The same legal community that considered email a passing fad that could never replace the “intraoffice sweep” has seemingly increasingly abandoned caution as generative AI expands. And that’s not exactly an exciting prospect for firm tech professionals.
Hill Dickinson, a UK-based firm with offices in Asia and the Mediterranean, had to send out an email blast telling lawyers to knock off all the AI stuff after realizing just how often the firm used generative AI tools in their work.
And not necessarily just to write thank you notes:
In the email, Hill Dickinson’s chief technology officer said the law firm had detected more than 32,000 hits to the popular chatbot ChatGPT over a seven-day period in January and February.
During the same timeframe, there were also more than 3,000 hits to the Chinese AI service DeepSeek, which was recently banned from Australian government devices over security concerns.
It also highlighted almost 50,000 hits to Grammarly, the writing assistance tool.
I hope every one of those Grammarly hits were saying, “Why are you putting an extra ‘u’ in all these words?”
To be clear, Hill Dickinson is forward-thinking when it comes to AI usage. But that’s not the same as techno-anarchy. “Like many law firms, we are aiming to positively embrace the use of AI tools to enhance our capabilities while always ensuring safe and proper use by our people and for our clients.” With that in mind, the firm is reining in AI usage, only granting access upon request.
Not to be a broken record, but this is exactly why trusted legal tech providers are throwing serious money at developing AI designed specifically for the law firm environment. Everyone wants AI to provide security, confidentiality, and accuracy, but law firms actually need it. Preferably one that can provide answers without turning that motion into an ethics investigation.
Or loading your client’s trade secrets onto a random server in Shanghai.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.