Legal Tech Adoption and Next Generation Tools

by SimpleLaw on October 4, 2019

Case management software

Well, it's kind of obvious we are fans of legal tech. We are founded by attorneys who saw the value of implementing technology to improve efficiency and grow their practice. But it is a constantly evolving market, with new technological capabilities being introduced daily. The real question is what do law firms need? How do you decide what functionality to add versus not? What are the priorities for any law firm?

Eye on the Prize

Always and in all ways, the ultimate goal of legal tech is to make the delivery of legal services easier. We like to say more simple.

The function of an attorney has not really changed much over the years. Attorneys have expertise in specific legal areas and focus on supporting their clients through their legal matters. That's always the goal, no matter what area of law you practice.

So, for attorneys to do that, they need to stay up-to-date with the latest changes in law. There are many resources for that, including your local Bar Association, national associations, and CLE outlets, many of which are available online. Being sure you are up on the latest with law is critical. And technology can help with that. The ABA has a great list of online CLE resources to check out.

Efficiency

There are lots of ways to achieve greater efficiency. But, this is really where legal technology, as a solution, can help. There are more options on the market than you can count. The trick is finding the right balance for you and your law firm.

There are individual solutions, for example, time tracking tools, invoice creation tools, and so on. That's a great start. The next step is to adopt a full legal tech platform that shares the information so the time tracking tool will automatically feed the invoice creation, etc. Again, plenty of options out there. The trick here, again, is finding the one that fits you. The ABA offers a great resource for that, too.

This is likely where most law firms start slowing down their adoption of technology, and with good cause. It's understandable, directly actionable, and an area that has been well researched and vetted. But what's next?

Next Generation Tech

As you might imagine, these topics get pretty funky pretty fast. From AI to Blockchain, the application of these next generation tech capabilities to the legal profession remains, to some extent, untapped. And there is only more to come.

The real opportunity here is to identify which of these new capabilities can ease the delivery of legal services. As with all things tech, it's really a matter of the individual application. And that starts with the individual firm. For those firms who are already well up the technology adoption curve, it's a great time to start looking at the next generation tech. But that's not the case for most firms.