Technology is quickly transforming every existing industry, and like it has many others, it will no doubt disrupt the legal realm. While initially quick to engage about artificial intelligence, blockchain and quantum computing, CIOs have begun to turn back to the basics. In other words, “the internet is still the new internet,” and there is lots of low hanging fruit to pick. The law industry hasn’t seen considerable change in recent decades because until now, there was never much need to. There has always been a high demand for legal services, and there still is, but the internet now provides many cheaper alternatives. For example, in the past, when clients wanted to draft non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), they would simply have their lawyers do it. Effective, but time intensive and expensive. Today, NDAs are available for free on a number of different websites. The law industry is already seeing small changes, but at the moment, it isn’t necessarily benefitting from these changes. If technological advances were embraced in law firms, the opportunity to increase quality and expand the range of its services it can offer would improve exponentially. One way to do this is to eliminate human labor from tasks that could easily, and more efficiently, be completed by computer programs. In other words, process automation. Process Automation Process automation isn’t a new phenomenon, and has already been implemented in other fields, but the legal community isn’t exactly known for its openness to innovation. However, in order to better meet the current needs of clients, long-held practices must be altered, and habits will need to change. At the moment, law firm employees spend thousands of hours drafting documents, but the value of a document doesn’t come from a person having spent hours slaving away, it simply needs to carry out its purpose. In allowing these tasks to be completed through computer programs, personnel can be freed up to take on billable tasks or other responsibilities where the presence of an employee actually matters. Not only does this decrease operational costs, but it also minimizes errors that are almost inevitable in manual, repetitive work. Administrative costs can also be lowered. Whereas before assistants or interns may have been hired to complete such tasks, now there is software now that can replace them. Freeing up this money allows firms to sell services at cheaper rates and/or allocate human capital to more bespoke/higher value add work. A drop in fees along with the increase in the quality and speed of services tends to attract clients. Apart from increased internal productivity within a law firm, automation will also improve external communication with clients, boosting their satisfaction. Automated email software allows firms to optimize and handle correspondences through a system of standardized templates while maintaining a personalized feel (macros). Further, when potential clients have basic inquiries, responses can be immediate through automated in-take bots, which will significantly help a firm’s chances of retaining a client. This goes a long way in expanding firms, especially for smaller clinics. An attorney should spend the majority of their time determining what a client’s needs are, conferring with clients, or other substantive tasks that require higher level thinking. Determining a plan in an ongoing case is absolutely something that requires the time and energy of an attorney. Gathering basic information from clients, on the other hand, can and should be offloaded to software. Legal billing, as well, is a great example of a task that should see a least some process automation within a law firm. Having timers running to track work, or integrating software within lawyer’s outlook to automate activity generation for a given matter saves valuable minutes per activity. A move to process automation has begun. Tasks such as e-discovery and to some degree, document review are already being automated. But to fully reap the benefits of technology, a law firm must look honestly at where process improvements are due. The first step is openness to change. Firms have very little to lose, and substantial advantages to potentially gain. Technology may cause a temporary disruption to the legal industry, but the positive impact of automation on the satisfaction of clients, the productivity of a firm, and overall profits will be evident, and it will drive the growth of law firms. For more information, feel free to contact me at msm@lsg.com. Sources J’von Ortiz from Pine Tree Legal ( ) https://ptla.org/ Today, Law. "Automating Legal Services." Law Technology Today. N. p., 2020. Web. 15 Feb. 2020. "The Advantages Of Automation." Americanbar.org. N. p., 2020. Web. 15 Feb. 2020.
