What is legal tech?

“Legal tech,” also known as legal technology, is a term that describes the tools and technologies used by lawyers and professionals within the legal field to do their jobs. Just about every industry is touched by our increasingly digital landscape, and law is no different.

Why do lawyers use legal tech?

In 2016, Legal Tech News noted that “less than one-quarter of lawyers and only 2% of law firm partners were millennials.” Now projections are suggesting the balance will flip in millennials’ favor with 75% of the workplace being occupied by them. With this changing demographic also comes the tools and tactics of the new, incoming class.

Millennials aren’t just more populous in the workplace. They’re changing the look and feel of industries too. This includes finding ways to streamline mainstay processes, save data, and conduct research. With legal tech, this is more or less the case as well.

Legal technology serves to expedite and combine like processes and find ways to save time, effort, and energy. While millennials could be the cause of this shift in workflow, more industries and employees of all backgrounds are using these tools to make their work lives a little easier.

What are some legal technology solutions?

In their daily legal practice, lawyers will use different types of technology depending on the goal they have in mind or task they’re trying to perform. Their technology might become more niche depending on their field too.

Generally, lawyers might use technology for research, to improve their business tracking, or more recently, artificial intelligence to deepen the scope of their research more quickly.

Some common legal tech tools include:

Document management ­— Legal document management software (DMS) allows lawyers and professionals to manage and organize their documents. Included in this work are tools that help keep track of versions of documents, prevent others from making changes, and make documents searchable within a firm. Some DMS allow you to connect your fax and scanning machines so your documents are immediately indexed within your system.

Time and billing — Legal time and billing software aim to lighten law professionals’ administrative work. This software designed for time and billing keeps track of timesheets and invoices. Generally, it gives you a comprehensive view of how you’ve spent your time.

Case management — Case management tools organize and synchronize everything concerning a legal case. This includes documents, scheduling and conflicts, contracts, and reporting.

E-discovery — E-Discovery or eDiscovery software helps lawyers and legal professionals to learn, review, and process electronic documents (e-mails, computer files, databases, etc.) as a part of their investigation or work in lawsuits.

As mentioned previously, legal technology may change in relevance depending on which field you’re in or aspire to be in. Generally, the trend toward technological advancement has helped make the hard work of lawyers more organized and accessible. As these changes proceed, so too will the legal field to keep up with advancements.

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