AI doesn’t necessarily fit all workflows or clients, says the HopgoodGanim CIO
In August, Andrew Wedding took up the reins of the technology function at HopgoodGanim Lawyers. In addition to overseeing the firm’s technological infrastructure, operations, support and security, he has been tasked with leading its AI adoption and emerging technology efforts.
Flexibility, he said, defines HopgoodGanim’s approach to AI adoption.
“Like most law firms, we have access to a large number of AI tools. Many do similar things in similar ways, and their capabilities overlap. This can make it hard for fee earners to know which platform suits which use case”, Wedding told Australasian Lawyer. “This can make it hard for fee earners to know which platform suits which use case”.
He explained that the firm was fostering open collaboration with its technology partners to offer as many options as possible to its people while comprehensively reviewing tools at the same time.
“This will allow us to ‘right-size’ our subscriptions and free up capacity to redesign entire workflows, rather than simply adding AI to existing processes for the sake of it”, Wedding told Australasian Lawyer. “We need to be reminded that AI is not always the right fit for every workflow or client. We will keep our approach flexible, so our people can choose when to use AI and when to rely on our proven processes”.
He anticipates that the legal profession can be the one to instruct others on AI. He expressed his excitement in being part of HopgoodGanim’s AI journey and shared that he was “learning something new every day”.
“I think the legal profession can teach the rest of us more about AI than the other way around. Legal opinions and advice must be anchored to verifiable sources, such as case law, legislation, and previous court judgments”, Wedding told Australasian Lawyer. “That discipline should be applied more rigorously across all AI platforms. Doing so reduces the chance of hallucination while still delivering the efficiency we all hope to gain from using AI”.
Of late, several firms have strengthened their focus on AI, with Wotton Kearney, HSF Kramer, MinterEllison and Pinsent Masons appointing chief AI officers.
