For example, knowledgeable lawyers can use data analytics software to detect financial discrepancies resulting from company executives who misrepresent their companies’ assets during mandatory reporting periods to skew business valuation data. In order to retain our value as a profession we need to remain alert to what differentiates us and we need to be prepared to make potentially radical changes to traditional business models and fee structures to ensure that we continue to highlight and maximise our professional value.’ For Cook, the most important areas for lawyers to focus on going forward are ‘management of know-how, speed of retrieval and reutilisation.’. The 2017 Law Firm Flexibility Benchmarking Survey found that 64.7% of law... 2) Automating eDiscovery. Likewise, business development is increasingly an online activity. If technology is changing the way your firms deliver services, engage with customers, collaborate in the supply chain or indeed impacts any other part of your operations, there will be legal questions arising. When it comes to new entrants to the legal profession, the changes we have seen over recent times, both in terms of an increased business and technical focus, means that aspiring lawyers cannot simply focus on the law. As a newly qualified solicitor I would routinely attend two or three networking or marketing events per week. Legal documents and government statutes have been slowly ported to web enabled data bases so that frequent trips to law libraries are unnecessary. It is no longer necessary for people to use paper documents as much, which can make them more effective when working on a case. Several technologies have come out recently that are changing the legal profession on the significant basis. Family Law: The DIY Divorce Divorces are infamously messy and can often take months or even years of drawn out arbitration with paperwork shuffling back and forth between each sideâs representation. What do fee earners need to focus on to stay ahead of the curve? Lawyers should be working on ways of commoditising their service for clients… and becoming business partners with clients rather than an external resource which is used only in times of crisis or change. The electronic search feature of these types of databases helps legal professionals gather relevant data very quickly which leaves more time for analytical activities and court case preparation. With the proliferation of IT tools that make legal research more efficient, legal firms are forced to reassess their entire organizational structure and become leaner to compete with other law offices. Here are some common ways that the industries of IT and legal services intersect. Before the widespread use of IT in the legal profession, paralegals and lawyers spent a great deal of their time in law libraries and law offices preparing for cases. Advances in programming, AI and virtual office presence present amazing opportunities to facilitate more dynamic ways for lawyers to work alongside clients. ", © Copyright 2006 - 2021 Law Business Research. Impact of Technology on the Practice of Law Click for a free trial of Lexis®PSL. Soft opt-in for marketing purposes - not the soft option. Many legal tasks were ⦠- A US perspective, Apple App Store faces new antitrust investigation in the UK. Lawyers have always used medieval means such as paper files, letters, etc. Apttus, founded 2006: Th is management software has changed the way companies manage sales processes and contracts, removing the need for lawyers to be involved at every stage. 5 Ways Technology Is Changing the Legal Profession 1) Streamlining Lawyer/Client Communications. Once through the door, trainees and NQs need to be prepared to spend a lot of time marketing and to think commercially about what they can bring to a firm. ‘One point she makes is that the shift away from the idea of a ‘job for life’ applies equally to the legal profession: ‘I think entrants to the profession are quite realistic. Harnessing data for marketing efforts has increased the sales for many companies and helped them to provide a greater level of customer service. According to Kitty Rosser of Birketts, the ‘default answer that tends to be given to this question is communications; we are all now firmly wedded to our Blackberrys and tablets and as a result are expected to be on hand to provide advice 24/7. Legal profession was said to be one of those fields that lag behind in technology. With all these changes, what can lawyers do to harness technology and use it to their advantage? These days, when a Technology in law firms is too often seen as a back office function and technologists need to demonstrate to fee-earners that this is no longer the case.’. She is also a well known legal technology author, journalist, and speaker. I tend to scroll through the daily email when I am having my lunch, reading the headlines and descriptions of the articles, and click on any items that are of interest to me - that way, I feel like I am kept 'in the loop' with legal developments. Technology has also changed the way law ⦠IT data analytic tools are also used to determine the level of income available for child and spousal support payments in family law cases. Treat this info as a starting point for further research on the Chambers Student website and beyond. Online-paralegal-degree.org is an advertising-supported site. The practice of law has been around for a very long time. If you would like to learn how Lexology can drive your content marketing strategy forward, please email [email protected]. These technology skills also extend to asking the right questions about evidence that is gleaned from associated computers. However, this same data can be used to catch unethical business people who are involved in money laundering schemes and other fraudulent activities. Clients expect digital archiving and immediate recall of documents, ideally from a secure source, be it extranet or private cloud, with data rooms for day to day documentation as well as deals. Naturally, these advances can also improve access to justice for individuals who could not afford legal services or chose not to consult a lawyer, as demonstrated by Crowd Justice , ClaimIT or Do Not Pay . If free data and wide access to legal knowledge means lawyers no longer need to be a memory bank of cases, then their experience of practical application of the law to real life legal scenarios becomes crucial, as this can’t be Googled. How E Discovery Law Has Changed The Legal Profession. Established roles such as knowledge managers, IT directors and of course fee earners themselves have all been impacted in many ways. A lawyer must understand and demonstrate how these computer based crimes are committed to make a strong case in their client’s defense or to prosecute someone in court. Also, the use of mobile computing devices extends the work place of legal professionals to virtually anywhere in the world. Nowhere is this more