Technology in Law is The New Norm

Introduction

For the past few years, we can notice that the law firms are being reevaluated by advanced technology. In the recent time, this vast legal field is preferring digital contracts, soft copies, online research sources more than physical copies and books. Each and every field of work including legal field is advancing with the pace of technological advancement. However, this is a crucial path for modernization. The Covid-19 situation has geared up this process as advocated as well as corporate employees have to work from home. But this is true that even before covid-19 situation law firms were relying on technology more than ever. What is more surprising is that even the clients are also wanting this transformation in the legal sectors. According to some recent surveys, it has been observed that over 70 per cent of legal practitioners want to adopt more technology into their practices and they are hoping that in this way of virtual communication more clients will be reached out and be pleased.

How can Technology Help Us in Legal Field?

Technology can help us in various way but in this worldwide situation we have to understand that technology is the must and most needed thing now. Lawyers have to adopt new technologies or else they will not be able to move forward. There are so many good opportunities being presented because of technology.

Recently, “e-courts” has gained more popularity. The judges are hearing cases in virtual video conferences which not only keeping physical distance but also reducing case pendency. Clients are really liking it and maybe it will be continued even after everything becomes normal.

Technology can give benefits to the CEOs of big legal firms, legal practitioners, IT experts, if they learn these new things. This will lead to a great client-lawyer relationship and lawyers would be able to handle many more clients as well. Adopting technology means way more accurate data information in research works which will lead to good client relationship.

However, Covid-19 situation has created some vast changes at legal sectors and it is hard to say which positions will be temporarily a remote work and which will be permanent. The Court hearings have been conducted through conference video calls in presence of the juries, legal practitioners are using legal software for data and information management, e-signatures, billing, invoicing, payments, communication with clients and other colleagues. Covid-19 situation accelerated the use of technology more than ever as we can see.

The New Normal

In the most recent surveys on the impact of COVID-19, the participants of such surveys has shared that their law firms had adopted some new procedures and technologies in response to the pandemic such as, Contactless service which helped the clients most. Now, clients do not need to come over to the firms or offices and even after that the whole proceeding can be done remotely.

New technologies are helping the employees of such law firms to work from home easily and holding meetings through virtual conference calls. And according to the most of the participants of the surveys, remote work is the “new normal” for law firms. If the lawyers learn the use of such tools and software then it will be easier than to work in office.

However, such works which can be done from home, may be permanently continue as it is now. This will lead to hire more remote worker who are good at management and data analytics work. It is all a matter of time. We can’t say what will happen but we can at present use technologies as much as possible.

Advantages of Technologies

A legal sector can achieve its most of the objectives by the benefits which technology provides us. The following are some advantages of technology:

1. Efficient regulation and fruitfulness: The latest technologies can help you build up effectiveness and it can help you to perform more tasks quickly. For an example, spreadsheets and contract templates can help you in data input and drafting.
2. Organized work environment: Lawyers need to perform their routine in an organized way. They have their own diaries and check lists. Using some software can help them to stay checked so that they can attend meetings time to time and also be available for their clients and colleagues for communication.
3. Clients also want technologies: Online legal help portals can help clients beyond anyone’s imagination. There are so many clients who really do not want to go for legal advisors in office, so online portals can help them to seek remedy. Even there are some clients who had to do a lot of journeys to appoint a lawyer and discuss their problems. But if the are given the chance to discuss their problems from home, then definitely lawyers can build up stronger client relationship.

And honestly speaking, use of technology is cost sufficient. If it helps to give quality to a person’s work, then it should be used as a daily needed essential.

Disadvantages of Technology

As we all know that every single thing which has plenty of advantages, will definitely have some disadvantages also. Technology brings us the easiest and quickest ways of working. But using technologies is also a threat to an individual’s privacy. As we all know that for the past few years, cybercrimes related to cybersecurity is rising rapidly, but in this COVID-19 situation it is one of the biggest problems faced by employees who are working from home. Sometimes, the internet also lags which create a mess in a work environment.

In the year of 2020, India faced the biggest number of threats of cyber security. Hackers attacked numerous famous public figures as well as some authorities. Hackers can steal the clients’ personal information as well as of the lawyers’ data information.

So, here it can be said that if an individual uses technology for his legal works, he should have taken certain measures to avoid such threats. IT experts has advised users to use some software to prevent such threats and also advised users not to click any unknown or irrelevant pop-ups screened on any site.

We know that lawyers would never want to be in the position of potentially exposing personal information about any client, let alone any confidential information about cases.

If we sum up all these problems then it is observed that only a user can prevent him from being hacked and he has to follow some rules and guidelines to use new technologies otherwise it will be risky for him to work with it.

New Technologies

A various type of new technological software has been created recently which not only will help the legal practitioners in filing cases but also into many legal practice management systems. Professionals can order searches from within a matter along with client disbursements. It is as simple as that.

Nowadays, anyone can check the status of a particular case in respect of their states. Every state has an online portal to check pendency or status of any case. Anyone can check this. These portals have made the lawyers’ work easier.

   Even some technologies will help the professionals to create actionable ideas and practical solutions around legal searching. Just a small change in relation to a practice’s searching needs, can have a major impact on service to a client.

How to Incorporate New Technology?

1. At first a law firm needs to decide whether such new technology is really needed or not. If the new technology is not needed or does not fit for their work, then the firm should not adopt such new technology.
2. New technologies require administrative work to set up. It has to be ensured that everyone is able to adapt the technology by communicating and learning the process of it.
3. A law firm has to look for new technologies which are being used by others also and they should take advice and guidance as to know the purpose of such technology and according to those opinions the firm should go for it, otherwise it will be waste of money.

Technology is the New Path of Virtual Legal Works

Every law graduate as well as lawyers and advocates already know that law firms do check the social media of an intern or new employee before hiring them. Just as the same goes for clients. Nowadays as clients are preferring “e-courts” and wanting to be virtually present in the hearing of cases, they are also looking for high profile lawyers as well.

That means clients are checking the social media posts online of the lawyer of his choice and then they are appointing them. This leads to a vast improvement in the legal field. Not only the clients are pleased with this procedure but also the freshers who have just completed their law degree, are also being benefitted.

This will lead to more hiring of social media managing position and digital media experts to analyze social media posts also. Law firms need to work with digital media experts to analyze social media presence and determine how it could better support clients and prospects.

Thus, we can say that every lawyer has to embrace a strong online presence aligned with their practice area and showcase timeliness and relevance in order to stand out among competition.

Conclusion

Lastly, we can clearly notice that this COVID-19 situation has really geared up the use of technology and also generated the most leads on all law firm social media accounts which posted photos and videos relating to legal knowledge. They came up with the best advices given by attorneys and other team members, as well as stories about satisfied clients.

This pandemic has highlighted a number of opportunities and has proven that the right content earns relevance online and this is a way of success.