Artificial intelligence to make paralegals ‘redundant’

Leading lawyers have predicted that artificial intelligence (AI) will make paralegals redundant within years, The Brief reports.

The impact of technological advances on the legal profession were widely discussed at the CogX artificial intelligence conference in London.

Legal consultant Richard Tromans told delegates: “Paralegals have always been an aberration and only have been used in very large numbers in the UK over the last couple of decades.”

Mr Tromans added: “Their role will become increasingly redundant as legal AI takes over more process level cognitive work, such as document review and basic research.”

His view was corroborated by lawyers including Nick West, chief strategy officer at London-based Mischon de Reya.

But Meng Weng Wong, co-founder of document drafting software business Legalese, said the role of paralegals would change rather than disappear entirely.

He said: “More people who are not lawyers will start taking on some of the things that previously they had given to lawyers.”