How AI Is Cutting Trial Prep Time Without Cutting Quality (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: How do you think about applying technology to those cases, and where, and where does it make sense, and where does it not? I take the path of least resistance whenever possible, right? I mean, throwing extra bodies at the case to quote-unquote build time is of no value to me. Right. It really is all about finding ways to, you know, to kind of work smarter and to be more efficient. One of the things that this was really one of the first trials as various, I think, AI tools have finally matured to the point where they can really effectively help to get you 50% of the way there, to help with that doc review, to help with that review of that 97-page order, help build out, as we had to there, two different trials.

[00:00:39] Speaker 2: Was FileVine helpful to you?

[00:00:41] Speaker 1: There were a couple of moments during the case where I was literally working on, for instance, you know, one of my experts directs, and, or, or certain evidence that I knew I would think I would want to get in. And I was like, wait, I know somewhere in this 96-page order the court mentioned this thing, mentioned that this evidence applied to this. And so I just ask FileVine's robot, where in the court's order did it say this? And give me the citation. And it was like, boop, boom. Amazing. Here it is. And helping me, for instance, one of the benefits of these being federal court cases is everybody has to do these very extensive federal court reports, these Rule 26 reports. And so I would then have the AI. These are like the big evidentiary disclosures. Exactly. Gotcha. That the experts would write. And I would say, here's their four reports. In this case, because they withheld evidence, and there was a whole bunch of other issues, and I would throw it in, and I would say, draft me a direct examination with citations. And it gave me something that got me 50% to 60% of the way there. And I will tell you what that translates to in real time is rather than spending 8 to 12 hours to prepare that expert's direct, I spend two. That's fantastic. But where it has really been exceedingly helpful just as of yesterday, I'm talking to my appellate lawyer who's preparing the post-trial motion. And he's like, hey, can you ask your AI where in the trial transcript the judge talked about this issue? And we all knew there was two or three times that we had this discussion. I dumped the whole 16 days of trial transcripts in and say, tell me when this issue was discussed. And just on trial day eight and the afternoon on page 14, there was a robust discussion about this. On trial day 14, there was a discussion about this. Here, there was only three lines mentioned it, but blah, blah, blah. And it gives me the sites, and then I click through, and I send it over. I am so glad. And that's huge, man. Yeah, it is. Seriously, to put that in real terms as well, that's the kind of thing that I used to have to have, most likely a law clerk, not even a paralegal. I needed someone with some legal acumen. I literally could look at four to eight hours of a human's time was handled in under 30 seconds with FileVan AI.

[00:03:14] Speaker 2: That's so great.

[00:03:15] Speaker 1: That's for real.

[00:03:16] Speaker 2: That's real value. I just think trial is such an engrossing and intense thing that requires just tremendous context. But is there, as a society, I think we get so much out of that confrontation that the law brings. It sort of bends the arc of justice. Do you think that's happening with the younger generation? Are you helping that? I mean, do you feel like it's your responsibility to bring those lawyers up and get them in the courtroom? A hundred percent.

[00:03:38] Speaker 1: I don't think we are going to see a shortage of trial lawyers in the future. I think, in fact, what we can show is that this can be incredibly rewarding and incredibly important work of deep and ultimate concern. But you can also do it without having three divorces, a substance abuse problem, and a mental health breakdown. And I think that that's where the good of so many of these AI tools can really help to balance out. You can do it, and yet you can do it without sacrificing everything else. And if that is what we are able to show the next generation through the adoption, the early adoption of these tools and the integration of it into what we do, then I think they're going to be lined up around the block.