LawTechLIVE: 9th December 2021
LegalTech. However you feel about it, it’s here to stay. As one speaker at the LawTech Live event put it, “you can’t put toothpaste back in the tube.” This notion of accepting that technology is now part of the legal furniture was widely discussed during the day-long event which was comprised of presentations from both legal professionals and technology experts. A comfortable space to discuss the bigger picture and the future of LegalTech.
Although I'm not personally a fan of the toothpaste imagery which, to me, implies that the creation of LegalTech was an unwanted accident, the speaker brought forward a number of insights I found particularly thought-provoking. He told the story of how he once hailed a taxi in Paris only to discover that the driver didn’t use a GPS. Why would he with 20 years of experience under his belt? The speaker explained that we all now rely on technology so much that being efficient is now a right. His right to efficiency, in terms of his time and money, was being challenged. He didn't trust that the taxi driver could anticipate obstacles, such as traffic jams and upcoming road closures without some handy tech to help him do so. A good reminder of the reliance we have on technology, even if we don’t want to believe it. The speaker also reminded us that a taxi driver uses technology to enhance their work, not to do the job for them. And it's important for legal professionals to see LegalTech in the same way.
An important subject of conversation, the relationship between technology and the legal profession was explored consistently throughout the day; particularly the question of whether machines will ever be able to outperform and replace lawyers. I was surprised by how the responses varied between professionals. One speaker was adamant that the idea of technology becoming so advanced as to replace lawyers is merely fearmongering and doesn't hold any water.
Others argued that there will come a time where advanced tech will be able to do exactly that. And then there were speakers who were split down the middle. That in the future there will be many tasks that are better performed by machines, and we will have to reconsider what the added value of a lawyer is. Personally, I would tend to side with this opinion. The speaker in question, who was discussing how AI is changing the practice of law, referred to a study which found that, when it came to spotting legal issues within an NDA, AI could complete this task with 94% accuracy while a team of 20 lawyers averaged 85%. This is, of course, just one example of many that indicates the areas in which AI can be of use in the legal sector. After all, if one member of your team could do a particular task much quicker and to a higher standard than everyone else, would you ask someone else to do it?
As most of us know, a strong team relies partly on playing to people's strengths. When it comes to AI, one of its weaknesses is that it's not human and therefore can't converse or build trust with the client. Lawyers, on the other hand, play a vital role here by building a strong human connection and reassuring the client that the AI’s output is correct. In this way, the speaker argued that the future relationship between AI and lawyers has the potential to be extremely fruitful, provided technology is applied correctly.
Leading on from this, another presentation I found extremely relevant looked at the impact and understanding of transformational technology. Although the statistics were US-focused, the findings are perhaps applicable across the globe. One of the biggest findings was that although 70% of law firms believe that big data and predictive analytics will have a significant impact in the next three years, only 22% actually understand these technologies well.
Of course, the idea that skills are lagging market demand isn't a new one. However, according to the speaker, the way to mitigate issues with this is not simply to make every firm immediately adopt LegalTech, but rather to provide sufficient training for staff to better understand the firm’s workflows. The speaker suggested that for every $1 spent on LegalTech, $10 should be spent on personnel, processes, and training. The biggest tip of the day for law firms is that fully understanding the processes and workflows of the firm, and streamlining these where possible, is key to ensuring the successful implementation of useful tech.
With an abundance of LegalTech currently on the market, having the patience to really sit down and unravel the problem is difficult, but only by doing so can we discover the answers. In other words, as stated during the event, "love the problem; don't be wedded to the solution".
If you’d like to read more information on the event or contact the organisers, click here: