Guest Insight: Stephen Trexler on AI in the Legal Profession
In April we shared an article by ClaimDeck’s co-founder Dwayne Hermes called “A Litigation Attorney and Insure/legal/tech founder’s thoughts on ChatGPT and Litigation Management.”
The article explored the potential impact of ChatGPT on the legal profession and litigated claims process. Below is an engaging and insightful response to the article from lawyer Stephen Trexler.
Insight from Stephen Trexler
I enjoyed the referenced article received this date and agree with your insights.
Perhaps AI tools are taking us back to where the legal profession started. When I started practicing in 1974, technology was the electronic typewriter, followed by word processing in the late 80s. Most “deal docs” and briefs were 10 to 20 pages for a really good reason unless it was a really big deal or appeal and discovery never really took as and end rather than the means until the advent of e-files. There were no “litigators” there were “trial lawyers” and I’m sure you’re well aware of the differences. How may “litigators” have tried 3 jury trials last year? Lawyers have made careers on paper shuffling. The Kabuki theater of mediation has replaced counseling clients to see reality, phone calls, office visits or even, God-forbid, getting together over expensive Islay single-malt whisky and hashing out a deal.
But let’s go back and look at what lawyers really did since the dawn of the profession that added value: seeing the trees for the forest and vice versa in both deals and litigation, advising clients and keeping them on course (the hardest part, IMHO), negotiating, advocating and standing up and actually trying a case, what I’ll take the liberty of referring to as “Essential Lawyering Skills." Nearly all of this involved dealing with people and not a computer.
Fast forward and word processing and legal research technology allowed firms to change their business model by leveraging lots of associates with big margins in their billings to enhance the profits of partners. We can research the most minutiae in precedent, write lengthy briefs that overworked judges and their clerks might read maybe on a good day and produce 200+ pages of deal docs for a $2M investment transaction. The practice in transactions is now to document the non-existence of anything which could potentially be argued as a breach of contract or the representations and warranties. My experience as lawyer and executive for a few decades leads me to the conclusion that the problems that come up after a deal is done usually have nothing to do with what the lawyers thought of and documented but occurrences that no lawyer could have foreseen and they involve people, not pre-existing facts or legal theories.
All of this costs clients a LOT more with the result that legal services are not affordable to a considerable segment of the personal and business communities. One could take the position that well that maybe but the results for those who can pay the freight are better. Seriously? To the extent you can outspend your opponent they probably are, but otherwise?
My perspective is that AI if used effectively can lift a lot of the burden from lawyers (albeit at the expense of a few careers but there are several counties in rural America that don’t have enough lawyers for prosecutors and public defenders). This is really a continuation of the process ClaimDeck started with removing the overly complex and non-productive attempts to micro-manage defense counsel thus allowing them to do more lawyering and less compliance work. By “used effectively” I mean to support lawyers who are using Essential Lawyering Skills in doing what they do and not increasing the length of briefs that won’t get read from 200 to 300 pages. The end result is that we should have fewer, better lawyers (not technicians) with better profit margins on more affordable fees assuming they adjust their business model (a big if, some will and some won’t) so I’m all for it. The question remains is how many lawyers today really have developed Essential Lawyering Skills and that sets the parameters for upon whom the axe may fall.
HUMAN EFFORT DISCLAIMER: The above was written by a live human being and not a bot. For an improved, more thorough and concise analysis of the impact of AI on the legal profession and to meet your due diligence requirements, run the issue through ChatGPT.
About Stephen Trexler
Mr. Trexler, a graduate of the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, has several decades of experience both practicing law and as a business executive. After a decade in private practice, he joined his largest client, the K&K Insurance Group, Inc., then the nation’s largest underwriter of sports, leisure and entertainment insurance, as General Counsel and then became Executive Vice President of K&K and affiliates, Lincoln National Specialty Insurance Company and Lincoln National Health & Casualty Insurance Company with the report of all departments other than sales and marketing.
Stephen Trexler
Mr. Trexler was a co-founder and Director of International Teleconferencing Corporation and co-founded American General Agency, a managing underwriter and developed the first Employment Practices Liability insurance policy incorporating HR risk and quality management systems, legal consulting and an employer hotline and claims defense from top tier corporate law firms which received a Risk & Insurance Magazine Best New Product of the Year award.
Mr. Trexler’s recent private practice has been concentrated in private company corporate, finance, M&A and exempt securities law, with representative clients including a regional wireless internet company (having previously been the CEO of a regional wireless operator acquired by the client), a manufacturer and global distributor of wireless equipment, a multi-state recycling company and an angel fund.
Mr. Trexler presently is advising an emerging market leader in the sports, leisure and entertainment insurance segment with respect to legal, business and financial matters. He is also developing an accident medical insurance policy covering the costs of neuropsychological rehabilitation for sports participants suffering concussion and traumatic brain injury featuring state of the art services from nationally known centers of excellence and a unique model-driven software for provider reimbursement.
In addition, Mr. Trexler is building a portfolio of fine art oil paintings focusing on portraiture and figurative and landscape works examining the current American condition.
ClaimDeck™ eliminates claims litigation leakage for carriers while driving process into the law firm, modernizing the litigation process.
Contact Dwayne at dwayne@claim-deck.com.
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