Emerging technologies re-shaping the legal world
The legal profession has continuously faced accusations of being reluctant to embrace technology.
Emerging technologies have ushered in a revolution among industries, especially among the ones involving high degree of human intervention, by automating repetitive and time-intensive tasks. For example, in the customer service industry, chatbots and automated calls have significantly reduced the burden for customer care teams. However, the legal profession has continuously faced accusations of being reluctant to embrace technology. Whereas modern law firms are trying to change this outlook, embrace technology in law, and benefit from emerging legal technology trends.
What is legal technology?
Typically, use of technology in legal space has till now been limited to practice management, accounting and billing, administration, and document management. However, legal technology has come a long way over the past few years, especially with the pandemic forcing everything online. Now, automation solutions in this space comprise the whole big gamut of artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, AI-powered legal assistants, and many more, which are helping the justice system deliver more effective and efficient legal services.
Although the relationship between law and technology has had a rocky start, technology for lawyers and law firms is now revolutionising how lawyers and law firms can deliver legal services. The year 2022 marked a big year for the expansion of legal tech solutions, with an increase in the use of predictive analytics tools to reduce turnover time, integration of AI tools with legal outsourcing services, and improvement in business efficiencies.
Top legal technology trends
In an industry that is known to be traditional in its working methods, emerging technology trends are bringing about the necessary changes and shaping the modern legal landscape. Some of the top legal technology trends you need to know are:
1. Digital transformation: Digital transformation is sweeping every industry, and with customers moving online, law firms and legal departments have no option but to build and enrich their digital presence. Moreover, digital interfaces are also simplifying and streamlining many legal processes allowing stakeholders easy access to a complex system.
2. Automation: Automation technology in law has streamlined mundane and routine tasks of contract management, legal research, eDiscovery, document review, data collection, reporting, and communication. As a result, law practitioners can now operate more efficiently and dedicate resources to providing better legal services.
3. Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI and machine learning (ML) are lucrative solutions bringing transformations beyond automation. In the legal industry, with the volume of data increasing, AI applications analyse vast amounts of data, identify patterns, and carry out predictive modelling. With powerful data-driven insights, lawyers can uncover critical evidence and build winning litigation strategies.
4. Cloud-based solutions: Cloud-based solutions help lawyers and clients share files and data easily instead of relying solely on emails. Additionally, the flexibility offered by cloud-based systems facilitates integration between different tools. This allows law firms to effectively manage their practice and bring transparency to communication with each other and clients.
5. Virtual legal assistants: AI and neural network model–powered chatbots harness the power of deep learning to act as virtual legal assistants (VLAs) to clients. This not only improves response time but frees up resources for high-value tasks. And when the VLAs cannot address a query, they forward it to the concerned department, extending the operational capacity of the team.
6. Data privacy and cybersecurity: Data has become an integral part of legal practice and with the right tools, law firms can encrypt and securely share data within the organisation and externally. In a business environment where the risk of malicious attacks is increasing, especially with the shift to remote work, law firms must take precautions and use the right tools to ward off bad actors and ensure data privacy and cybersecurity.
7. Client focus: Legal industry is moving towards a more client-focused approach with the rest of the business world. Solutions such as remote video calls with lawyers, texting the legal team via legal platforms, automatic email updates, and access to client information anywhere, are slowly becoming the norm in the legal industry.
Emerging legal technology trends are transforming modern legal practices and shaping the future of the legal industry. Law and technology are no longer disconnected as technology for lawyers enhances the efficiency of legal services. Agility, after all, is essential for organisations on their digital transformation journeys, to be able to adapt to the dynamically changing business and technological landscape. The legal space, therefore, must also deliver and surpass organisational expectations using a keen digital mindset, supported by innovation. We are surely making strides on that path.
