TheLegalFrontDoor

I had serious FOMO last week as my friends and colleagues were posting exciting content from The Legal Tech Fund (TLTF) conference happening this week in Miami, Florida. In fact, I had so much FOMO that I nearly posted this on LinkedIn to counter all of the people who were posting about attending TLTF:

But one of the things I love is how much this #LegalTech community shares with others. I’ve joked that we do that because even if you have my entire playbook on how we do things at my firm, you’ll never be able to implement it at your firm because of culture, different systems, different goals, etc.

One of the things shared at the conference was a beautiful whiteboard image that detailed the session called “The Legal Front Door.” While I was not at the conference, there was a lot of detail in this image that resonated with me and made me want to dive a bit deeper into the details. And one of the ways that I’ve been doing this lately is to use the multimodal functionality of ChatGPT-4o to extract the story from an image. I’ve done this with Sprint Designs by taking pictures of all of the walls covered in Post-It Notes, and I did it with this picture that was posted on LinkedIn.

For those who haven’t tried this before, ChatGPT can read images. It does a really good job of also understanding text in the images. Even when those are handwritten notes within the image. Upload the image and start asking questions about it.

Here’s what I asked:

Me:
Who was the moderator and presenters for this session?

ChatGPT 4o:
The moderator for the session was Hemma Lomax. The presenters were:

    • Mia Beinhorn
    • Chris Hilliard
    • Felipe Maldonado Garcia

These names are noted in the visual summary of the session.

Follow Up:

Me:
Create a very thorough breakdown of this session at The Legal Tech Fund (TLTF) conference based on this image.

ChatGPT 4o:

Title: The Legal Front Door

Core Themes and Takeaways:

    1. Customization and Perception in Compliance:
      • Key Quote: “One size does not fit all.”
      • Compliance often has a perception problem, seen as friction or a “dirty word.”
      • The session emphasizes the need for a tailored approach to compliance to make it more approachable and effective for businesses.
    2. Empowering Employees:
      • Objective: Enable employees to conduct their own research.
      • Encourage empowerment by providing tools and support.
      • Key Approach: “Say yes and how,” focusing on enabling action rather than hindrance.
    3. Ethical Concerns and Risk Tolerance:
      • Ethical Considerations: Set clear expectations to navigate complex situations responsibly.
      • Agile Mindset: Adaptability is vital; the legal team needs to remain flexible and responsive.
      • Risk Evolution: Businesses must evolve their tolerance for risk, stepping away from overly conservative stances.
    4. Trust and Advocacy:
      • Core Value: Trust is highlighted as the #1 value.
      • Legal functions are moving from traditional compliance roles toward advocacy roles, with the regulator asking, “What’s your value?”
    5. Knowledge Management and Meeting Employees Where They Are:
      • Knowledge management systems are crucial for answering recurring questions and preventing duplication of effort.
      • Engage with employees by addressing their pain points and tailoring solutions to meet them in their work environments.
    6. Leveraging Human and Artificial Intelligence:
      • A mix of human intelligence and artificial intelligence is essential.
      • Human Oversight: AI tools are beneficial but must be paired with human reviewers to ensure accuracy and relevance.
      • Focus on leveraging the combined expertise of humans and technology.
    7. Business Wants and Needs:
      • Legal teams need to understand what the business truly wants and needs.
      • User education is vital—find out what users care about and ensure they understand the value the legal team brings.
    8. Demystifying Legal’s Role:
      • Legal’s role is not only to fix broken processes but to demonstrate how it adds value even when processes seem functional.
      • Key Insight: Legal teams should work to “get them comfortable” with their processes and decisions.
    9. Visualized and Moderated Contributions:
      • Moderators and Panelists: Hemma Lomax, Mia Beinhorn, Chris Hilliard, Felipe Maldonado Garcia.
      • The session visuals and strategy were developed by Big Paper Strategy, ensuring clear communication of complex ideas.

Key Visual Metaphors and Analogies:

    • The Key: Symbolizes unlocking potential in legal processes by understanding employee pain points.
    • The Dinosaur: Represents outdated processes, emphasizing the need for modern solutions and making employees comfortable with change.
    • Brakes and Acceleration: Compliance can act as brakes (preventing accidents) or allow acceleration (go faster safely).
    • The Cliff and Tightrope Walker: Represents the balance between evolving risk tolerance and maintaining human oversight.

