Hurst Discusses Growing Use of AI in the Legal Profession

Partner Andrew Hurst is quoted in a Washington Lawyer article, “AI & the Legal Workplace,” about the evolution of technology in the legal field.

Hurst said the firm’s increasing reliance on AI in document review and related tasks has reduced the need for junior and mid-level associates. “[T]here is still high demand for attorneys to create and oversee procedures to review this data, though if it were not outsourced or automated, the demand for junior attorneys at Foley would be much higher,” he said.

Advances in technology also have altered the traditional role of the junior associate within the law firm setting, he said, forcing them to become “lawyers” sooner than they were required to do just a few years ago.

“When I began practicing 20 years ago, new associates in big firms could expect to do chiefly document review and discovery work for a number of years,” he said. “These days, associates are expected to learn those skills much sooner in their careers, and they are given more responsibility than they were previously.”