Canadian Lawyer InHouse

MARCH/APRIL 2019 26 INHOUSE shared by Piovesan, albeit with slight nuanc- es. "The uptake in emerging technologies is really propelling the position of the general counsel to be more innovative because they really do have the knowledge and skills you need to permit innovation," she says. Artifi cial intelligence is not a pana- cea, however. In-house counsel cannot and should not expect to be able to install AI technology and expect it to weave its magic. "A lot of these AI tools are in their infancy, and they have certain limitations like any tool," says James Kosa, an informa- tion technology and intellectual property lawyer with WeirFoulds LLP. "If not used properly or by people who are not trained, they can be misused in a way that doesn't lead to an advantageous result." In many cases, especially for small legal depart- ments, simple process innovation is enough or, as Brait puts it, a strong process with the proper forms and appropriate knowledge management can work wonders. But in cases where the volume of work is copious, the problem is important enough and there is enough data to fuel the AI, then AI solu- tions are worth exploring. Even then, the groundwork must be laid before implementing technologies that incorporate artifi cial intelligence, some- thing that Demone is in the midst of do- ing. A comprehensive and disciplined effort should be undertaken to identify the pain points or problems that need to be resolved. "The other big realization, as we started looking at all the tools that were out there, AI-enabled or otherwise, was that the im- portant thing for us was not so much to fi nd a tool but to fi gure out what process it is we want in order to solve the needs we have," says Brait, who underwent the exercise re- cently. "Unless it's a very high-volume pro- cess for us, we probably don't need a digital legal tool." Legal departments are no different than law fi rms, says Natalie Munroe, the head of Osler Works — Transactional. They have to think about the services they provide to clients and how they want to transform how they provide those services to clients, adds Munroe. "You actually have to take a step back and look at how you are providing le- gal services and how you want to transform it. And then fi gure from a people process and technology perspective what makes sense," says Munroe. In-house counsel also have to get a good handle on where the business is going and what its priorities are as well as strategically think about the data the organization has, all of which are key to develop an AI strat- egy, says Piovesan, who advises the Canadi- an government on AI policy issues. A legal assessment of the data in the organization's possession is a necessary exercise to deter- mine at the outset the legal issues that could arise from the use of the data. Data owner- ship has to be ascertained as does how the data could be used, if it can be used due to privacy considerations. On top of that, in- house counsel have to take steps to mini- mize exposure to liability for data use, cy- bersecurity and the use of AI systems. And, of course, they have to fi gure out whether AI can serve as a tool to support the busi- ness by making it more effi cient, help re- duce operational costs, streamline internal processes and identify new opportunities. "We're not yet in the AI world," says Pio- vesan. "We're in a data monetization world. We are trying to understand and better get a handle on what data we have and [what] we can use it for. That's where we are. Arti- fi cial intelligence is the system that benefi ts from all that use of data." But although AI applications and their impact are on the upswing, costs remain a concern. Even an e-signature tool can be expensive depending on the number of users and number of licences one has to obtain, says Munroe. "Any technology you're adopting comes at a cost and, there- fore, you have to weigh the cost benefi t and the revenue you can generate or poten- tially the FTE [full-time equivalent] you can decrease to make sure it makes sense from a cost perspective," says Munroe. AI- powered document automation and docu- ment management tools, such as the ones Demone is considering, are things many le- gal departments have either adopted or are In-house lawyers know the business really well, so the idea is to free up the lawyer's time to do the things that the tools can't do to add value in different ways. ELISABETH DEMONE, Symcor An in-house department, when facing important problems, can innovate and do a much better job at innovating than legal technology providers or law fi rms because they are the ones who are going to profi t from it. RICHARD BRAIT, Siemens Canada

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