5 Technologies Disrupting the Legal Sector

The Digital Transformation storm is hitting legal practices where forward thinking firms are increasingly seeing the benefits and the need to implement a strategy in order to survive.

Traditional law firm business models are being challenged by lawtech startups that offers online easy access to legal advice. Law firms that have been comfortable for a number of years are quickly realising that they need to adapt or lose out to the competition.

The winners will offer their customers an exceptional experience and be able to recruit the top-class legal talent. Here are the four leading technologies that are helping disrupt the legal sector.

Legal Bots

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere and the legal sector is no different. Revolutionary bots such as DoNotPay, offer AI-powered legal counsel. Though claiming it can help you ‘sue anyone by pressing a button’, DoNotPay focuses on providing a platform for people to seek advice on their everyday rights.

DoNotPay might be a lawtech front runner, but there’s an opportunity for traditional legal firms to optimise their wealth of knowledge to create a similar experience. Chatbots like Bizibot are your digital legal agent. Taking the brunt away from the real-human solicitors, Ami enables simple client enquiries to be responded to at lightning-speed while your workforce is left to continue working on complex cases. Ami can pass the case over as soon as it requires human contact.

Voice and Video Conferencing

Though voice and video conferencing is not a new technology, for the legal sector, it’s a disruptive technology for lawyers because they are empowered to work on the fly. To compete with lawtech start-ups traditional legal firms must see how they can empower their lawyers to work flexibly and this is one of the ways.

Established law firms such as RadcliffeLeBrassuer are turning to technology such as SIP to give them the right infrastructure to support voice and video conferencing.

Providing them with mobile working, video and voice conferencing, collaboration, remote training and meetings with clients, plus the potential to speed up the judicial process.

What’s more, all this saves money. Being able to work remotely means that legal firms incur less travel expenses. Not to mention the A-class talent that will be attracted with the modern way of working.

Blockchain

As a type of cryptocurrency, blockchain allows people to share digital assets with another internet user. Blockchain apps are being developed for many different industry purposes such as for food safety information, distributing movies and storing electronic medical records.

Although it’s in the early stages, blockchain is also being developed for uses in the legal sector. It has the potential use to act as a secure database where documents for evidence can be stored and utilised later during a case if arguments arise. CaseLines, recently announced that they are attempting to patent the use of blockchain for handling legal documents. Kennedys is exploring the use of blockchain in motor claims, so that insurance carriers, repair garages and hire companies can process claims automatically.

Predictive Analytics

The legal industry is a goldmine for big data due to its nature, vast amounts of data are generated on a daily basis.

And new technology like predictive analytics means legal firms will be able to do more than just sit on this goldmine of information. Combining data mining, predictive modelling and machine learning to anticipate future events. The legal industry is utilising the following statistical techniques for predictive analytics:

• Time series modelling
• Regression analytics
• Graph analytics

Using predictive analytics will empower paralegals and legal assistants to be a greater support to lawyers, predict the outcomes of court cases and influence better legal decision making.

Digital documentation

Naturally, when you think of the legal sector, you think of pen, paper and original signatures. But even this is changing. With cloud technology and digital signatures at the forefront. Documents can now be shared, signed and accessed from different locations securely. Not only is this more environmentally friendly, it’s more efficient too.

I rest my case

There are a lot of disruptive technologies that are going to shape the legal sector going forward. Though predictive analytics and blockchain are far off being utilised widely, conversational AI and voice and video conferencing are very much ready-to-go.