The Legal View – by Katherine Crowley, Womble Bond Dickinson
My role as a Professional Support Lawyer has evolved significantly over the last 20 years and continues to develop alongside the astounding technological progress we have seen this decade. When I first began working as a PSL in 2005, I mainly supported fee earners by providing precedents and legal training and solving research challenges for them. As the internet and digital resources developed into more effective tools for black letter law, my focus shifted towards finding other ways fee earners could complete their tasks with greater ease and efficiency. The COVID pandemic accelerated this shift as remote working ushered in a new era of digital transformation and reliance on technology. Today, 50% of my time is spent exploring and rolling out new technologies and AI-assistance tools to colleagues.
The changing focus of my role has occurred in tandem with a greater business focus on how lawyers work. A key driver of profitability in our sector is now efficiency: in an increasingly competitive market, fee earners have to deliver value to clients. For me, this has meant finding ways of working that increase fee earner output while also maintaining – or better yet, enhancing – the quality of their legal service. In the majority of cases, adopting the latest technology and digital tools has been the answer.
Gen AI-assistance tools are already proving to be some of the best tools for improving the efficiency, accuracy, and performance of fee earners. When AI tools were in their infancy, they could be slow to run, clunky to use and limited in their capability. Understandably, initially some fee earners took the view that it was easier to just do the work as it always had been done with pen and paper. But recently the technology has made great strides in reliability, accuracy, and user experience, and it can crucially eliminate some of the most painful and resource-draining aspects of legal work.
This is especially true for real estate. No aspiring real estate lawyer goes through hours of studying and the pressure of securing a training contract to end up sifting through boxes full of documents before they can get close to exchanging contracts. As a former real estate lawyer myself, I know that these manual reviews are some of the main blockers to efficiency for fee earners.
While the speed with which local authorities can return search documents can still cause delays, AI-assistance tools can make up for some of this lost time by taking on drudgery and the time-sapping work of processing documents and data. Land Registry titles, property searches and lease documentation form a substantial part of a typical real estate transactions, and this due diligence can happen significantly more quickly and also more accurately when AI is used. It enables fee earners to understand the potential pitfalls or challenges in a portfolio much sooner. This then allows problem-solving and legal analysis to happen earlier in a transaction process, securing better outcomes for clients. The big picture impact of AI-assistance tools is that they free up fee earners to spend more time adding value to clients. Fundamentally, AI-assistance tools do not replace legal thinking – they give lawyers more time to do it.
Giving colleagues the ability to spend more time on interesting and stimulating legal work has probably been the most rewarding development of my role. By championing greater technology adoption, I have seen a transformation take place. Previously real estate was regarded as one of the slower, more old-fashioned practice areas of the firm, often the part of the funnel holding up progress on deals. Now, the team is far more dynamic and has accelerated its delivery of strategic advice to clients. We can win clients that need us to move with great speed and complete large, complex transactions that would otherwise require a large team to handle. Real estate has become a popular practice area with our trainees, who enthusiastically embrace opportunities to work with tools that cut out the ‘boring’ parts of work.
I believe that the future of legal work is tech-enabled, but it will remain a profession rooted in human relationships. The human touch will always be necessary and the most valuable part of the job – it ultimately distinguishes a good lawyer from a great one. I see my role as a PSL in the age of AI as enabling fee earners to access solution-focussed technology in order to give them more time to focus on the ‘human’ work. The role has burst through from the back office into the front and centre, and what we do is now very visible in how our fee earners deliver outcomes for clients.
The Tech View – by Caroline Robinson, Search Acumen
I have worked with Professional Support Lawyers for nearly 25 years and have seen how the unique combination of their legal expertise and increased license to drive innovation has transformed them into essential sounding boards for technology companies. Over the last two decades, we have developed much closer relationships with PSLs not just because they grasp and champion the benefits of our technology but because they also see its limitations.
Fee earners may perceive PSLs as blatant tech-enthusiasts, but in reality, they are fantastic sources of critical feedback. In tech, finding out what’s not working is essential to success. At Search Acumen, we use the insights we gain from PSLs to continuously develop the functionality of our AI-powered tools for extracting search data from Land Registry documents. Their feedback is vital to the development of a product which is fit for purpose, genuinely addresses the pain points experienced by real estate lawyers and delivers outputs which are valuable to clients.
In the age of AI, PSLs are a bridge between tech companies, and the needs of fee earners and their clients.
The Future View
The integration of AI into legal workflows is no longer a distant possibility but a tangible reality that is transforming how lawyers operate. As Katherine and Caroline discussed, AI tools empower lawyers by eliminating time-consuming tasks, allowing them to focus on delivering high-value advice and fostering stronger client relationships. By bridging the gap between technology providers and legal professionals, PSLs play a pivotal role in shaping tools that are truly fit for purpose. Together, they demonstrate how a shared commitment to innovation can create a future where AI is not just a tool but an indispensable partner in the pursuit of legal excellence.
