{"id":633755,"date":"2017-07-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-19T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/latest-news\/articles\/disrupting-the-legal-sector-five-technologies-law-firms-cannot-afford-to-ignore\/"},"modified":"2019-02-06T12:56:02","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T11:56:02","slug":"disrupting-the-legal-sector-five-technologies-law-firms-cannot-afford-to-ignore","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/articles\/disrupting-the-legal-sector-five-technologies-law-firms-cannot-afford-to-ignore\/","title":{"rendered":"Disrupting the Legal Sector: Five Technologies Law Firms Cannot Afford to Ignore"},"featured_media":636408,"template":"","meta":{"_has_post_settings":[]},"schools":[34,35],"areas":[16,19,21,26],"subjects":[],"class_list":["post-633755","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","schools-law","schools-university","areas-competitiveness-growth","areas-global-affairs-law","areas-innovation","areas-technology"],"custom-fields":{"wpcf-article-leadin":["New technologies are transforming the business model of the legal sector, creating new markets, and adding value. Five of these tools are essential for increasing the profitability of law firms in today\u2019s increasingly competitive and global landscape."],"wpcf-article-body":["A competitive<\/a> edge can be the difference between failure and success. Many sectors have achieved excellent results by integrating technologies<\/a> like big data, machine learning, and blockchain into their activity, and law<\/a> firms should do the same in order to retain their edge and guarantee profitability.\r\n\r\nEfficiency, profitability, and growth<\/a> are just a few of the benefits of the technologies<\/a> described below.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nBig data<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe power to store and manage vast amounts of information is changing how law<\/a> firms operate. This capability condenses the process of reviewing large amounts of data\u2014for processes like acquisitions, mergers, and due diligence\u2014into just two or three hours. Since the advent of cloud computing, more and more companies have discovered the benefits of using inexpensive digital tools to store data, thus reducing the costs associated with onsite servers and infrastructure. Thanks to the speed of this technology<\/a>, the cost of managing large amounts of data has also plummeted.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nMachine learning<\/strong>\r\n\r\nPopular in Silicon Valley, this tool harnesses the power of algorithms to categorize legal documents. The process is very simple. For example, if a firm has a thousand agreements to review and classify for a due diligence proceeding, the first step is to manually classify between 10 and 30 documents as either \u201cbad\u201d or \u201cgood.\u201d On the basis of this initial classification, a machine-learning algorithm can then proceed to classify the rest of the documents in a matter of hours, without human intervention. The machine \u201clearns\u201d from the data you provide.\r\n
The power to store and manage vast amounts of information is changing how law firms operate.<\/blockquote>\r\nBlockchain<\/strong>\r\n\r\nBlockchain technology<\/a>\u2014best known for its application in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin\u2014consists of a chain of blocks of information that are used to build a peer-to-peer (P2P) distributed database.\r\n\r\nIn the legal sector, this technology<\/a> has been used to track transactions. A blockchain is very difficult to modify and thus can provide a comprehensive record of any transaction. This technology\u2019s problem-solving capability is certainly disruptive, as it could eventually replace today\u2019s notaries and public registries.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nEDiscovery<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThis tool is very useful in the United States, where in patent cases, for example, it is possible to choose the court where the case will be heard. But how do you know which court is the most advantageous for a given case? To answer this question, law<\/a> firms have traditionally relied on their senior partners\u2019 experience with the various courts and knowledge of their trends. A new service called eDiscovery helps firms decide what court to choose by allowing them to consult rulings, assess the parties involved, and review a large volume of documents. With this information, teams are better equipped to decide which court offers the best chance of a positive result in a particular case.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nBots<\/strong>\r\n\r\nBot technology<\/a> is often associated with cybercrime, but it can also provide immensely useful solutions for law<\/a> firms. Bots can perform various tasks and eliminate the need for human intervention. For example, thanks to bots, the preparation of tax returns is now much simpler than it was five to ten years ago. One example of bot software is www.clerky.com<\/a>. Their tagline is simple: \u201cWe build software to make legal paperwork easier for startups and attorneys.\u201d In the case of an entrepreneur<\/a>, for example, a computer uses basic information to generate the necessary documentation to create a corporation, a task that previously required the assistance of a lawyer. Some law firms\u2014particularly those which need to interact with thousands of clients in a short period of time\u2014also use bots to communicate with each client.\r\n
Searches based on cost and speed will nudge clients towards one firm or another, so technology will be the factor that sets the competitive organizations apart.<\/blockquote>\r\nAnd so to the future\u2026<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThese five technologies<\/a> are disrupting the legal sector. In the next five to ten years, organizations that use these technologies to do unprofitable work will flourish, while those that do not will be left behind.\r\n\r\nLaw<\/a> firms need to adopt a business vision. Clients will soon be choosing a firm in the same way they now use TripAdvisor to choose a restaurant or hotel. Searches based on cost and speed will nudge clients towards one firm or another, so technology<\/a> will be the factor that sets the competitive<\/a> organizations apart.\r\n\r\nThe future is disruption.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\u00a9 IE Insights.\r\n\r\n "],"wpcf-article-extract-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-extract":["By Mart\u00ed Manent<\/strong>. New technologies are transforming the business model of the legal sector, creating new markets, and adding..."],"wpcf-article-summary-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-summary":["Law firms should adopt new technologies that will help them grow and increase their efficiency and profitability. Big-data technologies facilitate the storage and review of data for processes such as mergers and acquisitions. Machine-learning algorithms and bot technologies make it possible to classify or generate documents without human intervention. Blockchain has been used to track transactions in the legal sector and eDiscovery has enabled firms in the United States to obtain advantageous court assignments. In the future, the use of these five disruptive technologies will be the factor that distinguishes the most competitive organizations in the legal sector."]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/633755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"schools","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/schools?post=633755"},{"taxonomy":"areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas?post=633755"},{"taxonomy":"subjects","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subjects?post=633755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}