Technology innovations have transformed all kinds of industries. Moreover, these innovations have allowed companies in these industries to adjust to the new realities following the COVID-19 pandemic and even thrive despite the many challenges it has brought. One such industry is the legal industry.
Legal technology – also known as LegalTech – has changed the way the legal sector works. It has forced law firms and legal professionals to rethink the way they do business and serve their clients. Furthermore, with advancements in LegalTech, traditional law practices are changing in many different aspects. Let’s see how.
The Impact of LegalTech
The term “LegalTech” encompasses a wide range of technology solutions and innovations designed for the legal sector. These tools and software solve a multitude of problems that were impossible to tackle in the past, either due to issue complexity or because they involved vast volumes of data that could not be processed by purely human means.
But this is not to say that LegalTech is a cure-all for all the challenges and issues in the legal industry. That’s why it’s best to deploy these tools areas where the problems are already well-known and possible well-defined, with set workflows, processes, and rules.
To this end, LegalTech has already made a huge impact in areas like litigation management and e-Discovery, legal research, case management and analytics, document automation, contract management, and online dispute resolution. In particular, huge advances in AI and natural language processing have made a substantial impact on the way precedents are now searched and applied. Similarly, document-related LegalTech software simplifies document creation and makes legal documents available to all stakeholders.
The Impact of LegalTech in India
Until now, most Indians were unable to access courts or even basic administrative or legal services. LegalTech addresses these gaps. Technology has improved access to the law and made law services more affordable for the general public in India. Further, advances in online dispute resolution mean that cases that used to languish in courts for decades now – remember Sunny Deol’s rant about “tareekh par tareekh” in Damini? – now move forward apace and are resolved more quickly.
Indian lawyers leverage LegalTech to serve their clients in an efficient and productive manner and to collaborate with their colleagues. Modern technology enables law firms to capture their collective intelligence and offer better-quality advice and services to clients. Furthermore, they are able to make quality information available to all internal and external stakeholders at the right time, thus ensuring improved outcomes and service delivery for their clients and increase profitability for their firms.
In the coming years, the pace of digital transformation will increase in India’s legal sector. In this scenario, only those lawyers and law firms that adopt new technologies and develop a future-first mindset will succeed competitively and financially.
The Limitations of LegalTech
LegalTech has simplified routine work for law firms and legal professionals. Moreover, the work that would traditionally be done by junior lawyers is now being “outsourced” to technology. But this is not to say that a lawyer’s work can be replaced by AI or other technologies because it can’t.
Lawyers bring both legal knowledge and acumen as well as purely human capabilities like judgement, empathy, and creativity. No software or technology can bring this winning combination to the practice of law. That’s why AI and other modern LegalTech developments are assistive technologies and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
The good news is that technology will automate many routine, menial tasks that take up the average lawyer’s day. Consequently, these in-demand professionals will be able to focus on complex work involving higher-level thinking – which can only be a good thing for everyone involved in the legal machinery.
The Downstream Effects of LegalTech
LegalTech is already creating seismic shifts in the legal world. It will continue to do so in the future as well. Moreover, it will also result in downstream changes in other related areas. For instance, universities could update the way they teach law.
Courses might become shorter and more practical and incorporate more lessons about LegalTech. Students too will make a concerted effort to learn about technology and prepare for a workplace where they will work side-by-side with LegalTech.
A Final Word
Over the next few decades, the practice of law will see deeper interconnections and mingling between people and technology. LegalTech will not replace the specialised work of lawyers. However, it will augment their capabilities and bring numerous benefits, not only to practitioners but also to the public. In the long term, LegalTech will change India’s legal landscape and make it better, fairer, and more equitable.
