At Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak we are using artificial intelligence tools in the team’s daily work. Operating on the Polish market, we serve clients from all over the world and provide services in all areas of law relevant to business. Our team consists of more than 180 lawyers including 37 partners. The implementation of artificial intelligence at the firm is aimed at increasing competitiveness and speeding up the organization’s legal processes. With new AI-based tools, we are focusing on efficiency and innovation, while prioritizing data security.
Modern technology in the service of law
Law firm employees say that Microsoft Copilot is not a tool that is just a more advanced search engine or that will do advanced substantive work instead of a lawyer on its own. Lawyers see Microsoft Copilot as an assistant that speeds up and simplifies their tasks, such as summarizing meetings, reviewing arguments, writing emails, and abbreviating longer legal arguments. Microsoft Copilot does not replace the lawyer, but supports him (e.g., it can refer to existing regulations and describe the indicated basic legal issues, prepare sections of a legal document in certain areas based on the guidelines received). At all times, however, it is necessary for the lawyer to control the substantive effect of the AI work.
Our lawyers use Microsoft Copilot for a variety of tasks, such as creating summaries of longer documents, translating texts and checking them for terminological consistency, preparing first versions of emails and short legal briefs.
“M365 Copilot supports me in working with text. It is very useful in creating summaries, editing and translating texts, including legal texts and advice that I develop during my substantive work,” emphasized Katarzyna Wnuk, associate at SK&S.
Solutions based on artificial intelligence also support lawyers in conceptual work and that which requires creativity.
“M365 Copilot allows me to prepare first drafts of presentations based on an existing document – usually a good base from which to start. This saves a significant amount of time. In addition, I use AI to verify my ideas or solutions,” says Agata Szeliga, partner at SK&S law firm.
“Today, no one, especially lawyers who are faced with a range of complex cases on a daily basis, no longer ask the question “is it worth using technology for work?”. The right question is how to do it well, efficiently and, above all, securely and with all the rules and regulations in place. SK&S lawyers are extremely aware of the opportunities and challenges that AI brings today, and their daily practice using tools such as Copilot M365 shows that law paired with technology can bring faster solutions and more competitive services to clients,” says Renata Zalewska, Senior Commercial Attorney at the Polish affiliate of Microsoft.
Data security as a priority
Using artificial intelligence in legal services requires special attention to data security. We pay special attention to the confidentiality of client data and the security of all information that lawyers deal with daily, including the introduction of guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence.
“Confidentiality of client data and its security is fundamental to a lawyer’s work. At the same time, there is a temptation for lawyers to use publicly available AI-based tools without considering this extremely important issue. An example of badpractice can be the use of AI solutions available on the web without full anonymization of prompts. Therefore, law firms need to include these risks in their policies and only use tools from reliable providers. It is necessary to find the golden mean between prohibiting the use of such tools and complete freedom,” convinces Mikołaj Sowiński, partner at SK&S.
In an era of growing cyber threats, law firms are betting on trusted technologies. The latest Microsoft Digital Defense report shows that Poland is the third most attacked country in Europe. In addition, we learn from the report that the number of analyzed anomaly signals has increased from 65 to 78 trillion per day, and clients face more than 600 million attacks every day. These figures are alarming and are certainly under scrutiny by technology-conscious users.
“In any organization today, it is necessary to implement appropriate internal regulations and training. At SK&S, we have put in place clear rules, both highlighting issues of confidentiality and responsible use, as well as the obligation to inform a cooperating lawyer or supervisor that the material in question was generated using AI. We also conduct periodic training on the use of AI in the company,” says Agata Szeliga.
The future of law with AI
The law firm stresses the importance of implementing AI as a tool to support lawyers’ daily work and enable better, more competitive services for clients.
“Automating repetitive tasks is beneficial not only for us, but also for our clients, to whom we can offer more comprehensive and precise advice. Using a standard, proven AI tool such as M365 Copilot will also help transition to more advanced AI tools in the future. At the same time, we understand that increasing digitization poses new challenges for data security. Therefore, by implementing AI, we ensure that we maintain the highest standards for protecting customers’ confidential information,” Agata Szeliga adds.
SK&S has a team that reviews AI tools and tailors recommendations. A broader perspective is also provided by the collaboration between the law firm’s AI and IT teams. Thanks to the processes developed and their constant evaluation, it is possible to effectively integrate law and technology while maintaining data security – a key aspect of the consulting firm’s business. SK&S is also interested in expanding the capabilities of Microsoft Copilot by integrating it with other systems through already available or new plug-ins in order to more widely use its know-how through artificial intelligence.
