Adapting to the mandates of technological advances is a task that has had to be adopted by many companies and businesses to survive the wave. The changes have been felt organizationally and financially by reducing costs and optimizing processing times.
Technology, well supported and with knowledge, has brought important transformations to all professions. Law has not escaped this logic and law firms have had to adapt many of their mechanisms to the new demands of clients immersed in technology. It is no longer enough to be a firm with 30 years of experience in the market, or to have accumulated great experience in relevant cases, it is also vital to have the ability to adapt to changes, to new trends that impose a substantial change in the way of operating.
The impact of the Internet on the world of law
Of the advances with the greatest direct impact at present, all the possibilities found in the online connection can be glimpsed. The word innovation begins to play an important role in the process of adaptation, since it implies thinking differently and from that space integrating all the knowledge of the technological area. The whole trend that manifests the entry of technology for the process of change in law is called "new law" and among the proposed changes are the use of software and platforms that allow document automation systems with extensive storage capacities, preliminary analysis of legal cases, case tracking and automation of selection, drafting, delivery and filing of contracts, forms and other legal documents.
By including these new tools, the business model is able to offer more competitive prices. compared to traditional legal services, especially when it comes to simple processes that can be systematized. The rise of technological support is a trend that will continue at least through 2019.
A McKinsey study (2018) reveals that only 23% of a lawyer's work time is automatable. It is evident that the new technologies can collaborate with some of the professional's tasks, but they cannot replace them. Despite the convenience and streamlining of these processes, it is important to emphasize that they must always be accompanied by the professional hand of the lawyer who will ultimately endorse everything presented in the documentation and automation. This transformation implies boosting the ability to understand the objective of the lawyer's real work and to focus creativity on finding new ways.
Among the new technologies currently being used to support and optimize processes are big data, artificial intelligencedocument automation, cloud computing and contract drafting. In addition to modifying the business model, these changes have an impact on communication by making it faster and more agile, on the democratization of information, the offshoring of jobs and data protection.
Transition involves investment in trained personnel to implement technological change through the training of law professionals, as well as the emergence of new ethical challenges to face all transformations correctly and transparently.
