Thoughts on AI From a Small Firm Practitioner’s Perspective

I was reluctant to use AI because I saw lawyers getting in trouble with it and really just thought it was a glorified Google search. I took the AI plunge about 2 months ago and it has changed EVERYTHING. Some thoughts, from a small firm practitioner’s perspective.

1. Chat GPT and Grok are remarkably user friendly and able to understand everyday English. Their ability to read and comprehend 100s of pages of documents in seconds is truly astonishing.

2. Their ability to understand legal issues and draft pleadings is likewise astonishing especially in the pay-to-play “deep think” modes available when you upgrade.

3. Hallucinating cases is a REAL THING, and I learned the reasons why. Official reported court cases are hidden behind paywalls by official reporters(a/k/a gatekeepers) like Lexis, Westlaw & Fastcase. AI’s can’t access those cases so they rely on cases that are on the internet for free and they contain mis-cites, broken links, and misconstrued holdings. There is real danger in relying on Chat or Grok for case law despite the temptation given how user friendly they are.

4. The AI’s offered by Lexis etc. are good but nowhere near as good as Chat or Grok, although they are improving rapidly. My trick is to do my research thru an official legal AI and then clipboard the cases over to Chat and construct a pleading there, directing Chat to only use the cases I provided. For now, that seems like the best of all worlds. But 100% an attorney needs to verify the case citations and make sure the extracted holdings are actually in the cases. Judges are on the lookout for this type of stuff.

5. Chat also tends to blow smoke up your ass or let you get high on your own supply. Legal AI’s are better at analyzing the strength and weaknesses of your legal positions and arguments.

6. Therefore, in the hands of a pro se party or a lazy lawyer, Chat and Grok are dangerous because they convince you can be right, when you could be wrong or shaky and they can get you in trouble with the Court for fake cites. In the hands of a skilled litigator, AI is an absolute game changing weapon.

7. For a small firm, strategic use of AI’s levels the playing field with larger firms, many of which are reluctant to use AI for liability reasons. That is changing by the day however and a revolution is coming.

8. Lawyers that possess a lot of attorney client privileged information need to proceed with extreme caution because putting privileged info into a 3rd party AI could be a violation of the privilege and/or discoverable. Lawyers should also counsel their clients about the dangers of uploading communications with their lawyers, even if it’s just emails.

At M.A. Dinkin Law Firm, PLLC, we use artificial intelligence as a force multiplier in judgment enforcement. AI helps us cut through information faster, analyze records more efficiently, trace asset leads, and spot opportunities that others may miss. In a world where judgment debtors hide money, shift assets, and play delay games, we use every lawful advantage available to apply pressure and drive recovery. Combined with decades of litigation and collection experience, our use of AI helps us pursue judgments with greater speed, sharper strategy, and relentless focus on turning paper into payment.