AI Enabling Expansion into New Practice Areas for Small Law Firms

Note: This article is just one of 60+ sections from our full report titled: The 2024 Legal AI Retrospective - Key Lessons from the Past Year. Please download the full report to check any citations.

Expansion into New Practice Areas

AI-powered legal research tools allow small firms to explore and enter new practice areas more efficiently. A May 2024 report found that solo and small firm lawyers are more likely to adopt AI quickly, with 40% of solos and 35% of small-firm lawyers planning to adopt AI within the next six months, compared to just 24% of lawyers in larger firms.[138]

It is worth noting that during periods of reduced discretionary spending by businesses and consumers, the willingness to embrace potential new revenue streams in new practice areas tends to increase.

AI-powered tools can optimize intellectual property portfolio analysis and management. For instance, Gilbert + Tobin reported that AI has greatly assisted with document reviews, finding and extracting essential data, and providing rapid insights into large data sets.[139]

Alex Denne

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Advisor

Alex Denne, Head of Growth (Open Source Law) at Genie AI, is a legal tech leader and serial founder with over a decade of experience driving innovation and making legal services more accessible. Since joining in 2021, he has scaled the platform from 200 to over 120,000 users, combining deep contract law expertise with a data-driven, open-source approach. He is passionate about democratizing legal knowledge through AI, backed by strong academic credentials and experience leading major product and innovation initiatives.

Interested in joining our team?‍Explore career opportunities with us and be a part of the future of Legal AI.