Making the case for a legal technology transformation
- Summary:
- Lawyers shouldn't be digital laggards. The case for a legal technology transformation is overwhelming, argues ServiceNow's Paul Hardy
The hallowed halls of London’s law court district are much like any other region’s legal hub in terms of a preference for traditional processes and practices. Papers, books, letters and journals are predominantly paper-based and the leap towards digitization has been somewhat of a ‘shuffle’ compared to other industry verticals.
But for the legal sector to be slow with technology is surprising.
Firstly, this is a highly-skilled industry and we’re talking about an educated workforce – technology should be a natural fit. Secondly, the massive amount of paper-based information being used every day is an ideal example of the business case for document management and data analytics.
Thirdly, and perhaps most pertinently, the legal sector is marked out by its willingness to share information and data between firms who operate in the same business.
In my experience, no other industry – apart from construction perhaps – shares information on an inter-firm basis as commonly as the legal sector. This may because legal practitioners feel it is their individual application of consultancy and advice that makes their business what it is – not the core body of information and facts themselves – although it’s hard to say for sure.
Either way, the case for legal IT is there in black and white. So what’s holding things back?
White glove service
Part of the problem – ok, let’s say the challenge – is that as it stands today, the IT function serving the legal trade already has a daunting task. Legal firms demand what I would call ‘white glove’ premier service in terms of uptime, availability and performance. This makes it really tough for the IT department to start thinking about how to innovate an evolve its role.
We know that the technology budget in most law firms is ‘only’ around 3% of annual revenue. But, and it’s a big but, that revenue figure is usually pretty high, so the budget available here can be considerable enough.
We also need to remember that a huge number of legal practices are run as partner-owned operations. These are not publicly listed companies – they are comparatively modest firms whose owners will feel the pinch of the financial bottom line. This makes it understandably difficult for some owners to think about radical technology transformation initiatives. Plus, why should they digitize when everything runs smoothly as it is? As Anthony Stables, CIO at Forsters LLP, explains:
The issue is expectation management. Traditionally lawyers have been treated to a ‘white glove’ IT support service – if you want something you get it, usually in-person and now. Making a change to the expectation of how that high touch service is delivered, is the only way that law firms can bring about far greater efficiency in IT support.
Money does most of the talking – the best IT Directors or CIOs will be able to convince the partnership that a change to the method of service delivery can save them money without detriment to the level of service, but this has to be proved and you’ll only get one chance to prove it. But expectations are changing, slowly. It tends to be generation X and millennials that are open to a change in the delivery method, but not exclusively so.
Core reinvention
The solution here runs deep. It’s not just about legal firms trying to roll out new big data analytics products – although they will need to do that, ultimately. It comes down to a question of reinvention at the core.
It is only when legal firms start to take their entire operational foundation towards a digitally-automated, services-centric technology approach, that they can start to bring new, information-rich services to the fore. Stables advises:
Giving access to self-service for ‘out-of-hours’ IT support can be a good first step in the right direction, this provides a gateway for chatbots and further automation. If you can provide a reliable IT support mechanism that gains a good reputation, then uptake will improve. Leveraging the firm’s social network with lawyers that are happy to be referenced is always a winner.
There is plenty of positive energy here. Some legal firms are now moving to costing work on a project delivery basis, rather than an hourly charge. This new accountability helps to argue the case (pun not intended) for bringing in more rigidly quantifiable work processes that exist as essentially digital, service-based tools.
We also know that legal firms typically don’t encourage users in their workforce to adopt self-service technology requests. When a machine or device goes down, they physically phone a support engineer or even go to see them in person. This now outdated approach is changing, or, at least, we know that legal firms recognise the need to change this element of business.
Chatbots, as a bridge
For most legal firms, any overnight move to digital will be unlikely – and we would never advocate a lift and shift approach for any firm, in any vertical.
We may find that an intelligent chatbot that is pre-architected and provisioned for legal operations represents a great bridging technology here. If we can arm legal workers with virtual agents and get them interacting with the new services layers that we are trying to move towards, then we start to build a more connected and a more digital legal workforce on terms that are more readily welcomed.
Legal digital is a trend in the making and we are still in the formative stages in many respects. But soon, very soon, the use of data and information intelligence in the legal trade will be an open and shut case. Sorry, couldn’t resist.