Geppetto’s artificial companion was not always truthful.
Can AI Draft Bills of Costs?
Up until now the drafting of a Bill of Costs has required the laborious review of the entire case file to transform the solicitors’ records into an accurate, persuasive and formally compliant document which will withstand the scrutiny of a Costs Judge upon assessment. Any Costs Lawyer who has spent weeks sweating through the costing of a large file has dreamt of a less arduous alternative, even at the risk of their own livelihood. Now AI, with its ability to assimilate large amounts of information and replicate human work, appears to offer just such an alternative. While the answer to the headline question is ‘not yet’, it seems only a matter of time before AI comes to be used for the production of Bills of Costs, Costs Budgets, and other costs documents.
As AI Develops, Will Costs Lawyers and Costs Drafters Still Be Needed?
The benefits of replacing Costs Lawyers are obvious: why wait for a Bill to be drafted and incur those costs if AI can produce the same document instantly? But as we stride to embrace new technology we must be mindful of its pitfalls. The New York lawyer Steven A Schwartz – notorious for relying on authorities which ChatGPT had fabricated – was far from the first practitioner tempted into overreliance on an automated system. As AI takes a greater role in the delivery of legal services, human inattention of this kind will only become more prevalent. Anyone who is familiar with Tesla’s attempts to introduce autopilot into its cars knows the dangers of the human driver falling asleep at the wheel. Sensible lawyers will retain an alert scepticism in the face of the seductive promises of large language models, which give the appearance of knowledge but lack genuine understanding.
Unless and until AI becomes truly human, the experience and judgment of lawyers will continue to be needed in all areas of legal work. Increasingly, however, that experience and judgment will be directed towards the training and management of AI and working upon its outputs. Significant parts of the Costs Lawyer’s day-to-day workload are ripe for automation, but AI will not eliminate the phenomenon of a badly prepared Bill: on the contrary, we may well see an increase in faulty costs claims which rely on thoughtless machine pastiche in place of discernment. The expertise of Costs Lawyers will be essential to turn the rough AI output into a quality, reliable document. Those tempted to do without that expertise are likely to end up in the embarrassing position of Mr Schwartz once their document falls subject to scrutiny.
How Can We Introduce AI into the Legal Costs Process?
While legal AI systems are in development, the age of the robo-drafter has not yet dawned. There are no AI-powered costs drafting products available for use. At Whittakers we are exploring the abilities of new technology to provide a better and more efficient service for our clients; to that end we will monitor the continuing development of AI closely.
If you require assistance with any costs matter, please do not hesitate to contact us at costshelp@whittakerscosts.com.
