“Legal tech” is the legal industry buzz phrase of 2017. It’s come to embody the future of the profession for attorneys and firm management across a spectrum of practice areas. The practice of law, however, has a decidedly different history than other more entrepreneurial businesses that are being transformed by technology. Legal industry business historically approaches change in moderation, reflecting lawyers’ responsibility to respect historical norms and precedents. But lawyers must also innovate because their clients demand it. Many firms are striving to embrace technology, but most are not there yet. Ron Friedmann, the well known law practice management expert, aptly summed up the challenge when he remarked that legal tech is “much ballyhooed, but it is not enough to fix law firm and client problems.”
The opportunities for impactful change present themselves in the questions that attorneys should be asking. How can legal tech elegantly intertwine with the ecosystem and practice of law? How can legal tech make it easier for us to do our jobs? How can legal tech be at the heart of providing better legal services and more thoughtful counsel for clients? And perhaps most interestingly, how can legal tech ultimately make us better, more intuitive, and more proactive lawyers?
