Digital technologies and LegalTech provide ubiquitous data, unlimited connectivity, and massive processing power – this is what makes them so powerful. But the real value in technology lies in people’s ability to leverage it. Without the desire, knowledge and ability to use emerging technology, organisations can miss the mark in augmenting their people’s expertise and skills with technologies that will enhance their performance and delivery for clients.
For me, LegalTech means enabling lawyers to unlock greater performance and deliver continually enhanced outcomes for clients across speed, quality and price. It reduces labour intensive tasks by automating repeat activities. It can be enjoyable to use and at KWM we have captured stories from our lawyers who have enjoyed the process of applying LegalTech to client matters. At KWM we are transforming the way we work to deliver for our clients as their needs continually evolve. Here are my top 4 reasons why everyone should be adopting LegalTech for process improvement:
The future is here and change is constant
2020 was a wild year, and it brought with it many lessons and increased digital connectivity. I learned that my teenage sons can play video games or workout for more hours than I thought possible. That I can stay within 5km of my home for months at a time. That my husband cooks a phenomenal sous vide steak. And that my team is committed to delivering for our clients, despite facing the largest of challenges in the form of a global pandemic. But on a macro level we learned that the future is here, and that change is constant.
What that means, is that all of us need to be thinking about how to deliver in a continually shifting environment. How we can adapt rapidly, explore and implement new ways of working and keep our clients’ needs at the centre of our thinking. For those in the legal industry, LegalTech tools augment us with ‘enablers’ that position us to deliver improved outcomes for clients. Tools like Microsoft Teams enable us to collaborate in real-time and accelerate knowledge sharing across multiple locations and teams, speeding up decision-making and problem solving. LegalTech in many cases allow us to expeditiously identify, extract, review, track and create information we need to deliver legal services.
Our clients’ needs are evolving, requiring new ways of delivering legal services
We know our clients face new and evolving challenges, requiring us to deliver different, smarter solutions. At KWM we are optimising our legal delivery to help our clients with their hardest problems and create change which has a positive impact. We have a team made up of lawyers, designers, developers, legal technologists, consultants and project managers working with clients. We leverage emerging LegalTech in order to do things differently, or indeed things that have never been done before. We recently ran a series of sprints with one of our largest clients, designed to help their in-house team to leverage self-servicing technology, automate their legal processes and unlock efficiencies. Part of our focus is to identify LegalTech that helps our clients exploit digital solutions in their own legal functions. Evolving client needs mean we need to continue to explore emerging technology to be at the forefront of what is possible.
The technology is getting better (and better)
When I first started working at the intersection of Law and Technology scanned images of documents and databases were cutting edge. Technology has come so far, so quickly. We are seeing new and exciting platforms enter the market at a rapid rate, providing clients and firms with choice around which product to leverage across a range of legal activities. What this means is greater optionality for those considering LegalTech, which naturally drives cost down while providing the user with all the benefits that come with technology like accelerated delivery and improved quality. If you haven’t already jumped in, now is the time to get started.
Adoption + proficiency = value creation
Ultimately, the business case for leveraging LegalTech comes down to delivering continually improved business impact. By augmenting deep, legal expertise with emerging technology, lawyers are able to provide legal services faster and in a more cost-effective way, improving both their experience as well as client outcomes. Whether its consolidating data sets to a single source of truth that you can then share across multiple sites, collaborating in real-time like executing a CP checklist on a deal, or disrupting your own business model from the inside (as we are doing at KWM through our initiative, The Multiplier), embracing LegalTech is the first step to uplifting your people’s digital literacy and creating value for your clients.
I love working with technology, finding new ways to help our people deliver for our clients, and exploring what’s possible. Don’t hesitate to get in touch should you wish to have a conversation about emerging LegalTech, our superpowered initiative, The Multiplier, or, how to sous vide a steak.
