2023 was a fascinating year. It was a year where the legal industry further adapted, post-pandemic. It was a year where many legal departments and law firms thrived under the pressure of delivering greater value to their business. And of course, it was a year that undoubtedly saw the biggest developments, and interest (so far!) in Generative AI. 

As 2023 ended, journalists asked Epiq to reflect on the year and share their thoughts on the future – what can we expect from the people, processes and technology that will continue to drive legal and business services forward? 

Here’s a set of 2024 predictions, from a handful of Epiq experts:

• Ziad Mantoura, Epiq SVP, Legal Transformation Services
  • In 2023, legal has wrestled with a return to the office and how to create a sense of culture and community in a world where people interact via Teams.  Corporations with mandates are seeing attrition in their legal (and other) professionals who want to continue the benefits of remote work.   Similarly, clients comfortable with hybrid or remote work are tapping into a pool of legal talent with geographic barriers removed.
  • These market dynamics have accelerated the adoption of Flexible Legal Talent who want to work remotely for the best in-house legal teams but retain a level of freedom that wouldn’t traditionally be possible.    We expect these trends to continue in 2024 but think large companies will increase in-person requirements and place restrictions on the geographic locations of key hires so they can commute to an office on an infrequent basis.

• Eric Crawley – Epiq SVP, Product Management and Advanced Solutions
  • After a year of talking about Gen AI, most eDiscovery solutions remain in beta.  As we look to 2024 and put these solutions to use, there is an expectation that the functionality and its impact will move fast to create efficiencies.  With the rising volume of data, new data types, and matter complexity, the demand for professional services that can successfully leverage AI and Gen AI will reach new heights.  

• Richard Robbins – Epiq Managing Director, Applied Artificial Intelligence
  • Generative AI burst into our collective consciousness at the end of 2022.  Unlike more narrow developments (blockchain), generative AI use cases were readily apparent. Uncharacteristically, the legal industry quickly became engaged - existing suppliers began enhancing their offerings, and new entrants emerged overnight.    As we enter 2024, we will see a growing awareness of domain-specific “embedding models” to tether an LLM to a collection of tools.

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