On its face, Amazon’s current lawsuit to dam Perplexity’s AI brokers from procuring on Amazon’s web site looks like simply one other turf conflict between two tech giants with little relevance for solo and small regulation corporations. By way of background, Amazon says that Perplexity’s Comet browser unlawfully accessed Amazon’s web site and buyer accounts by disguising autonomous AI brokers as human customers to make purchases with out authorization, whereas Perplexity responds that it merely allows customers to make use of digital assistants to behave on their behalf. As such, the case raises the knotty drawback of tips on how to regulate AI brokers performing on somebody’s behalf — a problem that may attain the authorized career ahead of most attorneys count on.
Let’s take a step again. In keeping with Claude.AI, an AI agent is a software program system that autonomously performs duties and makes choices to realize particular objectives, utilizing instruments and adapting its strategy with out fixed human oversight. AI brokers don’t simply help; they act. And whereas brokers are currently in beta or experimental mode, it’s not tough to examine how they could possibly be deployed in authorized and the attendant repercussions.
For instance, simply as shoppers now deploy AI brokers to seek out merchandise, purchasers will quickly ship AI brokers to seek out attorneys. And these brokers gained’t essentially consider a agency the best way a human would. They’ll scrape your web site, LinkedIn posts, and on-line critiques, scanning for goal indicators of competence, responsiveness, pricing, and availability, and assess the way you match up in opposition to your rivals.
And that witty, human-sounding weblog put up that you simply hoped would persuade prospects that you simply’re relatable? An AI agent would possibly ignore it solely in favor of structured information like printed case outcomes, flat-fee pricing tables, or key phrase readability. In brief, we’re transferring right into a world the place your advertising and marketing should persuade machines earlier than it persuades folks.
Solo and small-firm attorneys who depend on private voice and storytelling might want to begin optimizing for machine readability. That doesn’t imply abandoning human tone, nevertheless it does imply:
- Structuring your web site content material with clear metadata and FAQ sections that make it simple for brokers to extract key info.
- Providing standardized descriptions of apply areas (“contested guardianship litigation, fixed-fee property plans, mediation companies”) quite than narrative-style prose.
- Utilizing clear information codecs so AI crawlers can appropriately interpret your credentials and choices.
Serving to shoppers discover attorneys isn’t the one method that AI brokers might manifest themselves within the authorized career. A savvy adversary might weaponize agent functionality. Image a situation the place a divorce shopper dispatched a military of AI brokers to schedule “consumption calls” with each household lawyer on the town — thereby creating conflicts that forestall any of them from representing the opposing partner. At the moment, that sort of conduct would require dozens of cellphone calls and solid signatures. Tomorrow, it might occur in seconds, triggered by a single immediate: “Battle out each lawyer inside 10 miles of my ex.”
Regulation corporations might want to develop clear insurance policies to guard in opposition to such misuse. Simply as web sites now put up disclaimers about automated scraping, corporations might quickly must undertake AI-agent entry insurance policies stating whether or not automated brokers are permitted to fill out types or schedule consultations. Corporations might additionally make use of verification gates to detect when submissions come from bots quite than people and software program able to recognizing duplicate or mass-generated inquiries.
Lastly, don’t overlook the rise of “recording brokers.” Purchasers might use AI-powered note-takers to report calls after which feed whole consultations into massive language fashions for follow-up evaluation. I’ve written in regards to the ethics of lawyers recording conversations with clients, however when shopper brokers report with out permission, it raises each privateness and privilege points. Legal professionals ought to replace engagement letters to specify that no shopper (or shopper’s agent) might report or transmit conversations with out consent. Assembly-scheduling techniques ought to embody a disclosure requiring human participation, not simply digital intermediaries.
Within the coming years, AI brokers will undoubtedly turn out to be as ubiquitous as electronic mail or the cloud, quietly dealing with analysis, scheduling, procuring, and authorized consumption. These solo and small corporations who deploy brokers whereas structuring their on-line presence for agent discovery, setting boundaries for AI-agent interactions, and making certain shopper information is safe will thrive within the AI agent age.
Carolyn Elefant is without doubt one of the nation’s most acknowledged advocates for solo and small agency attorneys. She based MyShingle.com in 2002, the longest-running weblog for solo practitioners, the place she has printed hundreds of articles, sources, and guides on beginning, operating, and rising unbiased regulation practices. She is the writer of Solo by Alternative, broadly thought to be the definitive handbook for launching and sustaining a regulation apply, and has spoken at numerous bar occasions and authorized conferences on expertise, innovation, and regulatory reform that impacts solos and smalls. Elefant additionally develops sensible instruments just like the AI Teach-In to assist small corporations undertake AI and he or she constantly champions reforms to stage the taking part in area for unbiased attorneys. Alongside this work, she runs the Regulation Workplaces of Carolyn Elefant, a nationwide power and regulatory apply that handles selective advanced, high-stakes issues.
