LegalTech revolutionizing the functioning of various Entities
- LegalTech refers collectively to different types of technological solutions ranging from online case filings, virtual conferences, client meetings, and court hearings to more high-end tech tools like automated litigation management and research, document automation, and even artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and data analytics.
- AI and ML can be used in tasks like reviewing a document and identifying relevant clauses, and making a summary of judgements amongst others, whereas data analytics can be used in foreseeing the chances of winning a case.
- The resultant efficiency gains and greater accuracy levels have prompted lawyers, law firms, corporates, regulators, and the judiciary to not only endorse LegalTech but campaign for its faster adoption.
Reasons for the Paradigm Shift
- The greatest advantage that LegalTech offers is that it reduces the turnaround time for legal help significantly. as it helps in cutting down on repetitive and sometimes monotonous work.
- For a lawyer/law firm time saved would increase efficiency which would help them in catering to more clients and whereas for an organization it would help them channelize the saved time on the new tasks/work in priority.
- LegalTech focuses on reducing costs for an organization. For example, better management and compliance would lead to lesser penalties, etc.
Technology Trends
Legal Research – This includes assisted search for legal precedents, lawyer briefs, judgements, etc. by using tools such as Manupatra and SCC wherein there are a lot of features/filters to make research faster and easier at the same time in comparison with the traditional method of using law reports, journals, case commentaries, etc.
Document Search – Another big advantage of LegalTech is that it has made finding a particular document in a firm’s database much easier. For example, there may be various documents related to pleadings & conveyancing in the database made for several parties. It would be a cumbersome task to find a specific document from it.
Document Automation & Review – This includes AI that uses segments of pre-existing data to draft or review a document. Whether you’re creating new documents from scratch or starting with a similar existing document, these tools can help you do the job much faster and more accurately than manual creation.
Litigation Management – It manages litigation cases for different jurisdictions. It also stores complete case details like case description, court, title, opposition party & attorney, related documents, etc. An organization with multiple cases going on would immensely benefit from this as it would notify it of the next date of hearing with all the relevant details and material to manage things.
Compliance Tracking & Management – It is a program used to continually track, monitor, and audit whether business processes are aligned with the applicable laws & changing regulatory regime. For example, in the case of a listed company, there are several quarterly, half-yearly and annual compliances under the SEBI (LODR) Regulations which is very difficult to keep track of.
Blockchain – Smart contracts are simply programs stored on a blockchain that run when predetermined conditions are met. They typically are used to automate the execution of an agreement so that all participants can be immediately certain of the outcome, without any intermediary’s involvement or time loss.
Cybersecurity risks– Developments surrounding Cybersecurity are expected to grow stronger, with high demand in the industry for robust security in the adoption and integration of software applications into an existing business workflow. Let’s assume a company has bought a compliance tracker software, wherein it would have to insert/put all the existing data concerning its agreements, customers, affiliates, human resource, policies, etc. This could pose a risk to the security as most of it is confidential.
E-Signature – The new hybrid work model has given wings to the adoption rate of E-Signature. This is a great and easy means of gathering signatures from multi-parties rather than face-to-face execution and postal delays.
Others – Recruitment and internships, dictation, translation and transcription, proofreading, tools predicting cost and potential outcome of a case, data analytics to show patterns and outcomes, etc
Conclusion
The question, “how will technology impact lawyers?” is too broad. Going ahead, we foresee the legal function transiting from a simple support function to a value creator. This change will be led by the faster adoption of technology. Still, it can be extremely difficult to measure the accuracy of legal tech since there is no ‘sense check’ and there is a real risk that once a mistake is made it can spread rapidly & populate other documents creating further issues relatively quickly.
