JULY 2019CIOAPPLICATIONSEUROPE.COM8IN MYOPINIONhe legal profession and the delivery of legal services more generally is facing unprecedented disruption driven by factors including changes in client expectations, the licensing of alternative business structures (from a UK perspective this means law firms owned partly or wholly by those outside the legal profession such as the `Big Four' professional services firms), the rise of legal operations (the centralisation of a function that seeks to optimize the delivery of legal services) and advances in technology (the latter being the focus of this article).This article explores what LegalTech (legal technology) is, the potential benefits of LegalTech adoption, what use cases LegalTech solutions are being developed to address and finally suggests an approach for its adoption.What is LegalTech?LegalTech in its broadest sense is the use of technology in the provision of legal services. Unlike in other industries such as the music and taxi industries where digital disruption has led to a few companies emerging as the front runners (think Apple, Spotify, Uber, Lyft etc.) LegalTech is disrupting the legal sector through the development of solutions designed to improve one or more specific areas involved in the delivery of legal services, primarily in the following areas: The rise of LegalTech, underpinned by advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), has gained significant attention in the legal sector over recent years with bold claims that LegalTech solutions will replace the need for lawyers. As the hype has died down somewhat and lawyers breathed a collective sigh of relief (though it is likely certain functions will be staffed much more leanly in the future) what has become clear is that law firms and in-house legal teams who leverage LegalTech in the right way are likely to better and more effortlessly serve their clients.How can LegalTechhelp?LegalTech when applied in the right way and for the right use case can be a great advantage for legal departments but there is a cost which will need justifying. This means that such departments will have to argue the case that there will be an expected return on investment, whether through a reduction in costs for the legal department, an increase in productivity or improved service delivery, better risk identification and mitigation and/or improved client satisfaction.The USPs of LegalTech are solution specific but often include claims they can reduce time spent on administrative or mundane tasks (which is important because lawyers are very expensive), provide better analytics, offer improved access to information, and standardisation of documentation.Use case examplesSome examples of where LegalTech solutions are being adopted include:The Disruptive Technology in the Legal Industry CHRISTIAN FAHEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF LEGAL AFFAIRS, INMARSAT PLC.TChristian Fahey
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