Lawyers: Can predictive AI forecast case outcomes?
Plus: Doing a better job of pitching new clients.
How soon will we have AI legal tech that can predict the outcome of a case? It might be closer to reality than you think. Today we delve into predictive legal AI and what it could mean for the U.S. justice system. Plus: Is it fair for the DOJ to force Google to sell Chrome?
In today's newsletter:
- Women in law: A deeper dive
- New funding for predictive legal AI
- Building trust, one phone call at a time
- Skip the copy+paste in client presentations
Pass the gravy: Be prepared for these inevitable legal questions over Thanksgiving dinner.
Something for everyone: Get ready for these tech tools to make waves across industries, from legal operations to sports.
Hacking the law: Stanford Law tech contest sparks innovation.
An oasis: One state’s efforts to serve a "legal desert."
Miss baseball season already? An attorney and law professor talks about the “very legalistic game.”
Can AI accurately predict legal outcomes?
Legal predictive AI company Theo Ai recently announced that it has $2.2 million in pre-seed funding. According to the Artificial Lawyer, the company, which calls itself “the first predictive AI platform for litigation,” plans to use the funding to enhance its legal prediction capabilities, expand available practice areas and “accelerate customer growth.” Theo Ai’s data model reportedly is geared toward estimating the probability of a favorable outcome in a case.
Will it work? The Artificial Lawyer points to the difficulty that prior generations of AI companies have had in attempting to predict case outcomes. “It may work for smaller, more mundane cases, e.g. small insurance claims that are the same as 200 others also heard in the same area, but once you get into complex disputes between large corporates, who knows what will happen?” (Artificial Lawyer)
ABA report explores women in the field
For the first time, the American Bar Association’s annual Profile of the Legal Profession report includes a chapter on women in the profession. While the percentage of women continues to grow, the gains are less pronounced at senior levels. More than half of law firm associates are female, but, as of 2023, women made up just 28% of partners. Among other findings, the report also notes that the average lawyer salary grew 19.2% from 2021 to 2023 and is now $176,470. (ABA)
- Dec. 10: Clio Top AI Tools to Save Your Firm Time in 2025 webinar
- Jan. 26-30, 2025: National Trial Lawyers’ Trial Lawyers Summit, Miami Beach
- Mar. 24-27, 2025: ALM/Law.com Legalweek, New York
Meeting clients where they are
On LawHub’s I Am the Law podcast, immigration and family law attorney Jennifer Quezada discusses how Airington Law, where she is a non-equity partner, is set up to assist clients. From answering the phones in Spanish to holding client consultations in a space designed like a living room, the firm helps to build trust with potential clients. The firm’s non-attorney staff also take on an important and client-facing role. “We’re very team-centric. We are very clear that we could not operate on our own as attorneys,” says Quezada. (🎧 I Am the Law)
- Georgia Supreme Court decides former judge’s suspension
- A debt problem for mass tort lawyers
- Office spaces that reflect current law practice
Enough about me, let's talk about you
Chances are, you’ve used a pitch deck template in presentations to potential clients. Maybe you’ve even used “find and replace” to swap out the would-be client’s name. No more, says legal marketing consultant Stefanie Marrone of The Social Media Butterfly blog. She encourages law firms to do their homework to get a multifaceted view of clients before going into a meeting, including understanding their goals and researching their competitors. Most importantly, focus on the client’s needs and discuss the firm’s capabilities only in that context.
Do this instead: “When creating a pitch, consider including a few slides that are so specific they couldn’t possibly be repurposed for another client,” she recommends. “This could be a section with recommendations tailored to the client’s unique goals or challenges, a slide showing data specific to their market or insights based on recent news about their industry.” (The Social Media Butterfly)
Thank you for reading Raise The Bar.
Every Thursday, you'll hear from our team about the most pressing issues facing legal practices today. We'll also try to include some quick-hit reads that touch on interesting cases and precedents being set worldwide.
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Written by Suzi Morales. Edited by Katie Parsons.