Haste makes waste: Why rushing automation in legal may be worse than doing nothing at all
Ed Boal
The legal industry is entering its automation era. This month, Lord Justice Birss shared that he had(...)
ILTACON 2023: Recap from an International First-Timer
Eva Peeters
In a nutshell, ILTACON, the world's largest legaltech conference, marked its 43rd edition at Disneyw(...)
The legal industry is entering its automation era. This month, Lord Justice Birss shared that he had used ChatGPT to write part of a judgement - the first known use by a British judge. Earlier this year,
Allen & Overy introduced an AI chatbot to help draft contracts and a Thomson Reuters Institute survey found that 82% of the lawyers it surveyed said they believe ChatGPT and generative AI can be readily applied to legal work, with 51% saying it should be applied.
In a nutshell, ILTACON, the world's largest legaltech conference, marked its 43rd edition at Disneyworld Orlando. Organized by the International Legal Tech Association (ILTA), this event saw over 3,400 attendees, half of whom were ILTA members. Spread across different hotels, ILTACON featured parallel sessions catering to diverse backgrounds, two expansive exhibition halls spanning over 400,000 square feet, making it an undeniably massive affair.
As the support for Microsoft's Server 2012 and 2012 R2 reaches its end of life, Ian Bedford, general manager for Access Managed Services at Access Legal, discusses the challenges faced by law firms that delay the switch to alternative servers. He also explores how firms can leverage this change to optimise their IT infrastructure.
From generative AI to cloud transitions, the legal technology stack has transformed during the last few years – and even months.* The network of systems law firms rely on to deliver legal advice has expanded exponentially, and it is becoming increasingly more complex. Managing all of the siloed applications needed for legal workflows can be a demanding and time-consuming process. This can put significant pressure on a law firm’s IT team.
Using legal technology is such a fundamental requirement for the modern lawyer that it should no longer be necessary to talk about the need to improve basic skills. However, conversations with technology training and service desk professionals paint a worrying picture in which some of the most commonly used desktop applications are not being used to their full potential simply because of lack of knowledge.
In the first of two articles, Chris Giles and Chris Hockey drew on their experience to suggest why law firms now need to take information governance (IG) more seriously and how they should start with the creation of an IG policy. In this piece we cover how you can then make IG truly effective in the firm via the right steering committee, oversight and controls.
How do you embed information governance (IG) in a law firm? Ownership is a critical component. Change management needs to be deployed so that everyone in the firm understands the importance of IG and takes some responsibility for their part in it.
As legal IT specialists and a full-service iManage Partner, Tiger Eye support customers to work efficiently and boost productivity through technology solutions for every step of the document and email journey.
Introduction
With building industry pressure to maintain quality client service and produce increasingly efficient results, it is now more important than ever that firms focus on continuous improvement to meet clients’ needs. However, whilst law firm innovation is an increasingly popular topic in the legal sector (including at key industry events), the process can seem unattainable to some. With big-name global firms investing heavily in product development incubators and online services, it can seem that innovation is only attainable for the largest of firms.
Why do law firms need information governance (IG) more than ever, and how should they implement it? Over two articles, Chris Giles offers a sector-wide perspective and Chris Hockey draws on his experience of implementing IG at a mid-sized US firm. In Part 1 we discuss why IG matters, where it should sit, and policy creation.
Information has always been the lifeblood of law firms, but now its stewardship has become a critical discipline for firms to master. This is partly because the volume of data is growing quickly. To provide a quality service to clients, lawyers, including those who work remotely, must be able to retrieve the right information easily and securely without wasting any time. Firms also need oversight to identify gaps in information systems or procedures that when filled will make information flow more efficiently.
Midsize law firms often operate in an environment with unique business challenges and conditions, including expectations to provide the same high standards of client service that larger firms provide, but with fewer resources and investment dollars. Interestingly enough, these -specific challenges, business priorities, and trends of midsize firms have, to date, not been widely captured in reports and surveys. Search for large firm reports and you can easily turn to ALM, ILTA, Bloomberg, or Thomson Reuters for intelligence, and the ABA Law Practice Division thoroughly analyses solo and small firms. With this information gap in mind, earlier this year, we at Actionstep produced the inaugural 2023 Midsize Law Firm Priorities Report (“Report”), determined to better understand the factors that matter most to midsize firms, including broader business priorities, resource challenges, stress factors and mental health, overall work satisfaction, and the use of technology.
In Part 1 we detailed the numerous and growing risks that law firms face when excess information isn’t systematically minimised, while acknowledging the daunting task firms face in tackling the issues once and for all. To suggest a way forward, in this piece Chris Giles describes the five basic steps he recommends firms take to start scaling their data mountain.
A common theme when we talk to law firms about information retention and disposition is that people know it ought to be done, but they lack information and urgency as to exactly why and they don’t know where to start. Here Chris Giles sets out the growing risks firms face when excess data isn’t dealt with and suggests the five steps they can take to tackle the issue once and for all.
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