Why the Human Element Still Matters in Personal Injury Law
Artificial intelligence is changing the legal profession, but technology cannot replace the relationship between an attorney and a client. At Chalat Hatten & Banker, we believe technology should enhance the work of an experienced attorney, not replace the judgment, preparation, advocacy, and personal connection that our clients depend on.
Knowing Our Clients Comes First
As lawyers, we are here to perform uniquely human tasks that are not well-served by artificial intelligence. Our primary duty is to know our client – their particular needs, their injuries, and their desired outcomes – and offer guidance to help achieve their goals. Knowing one another in a relationship of trust can never be replaced by technology.
We are persuasive writers, orators, and negotiators. Creative and convincing writing is a skill that must be maintained through practice. By regularly exercising this muscle ourselves, and not ceding our abilities to AI, we maintain, improve, and refine our skills to best serve our existing and future clients.
Understanding Every Detail of a Client’s Case
As humans, we learn through reading and writing. By reading and summarizing our client’s case files ourselves, we best serve our clients by gaining a mastery of the facts of each case, and not risk missing a subtle but important detail that an AI model deems irrelevant.
When we are called upon to speak for our clients, whether to an insurance adjuster by phone or to a judge and jury in a courtroom, the facts of the case and client’s needs must be foremost in our minds. By putting in the time to do the underlying work by hand, we are best equipped to speak persuasively and knowledgeably on behalf of our clients.
Using AI When It Benefits Our Clients
We embrace technology, including artificial intelligence, only when it benefits our clients.
AI can be a powerful tool to help us identify the best caselaw so we can present the strongest arguments for our clients. It can be used as a proofreader or search tool to pull key information from voluminous records when the human guiding it knows what they are searching for. AI can be leveraged to create a counterargument that serves as a check on our human biases.
AI Can Help the Lawyer, It Cannot Be the Lawyer
We know the limitations of technology. AI merely predicts language. It does not reason or think through policy or legal consequence. As a result, AI-generated work can sound polished while still being subtly wrong, incomplete, or based on incorrect assumptions. Where AI is used, results are diligently fact-checked. AI can be used to help the lawyer, it cannot be the lawyer.
At Chalat Hatten & Banker, technology may change the tools attorneys use, but it does not change our responsibility to our clients. Personal injury cases are ultimately about people, their health, their families, their livelihoods, and their futures. Our attorneys remain personally involved in understanding each client’s story, preparing their case, and advocating for the outcome they deserve.