On February 14th, more than 100 people attended a debate at IE Tower in Madrid which aimed to deepen analysis and dialogue on the changes resulting from the development and adoption of generative AI tools in the legal sector.

Soledad Atienza, dean of IE Law School, welcomed the attendees and commented on the general context in which the legal profession finds itself at the moment. She introduced the topic of AI as a determining factor in the legal activity carried out by law firms, public entities, and social and educational institutions.

The keynote address was given by Rafif Srour, vice dean of IE School of Science and Technology. Rafif, an expert in data and business analytics, shared an interesting perspective on AI in today’s world and in the legal sector.

After the opening presentation, there were three roundtables with various experts and differing topics, to give the symposium a transversal, multidisciplinary approach to its subject.

The first session, “Exploring the future of work,” was led by Lee Newman, dean of IE Business School, and Janine Berg, senior economist at ILO (International Labour Organization). This session was moderated by Antonio Aloisi, Professor at IE Law School.

The speakers proposed an analysis of the impact of AI on human relations and work organization in the legal sector. They also highlighted the importance of identifying the new skills that legal professionals need to address the changes that AI is bringing about in the world of work.

In the second session, experts discussed “Ethics in Artificial Intelligence.” The roundtable consisted of Richard Benjamins, chief responsible AI officer at Telefónica, and Idoia Salazar, president and founder of OdiseIA. This session was moderated by François Delerue, Professor at IE Law School.

This was an in-depth reflection on the ethical foundations for the responsible use of AI in the legal profession. It also offered an interesting debate on ethical changes, and the importance of taking these into account for the development of advocacy service solutions based on tools of this type.

The third and final session focused on discussing in detail “Artificial Intelligence and Legal Services” with Sébastien Bardou, vice president at LexisNexis, William Long, partner at Sidley Austin LLP and Anthony Vigneron, legal director of tech solutions at Clifford Chance. This roundtable was also moderated by a professor at IE Law School, Francisco de Elizalde.

This discussion explored the transformation in the provision of legal services, analyzing changes from the automation of tasks to improvements in efficiency. Such reflection is needed to achieve a balance between the use of AI tools and the role of the lawyers who will face the challenges and opportunities that this new context generates for the legal sector.

The event closed with a practical demonstration of the use of generative AI in law firms.

Among the attendees were partners and heads of the main national law firms that participate and collaborate with the LawAhead Center in furthering its work: CMS Albiñana & Suarez de Lezo, Cuatrecasas, Garrigues, GA_P, Pérez-Llorca, RocaJunyent, Sagardoy and Uría Menéndez.