AI could change how cases move from filing to trial by helping lawyers assess evidence and case strength faster. Alex Spiro, a partner in Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan’s New York office, said that may push some disputes toward earlier settlements and others more directly to trial, reducing costly, time-consuming litigation in between.
Speaking about AI’s effect on the legal profession on the technology interview program TBPN on Thursday, Spiro said faster information synthesis could help lawyers decide sooner whether a case is worth taking to court. That shift could also affect the costs and decisions businesses face when they are involved in litigation.
Faster case assessments could compress proceedings
Spiro said AI could “eliminate a layer of many things,” including parts of his own daily work. With case information gathered and assessed more quickly, lawyers may be able to decide earlier whether to seek a settlement or pursue a case through trial.
He described a process in which disputes spend less time caught between those outcomes: they may settle sooner or proceed to trial, rather than remaining in prolonged, costly negotiations and procedural steps. For companies, that could reduce legal fees that accumulate as cases drag on. For law firms, it could change how they screen cases and allocate resources.
Faster analysis may not mean fewer trials
Spiro said quicker analysis does not necessarily mean fewer lawsuits or trials. Lawyers may be able to compare more cases and conclude that most should settle while a smaller number should continue to court.
As an example, he said a team reviewing 10 cases might decide that nine should settle and one should be pursued. Some companies, he added, may currently concede because they are concerned about the risks of trial. A clearer assessment of a case could change how they weigh that decision. Spiro did not give an estimate of how AI might affect the number or cost of lawsuits.
Spiro says his approach to juries will stay the same
While AI may change how efficiently lawyers gather and process information, Spiro said it would not alter his strategy before a jury. He said the basic approach he has used in trials and jury presentations over the past 20 years has not changed: effective advocacy still works, and jurors do not change because of AI.
He expects the more immediate changes to come in trial preparation. Fewer people may be needed to provide information, or the route that information takes to the legal team may become more direct, while technology helps lawyers process material and develop arguments more quickly.
Spiro has represented clients including Elon Musk, actor Alec Baldwin, rapper Jay-Z, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and former New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Asked whether clients might overestimate their legal judgment because they use AI, he joked that nearly all of his clients think they know the law better than their lawyers, calling that his “specialty.”