What Does the Future Look Like for Law Firm Tech?
After a dramatic shift to remote working during the pandemic, the path forward continues to strike a hybrid balance of remote and in-person work. This means legal tech will continue to play a big role in law firm offices (and home offices!) across the country.
Where’s law firm tech headed?
Collaboration
One of the key benefits tech has been able to offer law firms is the ability to collaborate remotely.[1]
Currently, a modern practice management system should allow your team to effectively collaborate no matter where they are. Secure messaging and workflow task management make it easy for the team to keep the ball moving—on many different cases at once.
Expect collaboration to remain an important component of legal tech.
Automation
Law firm tech will continue to find ways to save lawyers time.[2]
Already, firms have access to automated options for generating legal documents. For motions, pleadings, invoices, and other commonly used documents, client information can be merged with a template. In addition to being generated in bulk, invoices can be sent out in batches.
And if you use a practice management system with integrated billing and accounting, payments will update in your firm’s books—without additional data entry by your team.
Data privacy
With the increased use of technology comes a growing awareness of data privacy concerns. The American Bar Association and State Bars continue to refine model rules for the better protection of client information.[3]
Again, look to tech answers that continue to evolve. Don’t send sensitive documents via email attachment. Instead, use your secure client portal to share necessary paperwork with team members and clients.
Solutions
Ultimately, finding solutions for law firms continues to determine the direction of legal tech growth. Enabling remote work and collaboration, time-saving automation, and secure communications mark the future of law firm tech.
References
1. Legal Tech Trends from 2020 and How to Prepare for 2021
2. 5 Legal Technology Trends Changing In-House Legal Departments
3. American Bar Association Model Rule 1.15: Safekeeping Property