The legal industry often lags behind other industry sectors in adapting to technological change, resulting in losing out to competitors, and ones that are not necessarily other law firms.
Savvy law firms recognize the interaction of law and technology and leverage legal tech to be more effective in their practices, according to a blog by SMI Aware, a social media evidence collection and preservation service.
For instance, artificial intelligence (AI) enabled tech reduces the tedium involved with administrative tasks. At the same time, ethical practice is as necessary in the use of legal tech as in every aspect of the practice of law.
Competition from alternative legal service providers
Alternative legal service providers (ALSP), like Deloitte, are competing with law firms for clients and, in many cases, are coming out on top. A recent report by Thomson Reuters stated that 23 percent of large law firms surveyed had lost out to one of the Big Four on client business they expected to gain. That’s nearly one in four. The reason behind this startling figure is simple: ALSPs are expanding the available range of services by combining talent and technology to deliver legal services in modes that best suit their clients’ needs.
However, forward-thinking law firms are responding by recognizing and responding to the hybrid and remote future of work with advanced legal technology that relieves lawyers and support staff of the burden of manual administrative tasks. The result is that lawyers enjoy more latitude to concentrate on the practice of law and serving the needs of their clients. AI and related legal tech have dramatically altered practice management, document management, and even legal research.
Ethical and compliant social media evidence collection
Online discovery has become standard operating procedure in large and small law firms. Likewise, social media collection represents a valuable data source, especially for cases involving physical suffering, liability, or emotional distress. Technology makes it possible to conduct a deep web social search to uncover public and private posts.
However, the ability to uncover information does not always equate to ethical social media evidence collection. Improperly conducted social media discovery can jeopardize a case—and even result in dismissal. The blog says partnering with a provider such as SMI Aware can produce effective e-discovery of social media data while ensuring that data collection is compliant with the rule of law and that social media evidence collected is admissible in court.
