There is not a single aspect of the modern world's economy that has not been touched and continuously influenced by advancements in technology. While there are some fields like medicine, science, and communications which wield these advancements in a more obvious and direct manner, a field that is included in those changes is the legal profession.
What has become colloquially as “legal tech”, this legal technology is transforming the way law is practiced and lawyers serve their clients. Being that technology is a very broad designation which encompasses many tools, everyday resources from the mundane email exchanges to the more advanced, internationally accessible transferring of legal histories, law practices everywhere are caught in the wash of these changes.
Here are some of the ways in which technology is having an impact on the transformation of law.
Digitization
Digitization has had an immense impact on legal processes. Where in the past, law professionals (as well as every other sector of business) were reliant on more analog means of recordance and documentation, new technologies have streamlined these processes. The digitization of filing, research methods, and documentation into electronically based systems has made the recording, storing, and sharing of information much easier.
What once took days to transfer between offices and clients by mail can now be done nearly instantaneously in some instances. The freedoms provided by the influx of such technologies have made the processes much less time-consuming.
Research
Being the backbone of almost all law cases, the information collected and used in trails greatly influence verdicts. The advancements provided by software, databases, and artificial intelligence enables paralegals and lawyers to locate what information they may need at a moment's notice.
The fact that so much of the world and its systems are interconnected and easily accessible through mobile devices and the benefits multiply. The searchability of information enables law professionals to locate what they need much more quickly than in generations past. What was once stored in the dim libraries of law schools, and could only be found through references, is now easily searchable in multiple formats. This, with the more recent inclusion of artificial intelligence, allows for AI software to sort through whatever legal information may need to be accessed.
The information that is found is often done with much greater efficiency and accuracy than with previous methods. This results in assisting students with law exams, as well as allowing professionals to spend more time attending to needs of their clients.
Case Management Systems
The way in which cases are documented and stored has also changed significantly. There are now massive systems that enable paralegals and lawyers with the tools that they need to be able to look up and manage cases in electronically accessible and shareable formats.
Automation
There is a massive amount of legal professional work that is much more behind the scenes, rather than in the format in which so many people are familiar with: the usual courtroom appearances. Many of the daily administrative tasks such as billing, communication, research, appointments, and traveling have all been greatly aided by the influx of new technologies.
What were once daily necessities that could not be overlooked as part of both the business and legal side of law firms has now been significantly streamlined into systems that are easily accessible in mobile apps or in cloud services. Everything can be organized, shared, copied, and forwarded.
Artificial Intelligence
AI, while it is simultaneously affecting other industries as well, is also beginning to make the legal profession have to adjust. While many people, when thinking of AI immediately go to the extreme of seeing robots replacing human beings, as of this point in time most of what is happening is demonstrated in the form of aiding lawyers, law practices, and their colleagues.
AI has the impressive ability to scan documents at superhuman speeds. This makes the reading, reviewing, and identification of key points on contracts, legal documents, and even emails much faster. Additionally, AI software is now being used to write up contacts, notifications, and even bills. This helps in basic processes of just spelling and grammatical errors that get lost in lengthy documents.
On the far end of all this is the testing of systems which can attempt to predict the outcomes of cases. This helps lawyers and firms in their ability to decide which cases they choose to take on and then adjust logistical matters like how many experts to hire, when to offer certain advice, or if the case has a higher chance of victory than another.
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