If there is one industry fit for a tech-powered renovation, it’s law.
As a contextually based industry, automation seems to be a logical way to sort through the catacombs of written law, but advancements aren’t coming as fast as you’d think. So what's causing the hesitation?
Data leaks like April’s Panama Papers have amplified concerns about the role technology will play in record keeping, but there is still a fast-approaching swarm of startups ready to restructure the legal process.
They're crafting networking sites and client-facing software to equip small law firms with the tools they need to compete in a crowded industry. Meanwhile, industry staples like
are searching for new ways to automate the legal process for clients. But, despite their differences, both sides of the aisle are making huge strides toward empowering clients with more data and information than ever before.
We spoke with a few of the biggest names in Austin legal tech to hear about the industry’s progress and how the Panama Papers scandal has changed the perception of legal security:
What are the potential security challenges the industry is facing?
“The recent Panama Papers issue coming right on the heels of several firms getting hacked for M&A data is a reminder that law firms hold a lot of valuable data,” said James Peters, VP of New Market Initiatives at Legalzoom. “As firms move toward cloud-based storage and continue to do more business through online channels, they need to be aware of the risks and implement processes accordingly. The biggest risk, however, probably remains human error and/or bad actors. You can train against error to a decent extent, but law, like every other industry, has always had some bad actors and always will.”
“A breach of electronic data privacy, though a relatively “new” concern to the noble profession of law, is a pervasive and serious business risk,” said Randi Mayes, Executive Director at ILTA, a legal peer networking organization. “One needs only look at recent headlines concerning the 'Panama Papers' to understand the gravity of the concern. Seldom are large data breaches in law firms public information, but once they are, it’s a lose-lose proposition for clients and firms. And data held ransom by hackers is a rapidly growing concern in law firms. Technology safeguards are only part of the equation in risk mitigation and incident response. The real work begins with security awareness training at the weakest link in any business, its employees.”
“You just need end-to-end encryption to secure the data so that only the lawyer and their client can access it. Those are really the main things,” said Rafael Lopez of Counsl.co. “As long as you build a platform where they feel secure in the knowledge that they’re the only ones with the keys to get into their information. Like right now with the Panama Papers — that leak occurred because they were hosting plain text files on Wordpress and the rest of the files came from a simple database with no encryption.”
Other than security threats, what other hesitations in regards to adopting new technologies are you hearing within the legal sphere?
“There is this palpable terror, or fear, about how technology is going to affect the jobs of everyone in legal,” said James Glancy, co-founder of Counsl.co. “They’re looking for some silver bullet or solution to how tech is not going to take their jobs away. Technology is going to have a significant impact on the industry and if they aren’t prepared for it and willing to adopt this technology, it's going to completely alter your ability to serve your clients.”
How will improvements in legal technology continue to level the playing field between parties?
“The more information each party can have in their hands, the closer the playing field will be to level,” said Peters of LegalZoom. “As [artificial intelligence] and predictive analytics develop, there is a real chance that a fair amount of the guesswork will be taken out of cases which may somewhat neutralize the benefits a bigger actor traditionally has. That said, at the top of the game there will be lawyers who really understand legal strategy, working with juries and complex legal arguments better than others. Those people will maintain their advantages for the foreseeable future. Probably always to an extent."
“Technology has definitely lessened the divide, often removing it entirely, between the big firms and savvy solo practitioners, and between lawyers and clients,” said Mayes of ILTA. “Advances in mobility-enabling devices and applications have enabled the practice of law from any location, at any time. Collaboration tools have been effective in blurring the time-space continuum in delivering work product. And the growing field of artificial intelligence is bringing new products and processes in all areas of the practice of law. We might not be ready for a Robo-Lawyer passionately defending a client in court, but smart machines are assisting at every level or activity in case preparation.”
While law seems to be one of the few remaining major industries that has yet to go through a major tech overhaul, the writing appears to be on the wall for disruption. But with so much sensitive information at stake, the transformation appears to be a meticulous one.
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