Professionals

Lawyers and Ai, risk of unequal access between small and large firms

On the second day of Talk to the future, the initiative of the Milan Bar Association, focus on security and training

by Camilla Colombo

21 May 2025

3' min read

Key points

Search
Training and safety

3' min read

The impact of the artificial intelligence revolution equals that of the industrial revolution. If the transformation at the turn of the 19th century radically changed the workforce, the innovation taking place in recent years has a significant impact on knowledge management. Especially for those who perform, by profession, a disintermediation, gatekeeping role.

This is the case of the lawyer who, on the second day of Talk to the future, the third edition of the initiative organised by the Milan Bar Association, focused on a number of fundamental points: attention to inequalities, determined above all by the cost of access to artificial intelligence; the importance of constantly updated training; the quality of data; a critical and conscious use of the tool.

The search

The occasion to take stock of the state of the art between AI and justice is the survey carried out in collaboration between the Milan Bar Association and Il Sole 24 Ore. For the president of the Bar Association, Antonino La Lumia, the data that saw the number of lawyers who are regular users rise from 32.9% to 54.5% in a year 'is comforting and not surprising because it confirms a conscious growth in the use of artificial intelligence in the profession. Ai is conceived as a servant and cooperative tool, not to be feared'.

What is rather worrying is the different economic availability ininvestment in Ai between large and small firms, which may open up the risk of inequalities to be avoided. "I am convinced that there will be increasing adherence to widespread multidisciplinary aggregation: it will be the growth factor for the Italian legal profession over the next five to ten years," comments La Lumia, emphasising the value of training and the active role of the Professional Associations in democratising access to Ai also through shared providers and platforms.

Lawyer Niccolò Abriani expressed himself on the same issues, saying that 'the Ai can reduce the gap between large and small firms and that training must be open to all, but with a focus on how to teach how to monitorthe answers provided by the Ai, to assess their correctness'. 'In order to follow technological evolution, one has to know what is happening,' echoes Professor of Economics Law, Allegra Canepa. "Training on innovative tools must be flanked by the habit of critical reasoning, which is also fundamental in order to comply with a requirement, not easy to observe, envisaged by the Decree on Artificial Intelligence: knowing how to explain to clients, in a simple, direct and clear way, the use of Ai in lawyering."

Training and Safety

Carlo Gagliardi, Deloitte's Dcm legal leader, summarises two key issues: training, highlighting how the pyramid of the consultancy world risks becoming a diamond, cutting off younger professionals at the base - "and here the challenge of competence is to make young people become seniors, with upskilling that starts as early as university. Because the profession today must unite law, tech and management'. And, then, the entry of capital into professional firms: "If the constantly evolving technology is combined with a major equity, the transformation is likely to be more than abrupt".

Finally, the coordinator of the Milan Bar Association's Ai and Justice Table, Giuseppe Vaciago, recalls the cyber risks: 'Since November 2022 phishing emails have increased by 1265%, proving that Ai can also be put at the service of scams. The issue ofcomputer security and privacy must be addressed with a cultural change'.