Law Technology Today From the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center
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The legal industry has historically been very slow to adopt new and innovative technologies, remaining typically traditional. With technologies transforming all industries, however, the legal sector can no longer deny the impact that digital transformation projects are able to have on both the business and clients. A key element for organisations within the legal sector to consider as part of their digital transformation initiatives is the print estate according to Y Soft Corporation, a leading enterprise office solution provider.
Print management and document capture solutions are often praised for their ability to make organizations more cost-efficient, productive, and for increasing document security. While these advantages are clear, organisations should also consider how these solutions can make them more efficient and therefore free up time for lawyers to focus on more valuable activities.
James Turner, Regional Sales Manager at Y Soft says: “Law firms are taking the opportunity that digital transformation offers to become more client centric and have begun implementing initiatives such as AI in the form of automation and predictive coding to remove hours of administrative work, enabling clients to pay via online services and changing the entire billing model. Most notably, we’ve seen an emergence of online service providers, including the rise of online processing for everything from the creation of parking tickets to divorces. This makes legal services more readily accessible to people, as well as helping to simplify the complex language associated with the legal profession.
“However, as well as addressing some of these issues, it’s crucial that legal organisations look at the entire business and initiate digital transformation projects in all areas that can benefit, including within the print estate.”
Automating day-to-day, time-consuming tasks that require repeated behaviors improves efficiencies, increases document security, removes the likelihood of human error, provides more up-to-date results through faster storage and retrieval of records, easing billing processes and also reduces costs through the digitisation of records. This is achieved through automated scan workflow solutions.
James explains, “Workflow solutions can be integrated with legal apps for even greater productivity, security, and accuracy. For example, workflow solutions can be integrated with the LEAP Practice Management Platform, an accounting system for the legal sector, so that prints, copies or scans can be automatically allocated for billing to assigned clients right from the printer. Additionally, with iManage, law firms can improve accuracy by storing and managing large amounts of digital documents as scans can be automatically sent across to client folders within the iManage system right when as the scan is made.
James adds, “The legal industry is already changing because of digital transformation. For those wanting to succeed in the legal sector, being a techno geek may be as important as being a legal eagle, or at least, having experts on your team who can help you embrace new technology to remain competitive and relevant. While much change is anticipated in the legal industry, the change has only just begun. Technology doesn’t stand still, and with events such as the Global Legal Hackathon, innovation will continue to build and transform the legal sector’s landscape. New technologies have not yet reached their full potential, but the impact will undoubtedly be felt in most law firms.
“As well as future gazing, legal organisations need to ensure they implement transformative technologies that are available today to ensure they remain competitive,” concludes James.
