Changes in the legal landscape... How far has ‘Legal Tech’ come?

From auxiliary tools to core infrastructure… Evolution of Legal Tech

Legal-Tech, driven by artificial intelligence (AI), is changing the paradigm of legal services. As AI takes on repetitive and time-consuming tasks such as document preparation and precedent review, some say that legal services have entered a phase of efficiency focused on creating high added value.

Recently, the growth of the legal tech market has been rapid. According to global market research firm Fortune Business Insight, the global legal tech market size is expected to expand from approximately $34 billion (approximately 47 trillion won) this year to $63.5 billion (approximately 88 trillion won) in 2032. The average annual growth rate is around 10%. In particular, the AI ​​sector is growing faster. Business Research Insight predicts that the global legal tech AI market will expand to $46.5 billion (approximately 61 trillion won) in 2027. This is why there is analysis that the introduction of technology is leading to structural change beyond a temporary fad.

AI that can be experienced in the field, “A reliable helper for lawyers with low experience”

The changes felt in actual practice are clear. AI, which was at the simple data retrieval stage in the past, has now evolved to the level of capturing the framework of writing.

Yi-seon Choi, an AI legal service expert and managing attorney at Daeryun Law Firm, explained, “Currently, AI is assisting much of the writing work performed by lawyers with less experience, such as organizing facts, structuring issues, arranging basic legal principles, and organizing the direction of similar precedents.”

The scope of AI use by legal tech companies is also expanding. Choi Joo-seon, CEO of Nepla (attorney), said, “AI is already widely used in research work, and is relatively useful in drafting standardized documents or contracts.” He added, “As multimodal AI has recently developed significantly, the possibility of its use in tasks that analyze various types of data, such as evidence analysis, is increasing.”

The introduction of AI has brought about changes in the structure of lawyers’ work. Attorney Choi said, “As AI takes over tasks with relatively low added value, such as organizing data, drafting, and structuring, lawyers can now focus on high value-added work such as strategy establishment, difficult judgment, and communication with clients and companies.” He added, “The overall productivity of lawyers is improved, and a structure is formed in which both the quantity and quality of output increase simultaneously, which ultimately becomes the basis for lawyers to create higher value and earn profits.”

It was also predicted that the use of AI could change the landscape of the legal market itself in the long term. Attorney Choi said, “If the time and resources secured through AI are used to understand and accumulate expertise by industry, a virtuous cycle can be created in which specialized lawyers in each industry are activated and corporate legal demand also increases.” However, he said, “This change is not realized automatically, but is premised on a conscious effort by lawyers to convert the labor saved by AI into high value-added areas,” and added, “Putting that premise into operation is a task that the legal community and the legal tech industry must solve together.”

He emphasized, “Legal Tech will not be a ‘nice-to-have tool,’ but rather a basic infrastructure that would be difficult to survive without,” and added, “When there is a structure that balances technology and legal expertise, Legal Tech can gain market trust.”

This change in work methods is also reflected in statistics. According to Law & Company, a legal tech company, 94% of users of the AI ​​service ‘Super Lawyer’ experienced a reduction in work time, with an average work reduction of about 25 minutes per hour. Work productivity has improved by about 1.7 times compared to before.

An official from Law & Company predicted, “Overall work time has been significantly reduced due to improved work efficiency,” and added, “As productivity increases through the introduction of AI, an environment will be created where legal experts can focus their capabilities on more important tasks.”

From ‘labor provider’ to ‘service designer’

The introduction of AI is also changing perceptions of the role of lawyers. As AI takes on low-value-added tasks such as drafting and organizing data, lawyers are able to focus more energy on high-value-added areas such as strategy establishment, difficult legal judgments, and in-depth communication with clients.

This is affecting the profit structure of the legal market. It is a transition from the existing hourly fee-centered structure where ‘you are paid according to the time invested’ to a performance- and value-based compensation system based on efficiency through AI. Attorney Choi said, “Such changes are already underway in advanced legal tech countries such as the United States and Europe,” and predicted, “Korea will also gradually but inevitably follow as the use of AI spreads.”

CEO Choi said, “Hourly wages are a model limited to some large law firms,” and analyzed, “Rather than changing the profit structure itself, AI is working to increase the possibility of win-win for both law firms and clients within the existing structure.” He diagnosed, “For law firms that must perform work within a limited budget, efficiency through AI can be a means of breaking the vicious cycle of deficits or poor quality.”

However, efficiency innovation does not mean complete replacement with AI. This is because legal issues involve a complex combination of atypical factors such as the context of the case, human relationships, social repercussions, and the court's tendencies. AI is only a tool to help with judgment, and cannot be the subject of judgment.

Representative Choi cited ‘decision rights’ as a social limitation of AI. CEO Choi said, “Technological limitations are changing so quickly that it is difficult to make a definitive decision,” but emphasized, “Humans will not hand over the final decision to AI.”

With the spread of legal tech, the challenges of responsibility, ethical standards, and institutional support are also rising to the surface. The standards for who will be held responsible when legal problems arise due to AI errors and how to verify the reliability of AI analysis results are not yet clear.

Experts and industry believe that Korea has ample potential to leap forward as an advanced legal tech country. CEO Choi predicted, “In Korea, electronic litigation is already active, and all legal documents and evidence are electronic. As the workflow in the legal market is already combined with tech, it is a very natural phenomenon for advanced new technologies to become established as infrastructure.”

However, some point out that discussions on responsibility standards and ethical guidelines are still lagging compared to the speed of technology diffusion. Whether institutional discussions to ensure trust and responsibility can be held in parallel with efficiency innovation is considered a key variable that will determine the direction of the legal market in the legal tech era.

A Legal Tech industry official said, “AI is not a technology that replaces lawyers, but rather an infrastructure that improves the quality and productivity of legal services.” He added, “For Legal Tech to settle in the market, discussions on responsibility structures and ethical standards must go hand in hand with technological advancement.”

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