Actionable Insights for Legal Teams:

    1. Shift the Narrative: Frame compliance as an enabler, not a blocker.
    2. Tailor Approaches: Customize legal solutions to fit unique organizational needs.
    3. Foster Trust: Build advocacy within the organization to showcase legal’s value.
    4. Educate and Empower: Provide tools and training to employees to foster independence.
    5. Balance AI with Human Oversight: Ensure the integration of AI tools is complemented by human expertise.
    6. Evolve Risk Tolerance: Encourage organizations to re-evaluate their risk frameworks to align with modern business needs.

Conclusion:

This session effectively captures the evolving role of legal departments, blending compliance, knowledge management, and employee empowerment with innovative strategies. The focus on trust, customization, and collaboration highlights how legal teams can transform from gatekeepers into enablers of business growth.

 

Next Follow Up:

Me:
I need to write an email to my boss back at work to explain what I learned from this session. My boss is very concerned about the risk around using legal technology, especially when it comes to Generative AI tools. So, write the email in a way that helps ease those concerns with some of the examples presented in this session.

ChatGPT 4o:

Subject: Key Insights from “The Legal Front Door” Session

Dear [Boss’s Name],

I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to share some valuable insights I gained from a session titled “The Legal Front Door” at the TLTF conference. The discussion focused on modernizing legal operations while addressing key concerns such as risk management and the responsible use of technology, particularly Generative AI tools. I believe the points discussed directly address some of the concerns you’ve raised about the adoption of legal technology.

Balancing Risk and Technology

A major theme of the session was the importance of evolving risk tolerance without compromising oversight or ethical standards. Here’s how they suggested doing this:

    • Human Oversight: Even when leveraging AI tools, the speakers stressed the necessity of pairing AI with human reviewers. This ensures that technology augments rather than replaces critical decision-making.
    • Agile Mindset: The legal team must remain adaptable and forward-thinking, addressing challenges like AI bias or errors with a solution-oriented approach.

Building Trust in Technology

The panelists emphasized that trust is the cornerstone of any technology adoption. To achieve this:

    • Knowledge Management Systems: They discussed the importance of AI-powered knowledge management tools that surface answers to frequently asked questions. These tools reduce repetitive work and allow lawyers to focus on high-value tasks, without compromising on compliance.
    • Educating Users: It was stressed that technology’s role is not to disrupt but to empower employees by helping them understand how it aligns with their daily responsibilities.

Proactive Risk Management Examples

The session included examples of how legal teams can manage risks while benefiting from new technologies:

    • Customized Solutions: Legal technology, including AI tools, must be tailored to the organization’s specific risk appetite and operational needs. For instance, tools can be configured to flag potential risks automatically, ensuring compliance is maintained without additional friction.
    • Clear Ethical Boundaries: Setting expectations and using technology to enforce ethical guidelines were highlighted as key to mitigating risk.

How We Can Apply This

    1. Start Small and Scale: We could adopt AI tools in low-risk areas, such as internal document management or automating responses to non-sensitive employee inquiries, to build trust and test the waters.
    2. Embed Human Oversight: Even in areas where we use Generative AI, a human reviewer would ensure quality and accuracy, avoiding potential reputational risks.
    3. Educate and Empower: By training our employees and stakeholders to use AI effectively, we can mitigate risks while fostering greater independence and efficiency.

Reassuring Takeaway

One of the presenters noted that legal technology doesn’t need to “replace” existing processes—it should simply show how it adds value. This aligns with our need to ensure that tools like Generative AI work as assistants, not decision-makers, maintaining our standards and compliance frameworks.

I believe these insights provide a clear path forward, allowing us to explore new technology responsibly while addressing your concerns. I’d be happy to discuss this further and brainstorm ways to apply these ideas to our own operations.

Best regards,
[Your Name]

Conclusion

Not too shabby for what you can get from just an image, right?

Now, let me insert the cautionary language that you should always remind yourself when you’re dealing with commercial tools like ChatGPT 4o (the paid version), is that you shouldn’t put things in the system that is proprietary or confidential.