The pandemic has certainly caused a sea of change for law firms. Physical offices are often empty or staffed, lawyers and support staff have become dependent on remote technology, and courts and similar facilities have shifted to a Zoom-driven existence. It is still unclear if and how long this adoption of the technology will last. Certainly, one truth is that there is a strong desire among some to return to the good old days. While the good old days probably won`t return completely, it depends on many factors, many of which we haven`t taken into account. Eventually, the pandemic will fade into our memory. Meanwhile, numerous articles in law journals predict how quarantine life will change legal practice forever. For some companies, this is the case. For some dishes, this is the case. For some offices, however, transformation can be mostly superficial, that is, unless management takes the necessary steps to assess whether its actions during the pandemic have met the needs of their employees. These offices need to assess what worked, what didn`t, and where to take companies in a post-pandemic tech world. Since time is the most important accounting element for lawyers, considerations focused on optimizing lawyers` time can and should be at the forefront when determining the value of legal technology. If legal technology doesn`t maximize the time lawyers have in a day, or allow them to spend that time on more complex issues, is it really worth it? Probably not.
The amount of time lawyers spend on tasks has remained an important factor in determining the value of legal technology over the past three years. Employees were frustrated by the refusal to deploy technology company-wide and hated having to struggle to get technology, not to mention necessities like process software, an enterprise-wide time accounting program, and just about everything else. Some employees left the company and only a handful of associates admitted they wanted to work in offices with better technology. Even when they explained that the lack of technology was a reason to leave, the partners shrugged their shoulders and didn`t change. After all, employees are dispensable gears in the wheels of the company. The pandemic has highlighted the decline of the legal industry`s position in the tech game and an opportunity for it to do better. The need to improve remote connections was pervasive across the industry, with the law firm still largely stuck in its labor-intensive legal pathways. Within weeks, however, these traditional bureaucratic models were replaced by a more agile, synergistic and efficient system. Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Skype Meet Now, Webex and many other video conferencing platforms have become an acceptable alternative to in-person testimony, court testimony, and application hearings. While many courts began to revert to pre-pandemic operational protocols as pandemic rules became more lax, the adoption of the digital world was far from transformative. Obviously, a lot has changed since 2008; But many things are not. We`ve seen hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, floods, and now a pandemic that has forced law firms to close their physical offices and adapt temporarily.
Each time, commentators said law firms would recognize the impact of these events and change the way they work. But in many cases, nothing has changed. Lack of familiarity and ease of use are the most common barriers to end-user adoption of technology. Before choosing a new technology, you need to understand the needs and wants of customers and employees. IT teams need to gather feedback from everyone involved and pay attention to the level of technical experience. Take the time to practice so that people feel empowered and not overwhelmed. Hire or appoint a program manager to focus on technology projects and recruit technology champions to mentor others on their technology journeys. Technology and a focus on the client rather than unnecessary litigation have become the new benchmark for lawyers who understand their clients` expectations of outcome-oriented business. The widespread implementation of technology is the driving force behind this pandemic paradigm. This modernization is not a simple facelift, but a restructuring of legal practice, including a major shift from a lawyer-centric business dynamic to a client-centric business dynamic.
If the negative sentiment becomes too much, companies may be forced to abandon a technology initiative, which could lead to what one general counsel called a “career moment” after being forced to amortize a six-figure investment and thousands of hours of staff time, thanks to a failed investment in contract lifecycle management (CLM). The coronavirus pandemic has created new pressures that have led more legal functions to pursue or consider automation, even though they have long resisted changes in this area. To answer these and other questions, I turned to a roundtable of legal industry experts from different backgrounds. The roundtable includes: When it comes to paying legal fees, clients want options. Clio`s 2022 Legal Trends Report found that payment plans are among the most important factors when hiring a law firm, with multiple billing options receiving the fourth highest impact score for law firm employability. While there is no doubt that choice is a positive thing, some payment methods are better than others. Another common barrier is that different practice areas have different technological requirements. While some technologies benefit a litigator, they may not only be irrelevant to other lawyers, but also a foreign language. For example, in some states, estate attorneys must file estate tax returns, but forms available online must be completed and stored separately.
Thus, estate administration lawyers often save a lot of time by purchasing tax filing software that automates the process, combines the different calendars into one document, and performs all the calculations. A litigant will not understand this software if they are not shown the problem. Do independent legal technology products or new start-ups stand a chance in today`s environment? Legal organizations that use technology with their customer experience in mind will stand out more. For example, a Gartner study predicts that by 2023, a quarter of legal departments will use virtual legal assistants (VLAs), AI-powered chatbots that can answer frequently asked questions to legal departments. This technology not only provides faster responses to internal stakeholders, but also saves in-house lawyers time and helps them focus their attention on legal concerns that only they can resolve. Therefore, we can expect companies to adopt technology that reduces costs and increases efficiency. For example, AI is likely to be used in intelligent document file search to prepare for litigation, identify contracts that have become riskier due to current events (e.g., the LIBOR transition), or provide relevant data to lawyers for further scrutiny.
