Partner Jane Colston and associate Joanna Curtis are featured in the February issue of ThoughtLeaders4 FIRE Starters.
Colston, who judged this year's Fraud, Insolvency, Recovery and Enforcement (FIRE) Future Thought Leaders Essay Competition, about the impact of AI on the profession wrote about the contest and the importance of looking ahead while also reflecting. The topic of this year's essay contest focused on whether FIRE practitioners can be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI).
"My firm and I are proud to have been part of the distinguished judging panel," Colston wrote. "We were impressed by the level of crystal-ball gazing in the submissions this year. The insightful and pragmatic approaches to the topic – in technical conceptual analysis and language – indicates there is a strong pipeline of FIRE talent for the future."
In Curtis's article, entitled "AI On Fire: New Problems, New Solutions, New Powers of the Human," she focused on the fast-moving conversation on the technology and its uses in today's world.
In early 2023, the conversation was more alarmist regarding whether job losses in professional industries would occur due to the technology, but it has now calmed down and the consensus seems to be that no, everyone isn't going to lose their jobs, she wrote.
"What history has shown us is that technological developments don't in fact render humans obsolete, rather that new roles and specialisms are created to fill the gaps in what the machines can do," Curtis wrote. "As generative AI makes some aspects of our work more cost-efficient, I prefer to be optimistic. I think that this will improve access to justice, allowing more fraud victims the opportunity to try and recover their assets, and allowing practitioners to focus on the aspects of their role that they are uniquely good at."
Generative AI will change the problems FIRE practitioners' clients face and how they are solved, she wrote, leading to familiar problems in a new industry.
"The tech industry is young, volatile and subject to limited regulation," Curtis wrote. "Greater regulation is likely to be imposed in the future. This is likely to create a number of investment, solvency, governance, and regulatory problems. Secondly, generative AI will change the way that fraud is perpetrated."
She said there will likely be more disputes involving problems where automated decision-making has gone wrong. In order to help clients mitigate the risks and recover their loses, FIRE practitioners are going to need to first understand the technology. And then realize it can make them more efficient, as well, she wrote.
"As professionals, generative AI is going to allow us to be more efficient across all areas: fact-finding investigations, providing legally informed advice, and implementing solutions, including through litigation," Curtis wrote. "[W]e just need to adapt our business models to accommodate this. It will make us focus on our unique skills and strengths as human professionals."
Trainee solicitors Bethany Williams and Imogen Wilson also reviewed the submitted articles and, with Colston, decided who the winners should be.
Read Colston's article here.
Read Curtis' article here.
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