Welcome!

Welcome to the first edition of The Automated Lawyer, your ultimate guide to staying in the loop with the latest tech trends in the legal field and learning how to make the most of them.

Here’s what you need to know about the latest in tech and law today:

• vLex revealed their beta version of VincentAI that’s supposed to be powered by the largest LLM in the industry

• SpotDraft’s new VerifAI streamlines contract review workflows

• The debut of generative AI in a federal trial encounters a misstep

Meet Vincent, your new and improved legal research assistant

Legal research company vLex unveiled their beta version of Vincent AI, which, according to Ed Walters, the firm’s Chief Strategy Officer, is “the biggest legal data corpus ever assembled” and the “ultimate training data set for legal AI.”

Here are the four ways Vincent AI can perform research: 1) answering a question 2) building an argument 3) comparing jurisdictions 4) analyzing documents.

Interested in trying the beta version? Sign up to be on the waitlist for vLex’s insights program: http://www.vlex.com/insights

Don’t want to wait? Try VerifAI

SpotDraft, a contract lifecycle management company, launched VerifAI, a generative AI add-in for Microsoft Word. This tool simplifies contract review for lawyers, allowing them to check contracts against user-defined guidelines and answer open-ended questions about contracts.

Check it out: It’s available for free until the end of December and can be accessed via the Microsoft app store. VerifAI is a standalone product, requiring no additional SpotDraft subscription and is ready for use without any training.

Fugees rapper says AI mishap deserves a legal reboot

In a multimillion-dollar conspiracy trial involving Fugees rapper, Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, things took a techy twist.

Michel claims his defense attorney, David Kenner, botched his closing arguments by using an “experimental” AI program.

What’s the context?

• Michel was convicted in a federal court back in April 2023 on 10 charges, including conspiracy, witness tampering, and failing to register as an agent of China

The AI program in question, from EyeLevel.AI, was the first use of such a program in a federal trial and shines a spotlight on the growing use of AI in the legal profession. Surveys suggest over 50% of lawyers plan to embrace AI within the next year.

David Kenner, a defense attorney, who’s represented rappers like Snoop Dogg in the past, praised the system as a “game changer for complex legal cases.” However, during his final remarks to the jury, Kenner seemed to mix up crucial case details and made an incorrect attribution of a lyric.

The broader outlook: The American Bar Association is still working on guidelines for AI in the legal field. The use of AI in closing arguments is tricky because trials are unpredictable, and AI can generate incorrect statements.

Why you should care: Despite advancements in AI technology, it’s crucial for lawyers employing AI to meticulously fact-check everything they intend to utilize.

Don’t make the same mistake as Kenner. Follow The Automated Lawyer and stay up to date with how you can use the latest tools in the legal industry.