Artificial Intelligence at Arriaga Asociados: Paralegal or partner

In 2023, Jesús María Ruíz de Arriaga, founder and CEO of Arriaga Asociados, was debating with Alejandro López Berraquero, the general manager, and Pedro López, the director of Transformation, about the digital transformation process that the law firm was undergoing. Specifically, Arriaga had just successfully tested an AI model that could read the text of the thousands of judicial notifications that arrived at the firm weekly, and it was time to decide whether to commit to this technology. The case examines the history and development of Arriaga Asociados, a firm specialized in consumer law that had revolutionized the legal sector in Spain. The firm's model had been likened to a "legal factory"; the specialization and standardization of processes allowed Arriaga to handle large volumes of lawsuits efficiently, with high quality standards, and at low costs, which made access to legal services feasible for broader sectors of the population who otherwise would not see litigating against large companies as viable. The case looks in detail at the legal operations within Arriaga, from the first contact with the client to the final payment of compensation following a favorable verdict, as well as the challenges the firm faced. The case then presents Arriaga's ongoing digital transformation process. Jesús saw digital technologies as an opportunity to improve efficiency, particularly the use of tools based on artificial intelligence. How could this model be implemented to improve operations? Was it the most appropriate technological solution? AI was an opportunity, but it could also be a threat. Arriaga had built its business model thanks to the industrialization of operations, but generative AI tools like ChatGPT could allow smaller firms to manage large volumes of cases just as efficiently without the need to reach a scale comparable to that of Arriaga. What, then, should be the vision of AI at Arriaga? Was it enough to see it merely as a tool for gaining efficiency, just like other automation processes that the firm was carrying out? Or could it be used to gain new competitive advantages, transforming the business model beyond its operations?