Jurisprudence is an area of increased responsibility since very often it is not even about money and reputation, but about human life, which can be destroyed in an instant by one wrong decision. Therefore, the use of technology to ensure transparency and fairness is quite important for both legal practitioners, their clients, and government law enforcement agencies. In this article, we will learn how technology is changing the legal profession and what benefits it can give each of the participants in the legal process.
What is Legal Tech?
Legal tech refers to the set of tools, applications, and technologies that are used by legal practitioners for dealing with their everyday tasks. They cover but are not limited to innovative databases of legal knowledge, legal acts, artificial intelligence tools for quickly searching and analyzing the necessary information, as well as platforms for online interaction with legal authorities.
Legal Tech Market Overview – Trends and Predictions
Thus, the legal tech market is developing rapidly in response to the need for top-notch technologies for making better decisions at each stage of the legal trial.
- The legal tech market revenue is expected to reach $25,17 billion by 2025. For comparison, this figure is $18,43 billion in 2021.
- 49% of law firms consider their tech set usage to be effective, plus 53% of attorneys in the US and Europe said their organizations are going to become even more tech-savvy in the next three years and use the legal tech expertise from the third-party.
- The legal technology already available may help with automating 23% of current work done by lawyers.
- Consumers are also ready to adopt legal tech innovations. As estimated by the research, 70% of customers might be willing to use legal online solutions and/or lawbots to solve their legal questions since this opportunity is cost and time-saving.
The statistics above, as well as the plans and intentions of law firms and their clients, allow us to highlight the following trends that will dominate the legal tech sphere in the nearest future:
- Artificial Intelligence. Law bots are the simplest examples of AI legal technologies. However, these solutions turn out to be even more effective for legal research tasks, contract review, and decision making.
- Document automation. This is an all-encompassing trend that is relevant for many business industries, in addition to legal tech. The use of AI tools allows for streamlining reporting and creating template documents. For example, JP Morgan Chase introduced an automated AI system that works with legal and financial documents, extracting the necessary information in a matter of seconds. It is also estimated that doing this work manually will take 3600 hours of work by lawyers and loan specialists per year.
- Electronic and digital signatures. These are not new technologies but with the advancement of legal tech, their usage becomes widespread.
- Cloud computing. 58% of law firms are using cloud technologies, and they are not necessarily legal field-specific. For example, they use Google Drive or Dropbox for data management and sharing.
- Virtual law is believed to be one of the strongest trends in the field of legal tech. It refers to the new business model of legal services delivery. With the help of a virtual law platform, the customers may get online consultations from the top-notch specialists they are choosing on their own. Thus, it changes the face of the legal industry providing equal access to legal advice regardless of the location.
- Blockchain. Blockchain technologies are becoming even more powerful when combined with other solutions, like artificial intelligence for example. In the field of legal tech, smart contract usage is becoming more and more popular.
What Benefits Legal Tech Can Bring to Organizations?
To date, most law firms agree that the use of legal technology is beneficial for their business since it opens up the following opportunities.
- Ease of research. Online research tools and advanced databases of legal knowledge are quite more effective compared to old-school paper files. What’s more, they allow legal practitioners to stay updated on any changes in legislative acts and have instant access to the information they need when dealing with a particular case.
- Better time-management. There are a lot of timekeeping and scheduling apps that help attorneys to manage their time in the most efficient way possible.
- Better customer experience. Customers also appreciate the improved speed and a better accuracy legal tech may provide. Also, there are a lot of innovative solutions that allow them to do some part of the job on their own. For example, filing for a divorce can be done online in some US states. This opportunity allows the customers to save a lot of costs, and the attorney – to focus on the most difficult cases which definitely require the presence of a legal consultant.
- Cost-savings. Legal tech tools allow for cost-saving at every step. For example, online meetings with customers allow for cutting transportation costs, online applications make it possible to cut down the need to attend the court and eDiscovery tools are quite efficient for saving time on information research and analysis.
How Technology Is Changing the Legal Profession?
According to the LEGAL TECHNOLOGY: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE FUTURE OF LAW PRACTICE research, “One reason technological enthusiasts believe law practice will change soon is because of the compatibility between the abilities of computers and the nature of legal work. Legal work requires intelligence and analytical skills but not necessarily physical capabilities.
As it turns out, computers can be programmed to do high-level reasoning relatively easily. However, the emergence of new legal technologies does not mean that lawyers will become irrelevant. Instead, the roles of legal professionals will shift, rather than disappear, and become more interactive with technological applications in their given field.”
So, lawyers shouldn’t worry about the widespread adoption of technology. On the contrary, it is a great competitive advantage and an opportunity to make the world a better place by restoring justice and promoting honesty and transparency as key values.
Plus, according to predictions, very soon, legal specialists will receive a new field of activity – legal regulation of the use of robots and the development of both legal and ethical standards for this area. Isaac Asimov has already suggested some worthy ideas in his books, but the real work is still ahead.
What Technology Do Law Firms Use?
So, what are the legal technology solutions examples that are actually used by law firms? According to Statista, legal professionals are using legal tech solutions for the following purposes:
- Legal research
- Record management
- eDiscovery
- Secure document platform
- Practice management
- Drafting
- Business development
- Client relationship management (CRM)
- Legal project management
Conclusion – What Expertise SPD Group Can Offer in Legal Tech?
Thus, introducing legal tech solutions into everyday practice may become a cutting-edge advantage. Very soon, their usage will be a must for each organization that wants to keep pace with time and deliver value to their customers. Legal consulting services are the first step to take on the way to legal technologies implementation, and thus, you may need a tech-savvy partner with real-life experience in legal tech development. SPD Group may offer you competent help by analyzing your current business issues, finding the areas that need advancement most, and suggesting the ready-made or developed from scratch tools that will boost your legal business efficiency.