Future Lawyer Week 5.0: The Big Takeaway

Last week, The Legal sector came together to share ideas, network, and solve shared problems. Cosmonauts UK put together a great event, with roundtable discussions that touched on some of the most pressing issues in the Legal Tech Spac.

After speaking to well over 100 legal stakeholders, from IT to Partners, here are the main takeaways from the event as a whole.

Automating Manual Processes is a Big Priority

 In 2019, according to estimates from the consulting firm McKinsey, 22-35% of lawyer and clerk jobs could be automated. We've come a very long way since then, with estimates likely increasing. Its implementation significantly decreases the risk of error and cuts the time required for routine administrative operations.

At #FLWUK 2022, Denis Potemkin, Founder of Majoto, used contract management as its business case. He stated that an estimated 94% of Development teams are unhappy with their contracting (50% saying that it results in loss of business). However, in a picture like this, only 18% of the businesses surveyed have managed to automate their contracts/processes.

This is a problem that was echoed constantly by Legal Technologists and CIOs at the event. Lawyers want more time to dedicate to actual billable hours. Without automation, up to 35% of the work done by lawyers is administration. In some cases, it's resulted in more experienced lawyers leaving their jobs to seek employment in smaller, more tech agile law practices. All because they want to be able to make better use of their time.

Consultancies Want to Create More Bespoke Client-Facing Solutions

We all know about them. The Consultancy wings. The Legal Tech Delivery specialists. According to Statista, Legal Technology as a market will grow to $25.17 Billion by 2025.

With a further 5% market growth expected within the next 5 years, Legal Consultancies are working hard to stamp their names as leaders. That's why Legal Consultancy wings are growing in popularity.

Technology Delivery in the Legal space is looking to capitalize on the growing need for technology in multiple sectors. Improving automation and creating solutions for clients in Legal, Construction, and even Finance. All to meet and keep up to date with changing regulations and make sure their clients are staying compliant. For example, in relation to ESG.

As regulatory change varies, off-the-shelf solutions that apply across multiple sectors may struggle to adapt their solutions and operations quickly enough for their clients. This is where bespoke solutions and a dedicated development team come in handy.

In the Magic Circle, low-code development solutions are used to rapidly prototype client-facing applications and adapt quickly to change, without the burden of IT bottlenecks (which is another problem law firms are facing in the UK).

Hybrid Working is Here to Stay

The impacts of lockdown can be seen in every sector. It forced organisations to adapt to changing circumstances and implement more flexible ways of working. Although we may have thought things would return to normal after the Pandemic, according to Forbes, remote working is set to increase in 2023.

For Legal practices, this means that there is a strong need to be able to work effectively from home and from the office. During Private Practice Day, a roundtable discussion was held with Hausfeld, Weightmans, Cleaver Fulton Rankin, and Berkley Rowe. In this discussion, concerns were raised about the effectiveness of remote working for entry-level staff, who need more formal and informal training, as well as remote onboarding and where it needs improvement.

The main takeaway is that there's still a lot of room to grow in the legal sector and how it's adapting to Hybrid Working. There's a strong need for technology that can make working from home easier in all departments. Such as collaborative virtual workspaces.

Risk-Averse, But There's a need to Innovate

Legal as a sector and a function are strongly risk-averse. With the responsibility of many legal departments being to avoid risk, Legal practitioners have found it difficult to foster a culture of innovation.

This requires Technology and collaboration internally. Many Magic Circle Law firms implement rapid prototyping processes to quickly test new ideas and move on from them if they don't meet their requirements. However, many law firms react to immediate requirements by implementing new off-the-shelf solutions. Which can be expensive and leads to a huge Techstack, with solutions nobody is really using.

Law firms who are looking for low-risk innovation should then focus on empowering themselves to innovate in-house rather than relying on off-the-shelf solutions to solve all their problems and bring in more business value.

Empowering Citizen Developers will be the answer to innovation in Law firms because it doesn't lead to large IT backlogs and empowers Lawyers and other business stakeholders to collaborate on IT initiatives without the need for code.

In Conclusion

There is a technological revolution happening within the Legal vertical. It is encompassing every aspect of the practice and makes life easier for lawyers.

In effect, making the lawyers more profitable for the business for a longer period of time. It is important that Legal practices can surf the wave, or get washed up by the competition. In 5 years, the legal function will look very different from the way it is today.

Credits/Author: Folu Adelagun