[Law Firms Now] YK Supports Attorneys' Practice with In-House Developed AI

AI Adoption Accelerates in Korean Law Firms
Enhancing Legal Service Quality While Protecting Client Privacy

As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly expands across domestic companies, the law firm industry is also experiencing a strong wave of AI adoption.

According to the Korea Development Institute (KDI), 48.8% of large enterprises, 30.1% of medium-sized companies, and 28.7% of small businesses are already utilizing AI technology in their work. In a survey conducted this year by Megazone Cloud, it was also found that 55.7% of Korean companies have adopted generative AI either company-wide or in certain departments.

Law Firm YK Main Office, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Law Firm YK

This trend is spreading beyond general industries such as finance and manufacturing to the legal services sector. As attempts are made to incorporate AI into repetitive tasks such as contract analysis, case law searches, and document summarization, gradual changes are emerging in the practical environment of law firms.

Law Firm YK (Managing Partners Kang Kyunghoon and Kim Beomhan) began developing its own AI system in April of this year to keep pace with this trend, and some features are already being applied to the daily work of its in-house attorneys. The AI service developed by YK consists of five features: AI document summarization, PDF search, semantic search (at the sentence and paragraph level), similar document search, and automatic generation of evidence lists.

To ensure that its attorneys can safely utilize AI, YK has created and distributed an 'AI Function Usage Manual.' The manual stipulates that when submitting drafts prepared by AI for approval, the use of AI must be clearly indicated, and that case law and statutes should be verified directly based on case numbers rather than relying solely on AI-generated responses.

In addition, YK is conducting AI function training for newly hired attorneys. The training program is operated in an integrated manner, without distinguishing between senior and junior lawyers. The main focus of the training is 'how to use AI while minimizing legal risks.'

Considering the wide range of areas where AI can be applied, YK plans to continue advancing the overall system by managing the development schedule for each feature individually.

A YK representative stated, "AI does not replace the judgment of attorneys, and we will continue to develop our system in a way that protects both client privacy and the quality of our legal services."