Future-Proof Law: Faster. Smarter. Better – Rishi Bhatia – E1

You can hear Rob and Rishi discussing:

– Agentic AI and its Benefits

– Reducing the Stress of Labour-Intensive Tasks with Legal Tech

– The Importance of Trust and Collaboration

– How to Avoid Risking Losing Market Share

– Maximising and Streamlining your Legal Workload

Connect with Rishi here –https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishibhatia

Transcript

Robert Hanna  0:00  

Welcome to future proof lore, faster, smarter, better mini series powered by faster outcomes and brought to you by the legally speaking podcast. We’re back with another cutting edge mini series, and this time we’re diving head first into one of the hottest topics in legal innovation, agentic AI, this faster outcome series features three short, power packed episodes with Trailblazers from AI and legal tech scenes designed to equip you law firms with the insights you need to adapt, innovate and win an AI powered future. So what’s it all about each 10 to 15 minute episode breaks down real strategies, tech trends and client first transformations that are redefining the legal landscape. So let’s get into it. Welcome to the first legally speaking podcast episode of our future proof law. Faster, smarter, better, mini series powered by faster outcomes. The firms that thrive in the next decade won’t be the biggest they’ll be the most adaptive today, we’re diving into agentic AI what it is why it matters and how it’s transforming legal workflows across the globe to help us demystify the buzz and highlight the urgency. I’m joined by someone at the forefront of this movement. I’m joined by Rishi Bhatia, founder and CEO of faster outcomes. So welcome to the legally speaking podcast, Rishi.

Rishi Bhatia  1:21  

Thank you, Rob. It’s a pleasure to be here and grateful to have you on this journey with us.

Robert Hanna  1:25  

Really excited for this whole series, but let’s get into it. Let’s get into agent Ki. Sounds rather fantastic and futuristic, but how would you explain it to a very busy solicitor who’s not deep into the world of technology? I

Rishi Bhatia  1:40  

sure can So Rob at the highest level, agents are different from the traditional software. The traditional software or more you give them an instruction and they do a task with agents, what you can accomplish is really for the agents to have a full context. They can dig into your knowledge base. They can do external research. Think about them as autonomous, technology driven agents that can practically do any task. A simple example is, for instance, if, if you have to schedule a call with me right now, we have to go back and forth an email, and that’s going to take us a minute to figure out what’s the right availability with agents, what you can do is, you can put everyone on one common thread. The agents can look at my calendar, they can look at your calendar, they can look at others calendar, and they can really be objective and outcome driven versus being task driven.

Robert Hanna  2:32  

I love that. And yeah, it just, it saves so much time, doesn’t it far more efficient, removes any friction, and, you know, allows to focus on other things. So as an extension of that, then, how does agentic AI differ from automation tools law firms might already be using?

Rishi Bhatia  2:48  

Yeah, the difference with the agentic AI is really it’s all about task displacement, you know. So the reason we started faster outcome is to bridge the gaff at Justice graph with AI. You look at a typical law firm, they have Rob like typically, a lot of like metonus. Meton is repetitive tasks that they have to go through over and over again. And these tasks are draining. For instance, if you have to generate a demand level, or if you have to dig into a medical retrieval, retrieval, or go through generation of METRON that requires labour intensive digging into we’re dealing with the catastrophic law firm. It’s in the personal injury space, Rob and their medical records can have 300,000 pages. So imagine like a nurse practitioner or an expert sitting in front of those records for weeks upon weeks, digging for something. Those are the kind of things that can be automated with agents. Because not only they can, they can get you an objective or outcome. They can also be autonomous. They can understand your tone, they can speak the language of your law firm, and they can learn over time. Rob, so that’s where, with AI, your law firm could be supercharged with agents, because over time, they are getting better on their own. Yeah, and

Robert Hanna  4:12  

I think you touched on an important point there, that it’s continuously learning and getting better by the by the day, by the minute, in some respects as well. But I think there is still a nervousness about that lack of human interaction. I think you would like to say to that when it comes to AI, Agent versus human,

