Posted by Gayle Clarke, marketing manager at Legal Futures Associate Dye & Durham UK
Clarke: Retain some manual processes to help train junior staff
AI has become a huge topic of conversation for the conveyancing professional in recent times, with the launch of the government AI Growth Lab for legal services – which specifically targets conveyancing – and the news in March that an AI-first law firm called Keith, which is planning to automate much of the conveyancing process, had raised £2m in seed funding.
What is the view on AI from conveyancers themselves? Based on a Dye & Durham’s roundtable discussion on AI, the answer is: it depends.
Far from the exuberant hype from some commentators or the highly sceptical view from others, when it comes to working conveyancers, the view on AI is mixed.
In a far-reaching discussion, chaired by property law trainer and consultant Ian Quayle, this roundtable brought together conveyancers, operational leaders, legal technologists and property specialists to talk through where AI is genuinely helping, where it’s creating new problems, and where the profession may be creating trouble for itself further down the line.
Where AI is helping and where it isn’t yet
In the conversation about the merits and pitfalls of AI, the overall verdict split fairly evenly between genuine enthusiasm and real caution.
Operational efficiency drew the strongest praise from the roundtable participants. Enthusiastically, attendees described how they were able to utilise AI to turn large volumes of client queries into a usable summary in minutes rather than hours, and to run file reviews and complaint analysis ahead of a manual check. One said she has been able to double her intake on files using her firm’s software.
In each example given at the roundtable, AI proved most reliable and valuable when used to speed up manual processes or routine, administrative tasks.
Where they were less confident was where the conversation moved from process to substance, with many saying they still check AI-generated title reports and legal interpretation themselves before relying on them.
Additionally, AI is introducing a complication from the client side: Some reported that clients are increasingly running a firm’s advice back through ChatGPT and returning with technical follow-up questions generated by the tool rather than arising from their own understanding.
Several participants raised a related accountability problem: AI can produce fluent, confident output that turns out to be wrong, including citing case law that doesn’t exist, with the professional relying on it carrying the liability regardless of where the error came from.
Further out, a longer-term concern related to training, specifically the concern that if AI keeps absorbing the entry-level work junior fee-earners have traditionally learned from, the next generation will not be able to build the instinct and professional social skills experienced conveyancers rely on for client care and compliance.
Advice on AI from conveyancers who use it
While there are emerging benefits from AI – many of them genuinely time and cost-saving – the consensus appears to be that it is not yet a silver bullet for conveyancers. Instead, firms can maximise the benefits by keeping the following in mind:
Maintain human checks on any substantive tasks. Automating tasks can be hugely timesaving, but legal interpretation, title analysis and anything client-facing should still be reviewed by a person before it goes out.
Keep the tasks junior staff actually learn from more manual. While growing pressures and time constraints can make full automation tempting, keeping some repetitive tasks as a manual process could help to train newer firm members to sharpen their practical instincts.
Audit suppliers carefully. As with anything legal, due diligence is essential when considering AI systems. Knowing how a system works, including what measures are in place for ‘black box’ accountability, is essential – especially as firms remain accountable for the outcome regardless of which tool produced it.
The conclusion
For any conveyancer or firm leader weighing up AI adoption, the current conclusion is this: while the technology is already doing real, measurable work on the administrative side of the job, it is nowhere near ready to be trusted with the parts that actually require judgement.
Additionally, the human touch remains essential for client care, honing one’s skills, and for ensuring the next generation of legal and conveyancing professionals are well trained.
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