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just the first stage of a review process that
ensures any AI-assisted outputs accurately
reflect the relevant facts and law.
"You've got to double-check all of it," he
says. "Maintain rigorous professional and
human oversight at every step."
Be transparent
According to MacLean, sunlight is the
best disinfectant when it comes to AI use
in legal practice. He encourages his team
to be open with each other about their use
of technologies.
"If you ban it, that just pushes it under-
ground. People are going to use it anyway,
but outside of the firm's data and security
protocols, which can lead to more prob-
lems," he says.
But courts and colleagues are not the
only ones who need to be informed when
AI has played a role in a lawyer's provision
of legal services: the person who ultimately
pays the bill should also know how their
information is being used.
"Our clients haven't had any issues,"
MacLean says. "They understand that this
can be a helpful tool for our efficiency.
And that in turn helps with keeping things
economical for them."
"The most important thing for
lawyers to recognize is that AI is not
the saviour. It can be a great collaborative
tool, but it's not the solution to everything"
Brett Carlson, Linmac LLP
