91% of corporate legal departments say it will be important to have a law firm that fully leverages technology.
– Wolters Kluwer
An exciting report published by Wolters Kluwer about the “future ready lawyer” acknowledges how the pandemic single-handedly demonstrated the role of legal tech in modern legal departments. Future ready legal departments are building legal tech-based centers of knowledge, even as the complexity of legal information grows. In addition, demanding clients are more informed about cutting-edge legal tech, urging legal departments to embrace legal tech and gear towards the future.
The trends that impact legal departments, urging them to modernize, offer impactful solutions to business challenges. These solutions will get them future ready and help them exceed their goals.
Growing Complexity of Legal Information
Stanford Law states that rapidly evolving social systems create more complex governing methods, including the system of law. They noted a sizable increase in the size and complexity of law “over the past two and a half decades”.
As the legal industry notes the rising volume of legal work, the complexity of this information is also steadily growing, often inundating legal departments. The solution to issues such as these currently lies in legal tech. With legal tech, legal departments get the powerful solutions they need to control increased workloads, organize, and streamline them as well.
Vital Role Played by Legal Tech
Legal tech has bypassed its role in augmenting legal department processes, and become an important part of the legal department. The legal industry initially met legal technology with skepticism, owing to the confidential and sensitive nature of legal matters.
Bob Ambrogi of LawSites notes that legal departments state these as legal tech that they value:
- legal matter management
- contract management software and contract analytics
- document management
- cybersecurity and encryption tools
- e-signature tools
- entity management
A Financial Times article finds that skepticism comes with the field. Now, legal departments have embraced legal tech after witnessing how it has a zero margin of error, mitigates risks for their organizations, and streamlines and simplifies processes.
Demanding Requirements by Clients
Finally, as legal tech grows in popularity, client legal tech demands grow as well. Savvy consumers understand the role of legal tech, and insist on high-performing software to offer the value and metrics it can offer. According to Law.com, legal departments are learning how to meet demand, even as they face constraints in budget and resources. Future ready legal departments are nimble and able to predict trends and utilize them for better outcomes.
