Artificial Intelligence: A New Niche for Librarians?

By Michael Feit | Best Practices

Jun 21

Artificial Intelligence has been around since the 50’s, ebbing and flowing with success and failure. Not until the advent of e-discovery has it really been seen as a possible solution in the legal industry. But with the adoption of e-discovery, AI has taken hold, and legal vendors are pushing solutions into mainstream legal technology.

AI discussions are trending in legal blogs, webinars and what seems like monthly new product announcements–consider FASTCASE and their new product announcement of SANDBOX, or LEXIS and Ravel.

Many librarian information professionals are involved in knowledge management; thus it seems a logical next step for these professionals to evaluate, recommend and train attorneys in the use of AI solutions.

As information professionals, we need to take a proactive approach and look for problems faced by our organizations that may have possible AI solutions. It doesn’t have to be some grandiose approach; start small, and present something simple that can solve a problem showing ROI. As more and more of the online legal vendors we currently use add Artificial Intelligence options and analytics to their products, we should be taking the lead on presenting these solutions to Management. Don’t wait until they become add-ons to a contract renewal and you have to scramble to evaluate and get approval. A new niche for law librarians–we think so.

About the Author

Michael Feit earned his J.D. from the Loyola University School of Law in Chicago and was an executive at Westlaw before founding Feit Consulting 16 years ago. Feit Consulting partners with law firm administrators and legal information professionals to optimize vendor contracts and the management and delivery of legal information resources by providing leading-edge, customized solutions. Contact Michael at mike@feitconsulting.com