How Law Firms Can Get Started with AI for Medical Record Reviews

The legal industry is currently undertaking a major shift. Law firms that handle personal injury, medical malpractice, and mass tort cases are under increasing pressure to review large volumes of medical records quickly and accurately to meet their clients’ evolving expectations. 

For many firms, one of the most time-consuming and resource-intensive tasks is building a medical chronology. These chronologies provide a structured timeline of treatments, diagnoses, and medical events. They’re the backbone of personal injury litigation, supporting fast, evidence-based decisions and negotiations. 

Without a medical chronology, attorneys or paralegals would need to sift through thousands of pages of unstructured information to locate relevant facts, but creating them is tedious, time-consuming, and, unfortunately, prone to errors. 

That’s why many firms are now turning to AI for law firms. By using AI tools for lawyers that are purpose-built for medical record reviews, attorneys and paralegals can streamline case preparation, save time, and improve the accuracy of medical data analysis. 

This blog covers how to adopt AI in your practice, the benefits you can expect, and the steps to ensure a smooth rollout.

Why manual medical chronology review slows legal teams

Personal injury attorneys rely heavily on medical records to establish causation, damages, and liability. But the traditional process of manually reviewing medical records is slow and difficult to scale. Firms often run into challenges, such as:

• Time-intensive reviews that pull attorneys and paralegals away from important case strategy.
• Inconsistent results stemming from differences in reviewer expertise.
• Limited ability to scale caseloads without adding staff.
• Risk of critical details being overlooked or buried in medical records.

A medical chronology should make a case easier to understand, not harder. But with manual reviews, details are often missed, timelines get muddled, and lawyers spend more time organizing evidence than building arguments.

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The benefits of AI for law firms

By adopting AI medical chronology software, legal teams can offload repetitive review work to technology while keeping control of strategy and analysis. Here are some of the key benefits:

• Efficiency: Automating record review can save up to 72% of the time normally spent preparing chronologies.
• Accuracy: Unlike a human reviewer, AI excels at spotting subtle discrepancies and missing information among hundreds or thousands of pages of similar documents. 
• Scalability: With more efficient medical record reviews, legal practices can manage more cases without adding staff.
• Client satisfaction: Less time spent reviewing medical data gives attorneys more time to focus on case preparation and client communication, improving turnaround time and client confidence.
• Cost savings: Less time spent on manual review means attorneys have more time available for high-value tasks.

To learn more about options for improving the medical record review process and the benefits of using AI, download our legal guide.

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Step-by-step guide to adopting AI in legal practice

There are many considerations when looking to adopt legal AI tools. Attorneys who are looking to incorporate chronology software into their practice should consider the following:

1. Identify the Right Use Cases

Legal software is not a replacement for human judgement or expertise. When used correctly, it will augment, rather than replace, human skill. For this reason, it’s crucial to understand the types of tasks that AI is well-suited for. 

Tasks that are repetitive, time-consuming, and depend on precise details, are often a good place to start. As such, using AI to create medical chronologies can be a natural starting point. 

Beyond medical chronology services, firms can also see value in AI for:

• Document review
• Contract analysis
• Legal research
• Billing and administrative workflows

Learn more about finding the best AI tools for your lawsuit.

2. Choose the Right AI Tools for Lawyers

It’s important to remember that not all AI tools are created equal. General-purpose AI, such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, may be helpful for drafting emails or brainstorming new ideas, but have significant limitations when it comes to more specialized legal tasks, like medical record reviews.

For this reason, it’s crucial to find legal medical chronology services with technology that’s been built specifically for attorneys. When looking for an AI service provider, it’s important to consider the following:

• Transparency: Does the tool provide click-to-evidence so you can verify findings against the original medical records?‍
• Compliance and security: Look for certifications such as HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II, and GDPR.‍
• Accuracy: Has the system been tested independently for bias and reliability? Does it perform reliably in real-world scenarios?‍
• Legal focus: Is the platform designed for law firms reviewing medical records, or is it a generic document tool repurposed for attorneys?

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The right partner will make the difference between a tool that saves time and one that creates new risks.

3. Prepare Your Team for AI Adoption

New technology often meets resistance. Attorneys and paralegals may question its accuracy or worry about being replaced. That’s why it’s important to be clear about its purpose within the firm: it is a tool to support legal professionals, not replace them. It cannot substitute for legal professionals’ judgment, decision-making, or expertise.

Here are some tips to ease adoption within your firm:

• Provide training and workshops to help your team understand how the software works.
• Show the practical benefits, such as reducing low-value tasks and freeing up time for case strategy.
• Emphasize the accuracy and transparency of the tool and that final legal judgment always remains with the attorney.

4. Start Small and Scale Gradually

Implementing new technology can feel like a big shift, but it doesn’t need to happen all at once. Many law firms find it effective to begin with a pilot program and expand gradually. For example, you might start by applying it to one task, such as medical record reviews or legal research.

By tracking results, measuring efficiency gains, and gathering feedback, firms can refine their approach before rolling it out more broadly. Once the initial pilot proves successful, the technology can be scaled to other processes, creating a smoother transition with minimal disruption to daily work.

5. Partner with Experts

Firms don’t have to adopt AI alone. Consider partnering with AI consultants or vendors who specialize in the legal field. They can guide you through the implementation process, offer training, and ensure a smooth transition.

DigitalOwl provides AI medical chronology services built specifically for attorneys. Our proprietary platform summarizes medical records to deliver chronologies, timelines, and key insights in under 24 hours—helping law firms streamline case preparation and achieve stronger outcomes.

Start your 7-day free trial today!

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