AI can help us lawyer at (just about) the speed of thought
In the AI era, I type less but get more done.
Note: This was originally posted on LinkedIn.
// 10X Productivity as an AI-Native Lawyer
I’m starting a series to crowd-source being a better and faster lawyer in the AI age. With this fast-moving tech I would love to trade tips with other legal folks on the topic!
tldr: AI can help us lawyer at (just about) the speed of thought.
In the AI era, I type less but get more done.
I mapped AI voice mode so it’s live at the touch of just one button, whether on my laptop or phone. (Even glasses!) With one press I can fire off an AI query at just about the speed of thought.
My prompts aren’t perfect. The thoughts aren’t perfectly formed. But it’s perfectly fine because AI infers my intent and context.
And in exchange, I get *speed*. I get collaboration that is real-time — often clearing away overhead or grunt work. That frees me up to do more valuable thinking and legal analysis. And to do it at scale.
No typing with thumbs on a small screen. No fumbling with a laptop while on the go.
Example 1: Try AI voice dictate or two-way live chats
Voice is high bandwidth, i.e., rich in information, which is perfect for AI. Especially with complex questions, I think it’s easier to talk through them out loud rather than type. AI easily parses unstructured data. So AI prompts need not — and should not — be perfect. I struggle with that but lawyers should fight this instinct!
That said, AI prompts *should* give context and clear direction. I should know what to ask for. But the prose of my question doesn’t have to be refined. AI infers intent and knows to keep a conversation going.
Example 2: Try an app like superwhisper especially on the laptop.
With one press, superwhisper transcribes my voice with high accuracy. It punctuates, picks up on tone, knows specific people’s names.
I now type 50% less at work. I’m communicating more and landing more guidance, but with less effort. I’m shipping more emails and more chats, but with less mental tax of typing and overhead.
The cherry on top: you can invoke AI to review your instruction. So verbally describe for it the email you want to send, and it’ll generate that in seconds.
Example 3: Try voice memos for long-form thinking
This weekend I had an idea while watching my kids on the playground.
The idea was more complex than what the typical voice dictation could handle. It would take a few minutes to put together.
So I opened an iOS voice memo and recorded a live audio recording of myself thinking out loud through the idea (even with tons of playground noise). I uploaded that audio file to AI. I asked it to transcribe, analyze and summarize in a report that I would have ready Monday morning.
It finished in about five seconds. Done. No fiddling with devices. No logging back on after hours. Time back to watch my kids run around.