Getting the timing right at Setterwalls to invest in AI support

In recent years, there’ve been a number of smaller AI products geared toward the legal profession, but it wasn’t until gen AI caught on that Swedish law firm Setterwalls really saw the benefit. “We saw that there was potential to benefit on a broad front,” says CIO Daniel Sandberg. 

With backing from management and great interest outside the organization, the agency, started a pilot project where three AI tools specially designed for lawyers were tested, compared, and evaluated. “We had a fairly large evaluation group that test drove them side by side,” he says. Results showed that 80% of the group estimated they used gen AI more often than once a week, and 30% said they used it several times a day. 

Opportunities for all

That was the starting point to roll out an AI tool to roughly all of Setterwalls’ 200 lawyers. Other staff, amounting to about 100, also received AI support, even if it was less niche, such as Microsoft’s Copilot. 

“Many companies focus on exploring generative AI and are stuck in such a situation for various reasons, or perhaps run a smaller pilot project for quite a long time,” he says. “But we didn’t want to continue on a smaller scale, and were convinced quite early on of the potential. We believe in democratization where all employees get to share in its great ability and not just a small group of employees.” 

Once the technical parts were in place and the analysis of the chosen tool was done, it was time to connect the people. 

“The long-term human aspect was to make sure everyone understood the point of the AI ​​support, and how to use the technology,” he adds. “That’s crucial for success.”

Then a clear plan was also required for how it should be incorporated into the job, based on clear leadership and change management. “It’s important to have security in use, and that the technology feels like a natural element,” he says.

Summer school

At the moment, everyone can familiarize themselves with the AI ​​support on their own, but during August this year was the time for mandatory training, where everyone got the basic knowledge they needed to be able to use it correctly, and how to ask questions and prompts to get exactly what’s needed. 

“This is a paradigm shift, and then it’s necessary to build up an ability in the organization to support it in a good way, to get support functions in place and create new roles and new ways of working,” says Sandberg. 

Of course, security was a priority before implementation, considering the amount of critical information handled on a daily basis. But Setterwalls already had very clear internal security guidelines, how information can be processed, and how document handling should take place. So all of this has been adapted for AI. “No one here is allowed to use Chat GPT for work-related content either,” he adds. “Then we’re clearly regulated contractually between us and the supplier that everything must be safe.”

Key areas to start with

Sandberg highlights four areas where he believes the organization will be able to benefit from AI. One is text processing, such as translation and proofreading. Another is research. “These language models contain an incredible amount of knowledge, and if you need to know more in a specific area, you can use the tool to build knowledge,” he says. 

A third area is information analysis. At a law firm, so many large documents are worked with and it can be very helpful to get quick summaries to get familiarized with a particular case, and be able to focus work in the right way. And the fourth is to use the AI ​​support more for personal assistance, creating activity lists and priorities. 

“It’s also important that everyone understands you shouldn’t use what comes out straight away, but think of it more as a draft, a proposal for a plan,” he says. “Something that gives a new perspective.”

By investing in AI, Setterwalls not only hopes employees will get a new and welcome work tool, but it’s also about creating value for clients and attracting future lawyers. 

Positive investment

AI is also a big investment, so it’s important to make sure everyone really embraces it, says Sandberg. “This kind of technology is expensive, so we have to ensure everyone gets started,” he says, but cautioning about setting a realistic pace in light of AI’s rapid development. “That’s probably also what holds many people back,” Sandberg adds. “They don’t dare jump on the bandwagon because something better might come in six months. It’s a factor of uncertainty and difficult to see how models develop and the functionality of the tools.”