Whatever sector you work in within the legal industry, you will not have failed to notice the increasingly important role that legal technology has played in developing the practice of law, and the impact it has had on our organisations.
Technology and innovation are accelerating at an unprecedented pace and everyone working in the legal profession is faced with an urgent need to embrace this digital transformation or risk being left at a competitive disadvantage. This is succinctly summarised in the introduction to the Handbook of Legal Tech: “As leaders and law firms learn to adapt to this new reality, they will be better positioned to succeed in the long-term and stay ahead of the competition.”
Though much of the technology this work is concerned with may not be new, the speed of change and the sense of urgency is, and many legal professionals within the sector are now racing to position themselves in this sphere as trusted advisors within their own organisations. The impact of this is that these same professionals have been encouraged to upskill on these new technologies and reassess how they perform their own work.
This book aims to provide practical guidance from some of the leading figures within the legal technology space and to address how the different parts of law practice have been enhanced and improved by this very technology. It's aimed at in-house lawyers as well as lawyers in private practice and seeks to provide ideas for how these tech tools can enhance and improve the way in which these lawyers perform their work. As is stated in the executive summary, “by embracing legal tech, legal professionals can position themselves as strategic advisors to help organisations navigate the evolving business landscape and to seize the opportunities presented by the digital era”.
The Handbook of Legal Tech is split into three sections. The first part tackles ‘the why of legal tech’ and gives the reader a summary of why legal tech must be employed, while putting it into the context of the rise of artificial intelligence, generative AI, and the changes in which legal services are now being delivered. In addition, at the centre of the digital revolution is the aim to improve the client expectation and meet the increasing demands for more value and innovation without increasing costs, and this aspect is also covered in some detail.
Part two covers ‘the how of legal tech’, and through a series of nine chapters the reader is taken into the practical aspects of this subject, with the expert authors offering advice and guidance into a range of legal technologies including eDiscovery; legal data, legal research and legal analytics; contract lifecycle management; document automation; technology in the world of alternative dispute resolution; insights from a legal tech start up founder; legal operations; artificial intelligence; and the applications of blockchain.
The final section of the book looks at some of the broader issues of deploying legal technology, such as the ethical dimensions, and the impact it can have on access to justice, plus the challenges that many organisations have with embracing change, and what the future may look like.
As with many of the publications from Globe Law and Business in the knowledge management space this book is engaging and provides practical guidance and insights into what many may feel are new and bewildering technological innovations. The reader can dip into individual chapters to increase their knowledge of a specific technology; or the book can be read cover to cover to gain a quick and easy understanding of these new technologies.
