How to Keep up with Tech Trends in the Legal Field

CIO Applications| Monday, May 10, 2021

Firms should collaborate with their general counsel and IT teams when investigating new technologies, systems, or processes to ensure that all new applications are compliant and stable.

Fremont, CA : Despite some of the early benefits of recent legal technology adoption, most law firms tend to proceed with caution. The trick, then, is to find easy ways to keep up with trends and use technology without creating excessive dependencies or unanticipated problems. Verifying enforcement, augmenting procedures and filling holes, and outsourcing processes to legal suppliers are three best practices for law firms looking to integrate tech trends into their practices strategically.

Verification of Data Security and Compliance

Firms should collaborate with their general counsel and IT teams when investigating new technologies, systems, or processes to ensure that all new applications are compliant and stable. The digital age has made information more accessible, and as a result, data is frighteningly easy to obtain. People are becoming more aware of the risks associated with digital data, and policymakers are taking action. Data protection regulations extend to anyone who uses a company's services, regardless of where they use those services, including the website.

Any company with an online presence should check with major regulatory bodies to see what regulations exist about data protection and customer information. International bodies, such as the GDPR for the EU, national regulators, and even local governments, will issue rules. California, for example, enacted tougher privacy disclosure rules through the California Privacy Rights Act, which most businesses operating in the United States should be aware of. Clio has a detailed list of best practices for law firms in 2021 that is worth updating for more detail on data protection.

Augmenting Processes

Finding ways to integrate modern tools into an existing process, augmenting what can be achieved rather than recreating the whole process, is one way to be strategic with new technology implementations. This method seems simple enough, but it necessitates an exploratory mentality as well as a keen eye for information. Legal professionals should review their system's processes and search for areas where technology could take over. For instance, rather than relying on an individual to manually draft the message and click send each time, a recurring email update to a team or client could be automatically created and scheduled for delivery. Data links between systems eliminate the need for an individual to perform repetitive data entries, freeing up time and resources for client-related tasks.

Take, for example, the ABC Legal Services Mobile App to demonstrate this more thoroughly in a unique, legal environment. ABC Legal created this app as a tool to enable process servers to receive and transmit information in the field in real-time. When working as an impartial third party in the distribution of legal documents, process servers are expected to verify that papers have been served to the correct party at a specific venue. This validation of service was difficult to accomplish prior to an application that offered real-time connection and confirmation — it was a void that needed to be filled.