Member Article

4 ways AI can empower legal teams without replacing them

By Martin Szyllo, CEO and co-founder of Melior.ai

In my work at the intersection of AI and contract technology, I’ve witnessed first hand both the potential and actual shift in the way legal teams can operate thanks to AI. And contrary to unsettling narratives around automation-driven job cuts, I agree with a recent report by McKinsey which suggests that AI is more likely to reshape roles - and make them better - rather than replace entire jobs.

This is especially true when it comes to managing third-party paper - a constant challenge for in-house legal teams. They - and business managers, COOs, or whoever is in charge of that particular workstream - spend 92 minutes reviewing an average contract manually. No one will convince me that this is satisfying, fulfilling work.

AI can and should streamline this convoluted, manual process, allowing legal professionals to focus on the more complex, interesting and strategic aspects of their work. I’ve often read about this high-level insight across various industries over the past few years, but I want to talk specifics here. So here are four ways I’ve seen AI empower legal teams:

1. Turning tedious reviews into nuanced expertise

Going through third-party contracts becomes an almost enjoyable task when you’re not doing it manually. Quick AI-driven scans can identify areas of concern, standard clauses, and anomalies in minutes, streamlining the typically prolonged process of reviewing various formats and inconsistent terminologies. Which happens a lot in companies where sales and business teams create new contracts daily without running them first by legal teams, or where there’s a large amount of third party providers to deal with, with their own contract language and specificities. Using AI for this can allow legal professionals to invest their time in higher-order contractual responsibilities, such as ethical considerations analysis and the customisation of contract language.

2. The age of rapid due diligence

In my experience, deals can go wrong and fast due to overlooked details in a dense network of contractual obligations. Here, smart algorithms can flag conflicts or compliance issues such as GDPR compliance across a large portion of contracts at the same time, and even suggest amendments to align with company norms. This significantly mitigates the pre-signature challenges of lengthy negotiations and risk evaluation, refining the accuracy of due diligence procedures and allowing legal teams to play a more efficient and impactful role in overall business management.

3. From task managers to strategic planners

Consider someone who dedicates around 10 hours a week solely to managing reminders for contract renewals and checking if the deliverables are being met as per the contract’s stipulations. Now also imagine that if that person misses renewal dates or termination dates, it can result in very costly liability to a business. This is a time-consuming and error-prone process. AI-generated automated alerts for these post-signature tasks can add a layer of reassurance that nothing will be missed and turn these hours into an opportunity for more meaningful work. And thanks to no-code solutions available today, even those without a tech background can set up these automated workflows.

4. A powerful second opinion

Even the most experienced lawyers welcome the reassurance of a safety net. AI makes possible advanced data analytics that can not only predict possible scenarios within a contract’s terms but also provide preemptive alerts for potential risks, offering an additional layer of scrutiny. These capabilities are especially useful for the pre-signature stage, where ensuring both parties stick to agreed terms and conditions becomes crucial. This extra layer gives a boost of confidence to legal teams, strengthening their decision-making and strategy formulation.

In short, if legal teams welcome AI into their workflows, they’re not just speeding up processes— they’re increasing their likelihood and ability to do quality, satisfying work. Lawyers can go from task managers to true strategists, and from simply collecting data to making business-critical decisions. So this isn’t about replacing human expertise, it’s about elevating it, making legal workers more valuable assets to their teams.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Melior .