AI is transforming the consultancy market faster than anything before. It speeds up research, document analysis, the drafting of first drafts of contracts and a range of other tasks that, just a few years ago, took lawyers hours to complete. However, it does not replace the most valuable thing a top-notch adviser can offer – experience. Because you cannot skip that one. Or replace.
In the legal profession, as in other consultancy professions, there is, on the one hand, procedural routine – work which, in the past, law firms were accustomed to billing on an hourly basis, typically for junior lawyers. And then there is the strategic work, which delivers the greatest added value to the client.
Routine versus experience
AI can significantly speed up and reduce the cost of routine tasks, and is driving a push for greater efficiency, speed and affordability in legal services. However, when it comes to consultancy services, it is not just about the price, but above all about quality. A leading law firm provides strategic advice on decisions where much more is at stake than a hastily drafted contract or a relevant legal provision found. Transactions worth billions, complex disputes, crises threatening the stability and reputation of a company, regulatory issues, or decisions regarding family assets and succession. This requires a combination of experience, intuition, contacts, knowledge of the business and the environment, ethics, and the ability to take responsibility for one’s recommendations. No technology has that.
In the Czech Republic, we constantly find that we are not used to paying as much for professional services as, for example, in Western Europe. Presumably partly because of communism, many people believe that expertise should either be “for free” or that professionals such as architects, tax advisers or lawyers are a luxury that one can easily do without. AI can amplify this feeling even further: why pay a lawyer when I can consult AI in a matter of seconds?
In my view, however, the question is not whether AI will replace lawyers or other advisers. It is far more important to ask what has real value in the age of AI. Information will be available to everyone in a moment. Artificial intelligence can prepare analyses, provide quotations from legislation and perform research. However, it is unable to assess all the implications of a particular situation on its own.
We have handled thousands of business transactions and complex legal disputes, and have assisted our clients with high-profile business projects. Thanks to this, we can say: This is the path we would choose if we were in your shoes – and we mean it. We can tell what is reasonable, justifiable and sustainable in the long term in a given situation.
Some decisions do not get a second chance
A contract drafted with the help of AI may, at first glance, appear flawless. It may be legally sound and contain everything that is usually found in similar contracts. However, that does not necessarily mean it is the right one for you and for the situation you need to address.
Some decisions simply do not get a second chance An experienced adviser knows what questions to ask, what not to overlook in a particular situation, and what consequences a poorly worded clause might have – consequences that could result, for example, in the loss of a business or a large portion of one’s assets, a protracted dispute, damage to one’s reputation, or broken family relationships. Unlike AI, we, as first-rate advisers, put our names to our recommendations and when it comes to crucial decisions about a company, a multi-billion deal or family assets, we take on considerable responsibility, indeed with high insurance coverage.
The costliest thing is a bad decision
AI will therefore not undermine top-class advisers. On the contrary, it will highlight the difference between mechanical ability and genuine expertise even more clearly. The more accessible information becomes and the more routine tasks are taken over by technology, the less clients will be willing to pay for the actual production of documents. But that makes it all the more valuable to be able to help them make the right decision at a time when the outcome really matters.
I therefore expect the value of truly top-class consultancy to continue to rise. Because when it comes to crucial decisions about a company, a multi-billion transaction, family assets or a crisis situation, it is not the advice itself that is the most expensive, but a bad decision can prove to be the most costly.
