Me a lawyer or me a robot: the transformation of the legal industry

This word refers to the legal and technological sectors, and refers to different categories of digital technologies that have different objectives such as legal case management, digital signatures, lawyer marketplaces, IT infrastructure, and legal case analysis, among others.

These technologies, beyond becoming a trend, are revolutionizing the way professionals carry out their functions and using them is no longer a fad but a necessity, since law firms that do not implement this type of tool will be outperformed and displaced from the land by those that are modernizing.

Among all the technologies that are being applied to the practice of law, there are some that stand out: Robotic process automation (RPA); 2) Artificial Intelligence (AI); 3) Big Data; 4) Cloud computing; 5) Blockchains.

Incorporating these tools into the daily tasks of any professional allows them to work from anywhere, securely share files of any size, facilitate compliance and ensure security, and most importantly, help improve customer service.

Although the adoption of these technologies streamlines all processes and makes them safer, since it not only allows digital monitoring, but also collaborates with the expansion of the client portfolio and prevents legal fraud, it is being very slow. This slowness is due to the fact that, on the one hand, all traditional legal processes cannot be quickly replaced and, on the other hand, because some professionals continue to view the use of these technological tools with suspicion due to costs, cybersecurity or because they think they can be replaced. by advanced technology, a kind of robotization of the profession.

The digital revolution is also producing a significant change in the behavior and needs of customers. They are demanding more and more efficiency, effectiveness and transparency from law firms. A modern client no longer tolerates that his lawyer is slow in his processes, that he is not effective in his results, that he does not know how to manage his cases online or that he does not provide transparent information about his cases.

It is this new modern client that pushes traditional lawyers to leverage technology to evolve and not lose them, and even increase their portfolio through marketplace-type platforms.

A lawyer who knows how to take advantage of LegalTech solutions will be able to enhance their own skills, increasing their productivity and acquiring a competitive advantage over their peers, without fear of being replaced by a “robot” since the practice of law requires a series of skills human beings that can hardly be supplied with a machine, therefore getting on the modernization train that LegalTech brings is key for firms to begin to be more competitive.

-The author is a Lawyer Specialist in Administrative Law and Energy Regulation (UCA, CEARE, ITBA, Universidad Austral). Founder of Legalify.app