obvious than how technological developments, even just over the past few years, have changed how legal professionals approach their job. Become your target audience’s go-to resource for today’s hottest topics. Harnessing data for marketing efforts has increased the sales for many companies and helped them to provide a greater level of customer service. Introducing PRO ComplianceThe essential resource for in-house professionals. As civilization evolves, so does our approach to practicing law. Power up your legal research with modern workflow tools, AI conceptual search and premium content sets that leverage Lexology's archive of 900,000+ articles contributed by the world's leading law firms. According to Frears, it’s important for legal professionals to take a more business-centric approach: ‘As clients are better informed, having access to similar resources as lawyers and the infinite look-up possibilities of search engines, lawyers need to hone their commercial skills. All of the legal ⦠The speed and efficiencies of business processes that are gained from the use of various forms of IT are often offset by the increase in digital crimes. Five years later it is more likely that I will only attend one event per week but that I will engage with clients and contacts via Twitter and LinkedIn on a daily basis.’, Joanne Frears of Blandy & Blandy takes this point of communication further, noting that an important change is about what clients now expect: ‘Client expectations that you can always be reached have definitely changed in the last five years, as has their expectation that you will be using the same level of technology as they do – both in terms of hardware and software. While the technology is generally developed externally by software companies, start-ups or legal publishers, some law firms have decided to build their legal tech infrastructure in-house. Technology has impacted every aspect of the legal industry, from document management to courtroom operation. You can resist or ride the tide of disruption in the legal profession and choose whether or not to implement legal technology in your law firm. In the first industrial revolution, there was initially no regulatory framework to govern innovation, imitation and competition. Based on my experience in smaller and medium sized firms, the most successful entrants I have seen have been those who can identify and derive value from a particular niche area of expertise.’, As may be expected, it seems that new entrants are pretty well skilled on the IT front, and, Rosser says, it’s other areas where they may need to improve: ‘The one crucial skill that cuts across all firm type and practice areas (and is often overlooked by younger members of the profession) is the ability to form and develop relationships; regardless of the technological backdrop a lawyer still builds a practice on the back of basic human interaction… If anything new entrants to the profession tend to be better equipped to adapting to new technologies – for the most part younger members of the profession have grown up with technology and have a level of engagement with it and acceptance of it that older members of the professional lack; the fear factor has gone.’. The audit process is more important than the tools used to conduct these comprehensive investigations. Many legal professionals work with accountants, law enforcement and other government agencies to defend or prosecute people who are accused of white collar and financial related crimes. How COVID-19 is already transforming legal profession. Remote working means that I can deal with any issues that do arise as effectively from home (or wherever else I happen to be) without the inconvenience of having to go into the office. As technology continues to change the face of the legal industry, Joanne Frears, partner at Blandy & Blandy, Kitty Rosser, associate at Birketts, and Anna Cook, consultant at Bristows, look at how technology has changed the roles of fee earners over the past few years. Training could focus more on building know how, not just tasks giving rise to billable hours.’. In common with many in-house lawyers, I have limited access to (and a limited budget for) resources and rely on receiving know-how from friends and contacts in private practice. According to Rosser, ‘there is a prevalent but misguided assumption amongst new entrants that technical legal expertise is the key to a successful career. Lawyers who work on cases involving personal injury, family law, insurance and financial services law cases often use the described IT and problem solving skills. Her legal career spans nearly two decades and she has extensive litigation experience. The only difference in that regard these days is that I can now elect when to check my email or on occasion even opt to turn off my mobile rather than being at the mercy of unannounced calls to a home landline. It will, nevertheless, deeply impact the way in which lawyers and firms conduct their businesses. The law, after all, is one of the most conservative businesses in the world, filled with risk-averse practitioners. Technology is changing the face of the legal industry. However, whilst the increased ease with which these devices enable us to communicate with our clients cannot be denied, in my view the idea of a lawyer offering round the clock availability is nothing new. Law firms and corporate legal departments have hired Relativity experts to build their own internal eDiscovery departments and created new businesses in partnership with them. Do new recruits have the skills they need and are they prepared for the changing profession? This is only one example, here are five other ways the legal profession has been turned on its head thanks to technology. Keep a step ahead of your key competitors and benchmark against them. Although the terms legal assistant and paralegal are still often used interchangeably, the job descriptions for these professionals have changed dramatically. Rosser agrees that there is a need for lawyers to establish their true value in light of automation and AI: ‘As individual lawyers it is incumbent upon us to simply keep up with the ever increasing array of legal software that we use on a daily basis, whether that be automated document creation and review, e-filing systems or document and knowledge management systems. So how has technology changed legal practices in the past? Please contact [email protected]. This article is the first in a monthly column from FinTech GC Ksenia Sussman examining how the legal profession should adapt to current, and future, changes in technology⦠The legal profession is known for its conservatism and traditionalism which many believe must be preserved in order to maintain the prestige of the profession. One of the biggest steps that has enabled technology in law to involve is the digitalization and storage of caselaw, statutes, and regulations.
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