack. In civil litigation against Theranos cofounder Elizabeth Holmes, prosecutors dove into evidentiary metadata to find more than 40 key documents, all potentially bolstering the case that Holmes and other company executives were well aware of the deception the company was later accused of, and of which Holmes was eventually found criminally guilty. But historically, legal teams have had to spend enormous amounts of time, usually measured in months and often requiring dozens of attorneys, reviewing discovery documents manually to find such needles. GenAI-powered e-discovery legal tech software has completely changed the game, allowing large volumes of electronic documents to quickly be analyzed, summarized, and assembled into a structured story. Cal Yeaman completed the review of more than 10,000 documents in minutessomething that would have taken a team of human reviewers several days. Yeaman is a project attorney at Orrick, one of the largest law firms in the country. He said at our company summit that GenAIs coding suggestions, which help identify relevant documents in discovery, were more accurate and consistent than human review. Running the numbers, Yeaman estimated that the new AI-powered review process reduced their cost of document review by more than 50%. 3. Get the lay of the land in minutes Law is a service business with high client expectations. Firms pride themselves on their commitment to serving client needs, an attitude that extends to the legal support teams behind the scenes. Jen Jackson, a senior analyst at the boutique employment law firm Baker Dolinko & Schwartz, had GenAI come in clutch when 10 new business requests for proposals, including over 120 pages of questions and 500 items, landed in her inbox. She also mentioned at our summit that instead of handing the task off to a junior attorney, wasting time and billable hours, she uploaded the documents to a GenAI tool that functions as a smart intern and got a condensed two-page summary of the tasks in minutes. How will GenAI come in clutch for you? Do you need to cut through the chaos? Find a needle in a haystack? Get the lay of the land, fast? With a little imagination, GenAI can be an invaluable tool the next time youre in a time crunch. AJ Shankar is CEO of Everlaw.
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E-Commerce
Many of America’s top figure skaters will gather in Washington, D.C., for a live “Legacy on Ice” tribute show to support families impacted by the January 29 plane crash that killed young skaters returning home from a training camp. Cohosted by Olympic champion Brian Boitano, the March 2 event at Capital One Arena will feature current U.S. champions Ilia Malinin, Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, plus retired U.S. gold medallists Tara Lipinski, Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton and Johnny Weir. “As we begin to heal from this devastating loss, we look forward to honouring the enduring memories of these athletes, coaches and family members who represented the best of the figure skating community,” U.S. Figure Skating interim CEO Samuel Auxier said in a statement. “We can think of no better way of celebrating their legacies than through the sport they loved.” All proceeds will be collected by the Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation and distributed equally between the U.S. Figure Skating Family Support Fund, Greater Washington Community Foundation’s “DCA Together Relief Fund” and DC Fire & EMS Foundation. There were 64 people on board the commercial flight that crashed after colliding with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, including many young Olympic hopefuls. U.S. Figure Skating said a total of 28 people on the plane were connected to the sport, including coaches, athletes and their relatives. World figure skating champions and coaching pair Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were among the passengers killed. Lori Ewing, Reuters
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E-Commerce
Amazon-owned Whole Foods is asking the National Labor Relations Board to set aside the results of a union election in which the first group of the companys employees voted in favor of collective bargaining. In a filing submitted to the agency this week, attorneys for Whole Foods Market argued the union involved with the election, held last week at a store in Philadelphia, interfered in the process by promising employees a 30% wage increase if they unionized and providing free transportation to them the day of the vote. The company also accused The United Food and Commercial Workers International Unionwhich worked to unionize workers through a local chapterof intimidating employees who supported Whole Foods. The company did not provide specific details on its allegations, which the union disputes. Pro-union workers prevailed last week after 130 employees in the store or about 57% of the ballots castvoted in favor of organizing. The election results still need be certified by a regional director of the NLRB, which Whole Foods says can’t lawfully be done since the agency currently does not have a third board member in Washington. Gynne A. Wilcox, one of the agency’s board members, was fired last week by the Trump administration. In a statement, UFCW Local 1776, the local union that pulled off the labor win, called the companys allegations baseless. It also said the objections filed by Whole Foods was a legal maneuvering done to delay the bargaining process. We fully expected Whole Foods to try to stall this process,” said Wendell Young IV, the president of the local union. “Amazon has a well-documented history of using baseless objections to undermine the rights of workers seeking representation, and this case is no different. In its objection to the election, the upscale grocery chain also accused the NLRB of tainting the process by restraining the company from communicating its views on unionization to employees through required meetings held during work hours. In November, the agencys board had issued a decision that found these meetings commonly known as captive audience meetings were unlawful because they forced employees to attend gatherings that they may otherwise choose to skip. Companies typically use these meetings to deter employees from unionizing. The board said employers may still hold meetings about unions for their workers. But they must make attendance voluntary with no adverse consequences for employees who fail to show up. The union election in Philadelphia marked the first successful entry of organized labor into Amazons grocery business, which includes Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh and the Amazon Go convenience stores. Amazon, which purchased Whole Foods in 2017 for $13.7 billion, has tried to fend off organizing efforts by delivery drivers and warehouse workers. Haleluya Hader, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
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