Tech is disrupting, innovating, and redefining the legal sector. All firms, regardless of size and digital capability, are already adopting elements of legal tech, from small-scale automations to massive system changes. Monolithic databases have replaced libraries, digital invoicing has started to replace paper, and drafting has increasingly come under the helpful gaze of legal document management. Legal tech is seeping into all aspects of law firm operations.
The adoption of legal tech brings many benefits. Legal tech increases efficiency, improves productivity, optimises workflow, increases client satisfaction, allows for automation, and so on. The are few, but firms can experience , installation and implementation issues, cyber vulnerabilities and other issues, most of which can be mitigated through adequate research, planning, and safeguarding.
In general, firms should seek to embrace legal tech and the subsequent disruption of the legal sector. In this article, we will look at the core frontiers where legal tech is changing the sector and discuss how your firm can stay up-to-date and perhaps even ahead of the curve.
In recent years, legal tech has improved one of the most essential tasks across the legal sector: research. In the past, lawyers had to search through libraries to locate particular books and scroll through indexes until they stumbled upon the right case law.
Legal tech has vastly improved the time it takes lawyers to access information. In the modern age, in the fast-moving and complex legal sector, ease of access has become essential. Lawyers that can access the right information at the right time possess a massive advantage.
One legal tool that offers that advantage is ³¢±ð³æ¾±²õ®±Ê³§³¢. The research tool allows lawyers to access easily digestible practice notes, precedents, forms, and analysis pieces across 36 practice areas. The functionality gives lawyers the power to tailor the tool to suit their needs and find all the required information with the slight movement of fingers.
³¢±ð³æ¾±²õ®³¢¾±²ú°ù²¹°ù²â also helps lawyers find information in a short amount of time. ³¢±ð³æ¾±²õ®³¢¾±²ú°ù²¹°ù²â plays a similar role to actual libraries – though quicker – by providing access to all the legal information lawyers need, with filtering options to make the user experience seamless. ³¢±ð³æ¾±²õ®³¢¾±²ú°ù²¹°ù²â contains the largest collection of UK law, exclusive content such as Halsbury’s Laws of England, and more than 600,000 legal cases. Lawyers can save time and increase efficiency by possessing all that legal research in one accessible location.
Legal tech is changing the client experience from the minute they search for a firm. Consider the increasing use of interactive websites, for example. Interactive websites communicate and interact with the user, going further than the usual clicking and scrolling. They offer content that is collaborative and dialogic, and compels users to actively engage with the website.
can possess various interactive features. So, for example, that might mean social media apps built into websites, allowing users to like and share content directly. Or interactive page elements that enhance page features, such as the definition of essential terms or the auto-playing of videos. Or that might mean incorporating interactive media, such as games, forms, or questionnaires, that connect directly to business objectives.
are another interactive option that improves client experience. Chatbots are powered by . They improve client experience by providing constant support and access to advice. Chatbots, unlike humans, do not need breaks.
Chatbots also give law firms a face, which helps to amplify your branding, and retain important user conversations that could eventually be . And, importantly, chatbots can relieve pressure from clients by answering simple questions.
is designed to encourage transparency, increase collaboration, improve productivity, and streamline processes. The software brings myriad benefits. It keeps information in one place, for example, providing organisation-wide ease of access. It prioritises budgeting and scheduling, allowing lawyers to make informed and timely decisions. It gives stakeholders insight into all relevant information, prevents bottlenecking, allows for more agile working, and so much more. Simply put, the software is indispensable.
And it is redefining legal tech, especially in its modern permutation. The pandemic shifted the debate between on-premise vs cloud solution. The pandemic elevated the need for flexibility, agility, and reactivity, all of which the cloud offers because it can be accessed by any device, anywhere, at any time. Cloud-based project management systems have therefore become increasingly popular. According to the , for example, are already using cloud-based apps. Law firms are following that trend.
The result is innovation, law firm growth, and a general improvement in processes. Law firms and stakeholders and even clients are able to access the software from anywhere at any time, which is perfect for both agile and flexible working. That means increases in transparency and little friction when proceeding with tasks. It means less admin and bureaucracy, too, as the need to chase essential information subsides with access and transparency.
Cloud-based software, in essence, makes life easier. For the firms that haven’t already realised, it’s very likely that the future belongs up in the cloud.
Automation makes tedious tasks seamless. The main tasks that should be automated, as discussed in previous articles, are the ones that lawyers do not like doing, the ones that create problems, and the ones that annoy or frustrate or consume too much time.
And that leads us to legal document creation, a particularly frustrating task for many lawyers. There are plenty of options on the market, which would make automating legal documents easy and affordable, freeing up lawyer’s time to spend on more important, client-facing work.
Lexis Create is one option. The tool allows lawyers to find clauses, minimise mistakes, ensure work is client-ready, validate citations, and more. It is designed to make everything as simple as possible, which will inexorably free up time for lawyers to tackle the more complex tasks.
Some firms are going even further by collaborating with tech experts. These firms are not simply reacting to the market, adopting the latest tech by necessity, but are instead aiming to find the latest tech and yield the competitive advantages of early implementation.
Lots of the bigger law and accountancy firms have taken strides in that direction, . For example, firms such as Allen & Overy, have rolled out tech labs that bring in external talent to improve internal tech offerings.
Other firms have partnered with or . A diverse and of lawtech start-ups has emerged in recent years, covering a wide range of potential innovations, from document automation, e-discovery, data analytics and extraction, and so on. New start-ups are constantly arriving, offering new technology that firms could use.
The firms of the future are scouting that technology, or paying others to develop bespoke tech. The downside is that initiatives can be costly and the tech may not prove very successful. The benefit is that successful tech could save huge amounts of time and huge sums of money.
Another piece of legal tech defining the sector is Context Expert Analytics, a tool that uses artificial intelligence to identify subject matter experts that suit your client’s legal needs. The integrated platform removes decision bias, saves times, and streamlines the vetting process. It works by combining the UK’s largest collection of case law and a massive database of the UK’s top expert, ensuring that you pick the right person for your needs.
Context Expert Analytics and all the other tools, initiatives, and systems mentioned above are redefining the legal landscape – pushing it forward, innovating, and expanding. The law firms of the future may not embrace all of these developments, but they will be open to the prospect of change and transformation. The key is to embrace the tech of the future, find ways to improve operations, and remain open to change.
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Ioan Marc Jones writes on law, politics, and economics for The Independent, openDemocracy, Economy, The Huffington Post, ½Û×ÓÊÓƵ, and many other publications.
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