Rishi Bhatia  4:29  

yeah, Rob, that’s, that’s like we could, we could spend hours on that topic. Because the reality is, when you look at a typical professional services or a law firm, right, the trust is the number one thing that you cannot compromise. So how do you gain trust is by over time refining the accuracy of an agent. In order to refine that, you need to have this deep collaboration. That collaboration first needs to happen with domain experts. So what we have done at faster outcomes, we have attorneys with and. Get it with amazing tech talent that they are working with, refining the agents, before we roll them out, we have paired off with domain experts who are marquee law firms, and then we roll these things out in concentric circles, testing it out with the data that we have on the platform, then with our experts, and then we expand the circle into the design partners that we have, and then into the beta clients, and then to everyone. I think collaboration is such an important point that you’re hitting on Rob and that collaboration really needs to also happen with AI showing the work. Because I think with chat, GPT or you look at the LLM agents, typically, what happens is you give it an input, it gives you an output, but it’s a black box. But when you get into like, a legal form, like, you know, showing the work or arguments or citation like that, like that, whole piece of collaboration is so important. So how do you get AI agents to collaborate with your domain experts, your attorneys, and with the data that you already have, and that’s where we have spent a lot of time. And I think that was probably the hardest part of this exercise, was figuring that out. It shows

Robert Hanna  6:10  

the level of due diligence that you’ve put in. And I always say collaboration is domination. Okay, let’s move to ROI, because there’s always a focus on that when people are looking at expenditure and, you know, ROI and indeed, efficiency, they matter very much to law firms. So how can agentic AI directly impact these metrics in a legal setting?

Rishi Bhatia  6:31  

Yeah, Rob like, I think that’s the, probably the simplest part for the agents, right? So they’re what they’re doing for you. They’re practically acting as your employees that are trained in your tone, your language. So it’s helps you maximise a case outcome, eliminating the repetitive tasks. So when, when that happens on its own with technology, what you can really do is spend more time with the client representation, the strategy of the matter, and really get to the outcomes. So what we’ve already proven with the agents that we have on our side in multiple areas of law, Rob, we are saving time, making more money, and really empowering the human that’s looking for justice.

Robert Hanna  7:19  

Yeah, what’s not to love about absolutely all of that. Before we close, I just want to talk about the general rise of AI. You know, from the likes of New York to Dubai. We recently did a mini series lasering in into Dubai, which is really getting ahead of the curve when it comes to all things legal, tech and AI. But why do you believe law firms that fail to act now may fall behind globally?

Rishi Bhatia  7:46  

Well, I think, and Rob, like at the highest level, you’ve been talking about this over your podcast, right? It’s I believe AI is like harnessing electricity or fire. It’s like doing work in a different way that has never been done before. So the law firms that are adopting AI today, and even if they are trying it, I think the barrier to entry is not that huge. You can adopt the open source tools. If you’re not using AI, it’s likely you’re going to be left behind. So it’s not the matter of how. It’s the matter of if you’re not doing it, it’s the matter of when your competitors are gonna I don’t want to use the word eto live, but what I do mean by that is they will take your market share. So I’m not, I don’t want to come from the, you know, from the side of fear. But the reality is not the early ROI outcomes that we are seeing. It’s, it’s game changing with AI Rob, yeah,

Robert Hanna  8:39  

no, absolutely. I think it’s, you know, it’s a workforce multiplier. I got told that recently at an event when you look to adopt AI, and I think it’s so true, this has been fantastic. Really enjoyed your insights and getting a little bit deeper into the world of agentic AI. I know we could talk for for lots more. If our listeners, on that note, want to follow you or indeed, learn more about faster outcomes. Where can they go to find out more? Feel free to share any where. Share any websites, any social media links. We’ll also share them this episode for you. Too. Great. Rob. It’s

Rishi Bhatia  9:07  

faster outcomes.com. Or you can hit me on LinkedIn. I do want to like drop the final five seconds. It’s with agents. You’re hiring an employee that’s trained in your language, your tone, that never goes to sleep, and it’s working for you. 24 by seven,

Robert Hanna  9:22  

I love that, and that’s why we’re very pro agentic AI. Thank you so much once again for joining me today. Rich. You really enjoyed it. Thank you for giving me the chance Absolutely. So that’s a wrap, folks, for the first episode of our future proof lore. Faster, smarter, better. Mini Series agentic AI isn’t just coming, it’s already here. The firms willing to adapt now will be tomorrow’s front runners. Stay curious. Stay ahead for now from all of us on the league’s beam podcast, over and out.