Editor’s note: This post is from Andrew McLennan-Murray, an applications integrator at West, part of Thomson Reuters, Legal. He attended the 2009 International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) conference.
Wednesday at ILTA 09, Richard Susskind, Gerard Neiditsch, and John Alber spoke about emerging technology likely to disrupt the way law firms practice business. According to Susskind, sustaining technologies enhance the way a business works while disruptive technologies challenge a firm’s traditional operating principles.
I attended an afternoon session in which Susskind introduced ten technologies which he believes are going to disrupt the legal community mostly because they challenge the way law firms are used to doing business. Collectively, the technologies will transform the market. Susskind identified technologies which challenge the ways a law firm traditionally makes money.
10 disruptive legal technologies:
1. Automated document assembly: Attorneys often assume this is in place at their firms right now. Surprisingly, many documents at firms are still created using manual processes. Susskind predicts eventually clients will drive a system which produces both internal and external documents automatically.
2. Relentless Connectivity: Tthe simple demand for an attorney to be available online anytime is going to increase exponentially. Already a time consuming process, attorneys will have to change the way they work due to this increasing demand.
3. The electronic legal marketplace: Advances will enable clients to instantly find out what legal services are available at what cost. Law firms dependent upon lack of consumer information will have to adapt dramatically.
4. E-learning: Simulation techniques are being developed which will disrupt the way law schools function. The simulations can offer the law students a more realistic training experience.
5. Online legal guidance: As our society shifts to reflexively look online for information, it follows that people will begin to feel comfortable receiving legal advice online.
6. Legal open-sourcing: Some legal resources are beginning to be compiled and offered for free. This obviously presents a challenge to firms who survive by charging for similar services.
7. Closed legal communities: Enabled by global and social networking, more and more clients will come together and share experiences, lessening the need for traditional legal services.
8. Workflow and project management: Firms are drowning in high volume and low value routine work. Workflow automation can help standardize the completion of this type of work, increasing margins which have traditionally been narrow. Firms who embrace this change will thrive.
9. Embedded legal knowledge: More information systems will be encoded with legal rules and regulations. Susskind cited the example of a building which could check a legal database against its monitoring systems to ensure that it was up to code.
10. Online dispute resolution: Cybersettle, Money Claim Online and others are pioneering this branch of technology which eliminates the need to physically meet in a courtroom.
John Alber explored a few in depth case studies about automating production of certain kinds of legal advice. Technology has allowed the creation of database driven workflow applications which allow the outsourcing of legal advice. This has significantly improved the client experience, allowing them to procure the resolution of legal matters online at a much lower cost than hiring a traditional law firm.
Gerard Neiditsch spoke about the future of the legal extranet. The latest extranets provide clients with a variety of information and statistics on their ongoing legal matters. Project program, financials, and alerts are just some of the information made available to clients on these advanced extranets. Some extranets even go so far as to allow the reallocation of physical resources and personnel online, allowing clients to add attorneys or reserve meeting rooms.
As disruptive technologies continue to emerge, the importance of strategic business partnerships for the firms will become paramount. Success for the future law firm will be dependent upon its relationships to the technology and infrastructure providers it partners with.
Andrew McLennan-Murray
Applications Integrator
West
Posted by Andrew McLennan-Murray in:
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