6 Years Of Future Ready Lawyer Reports – Above the Law

Last
fall,

Wolters
Kluwer
released
the
sixth
annual
installment
of
the
Future
Ready
Lawyer
report.
Time
has
flown
and
the
legal
profession
has
moved
just
as
quickly,
if
not
faster.
Consider
the
inaugural
2019
survey
that
asked
700
lawyers
across
the
U.S.
and
Europe
to
“assess
their
current
state
and
future
priorities
and
preparedness
to
identify
what
it
will
take
to
be
future
ready.”
It
found
that
69%
of
responding
attorneys
believed
that
understanding
which
technologies
to
deploy
was
important
—
which
of
course
implies
that
31%
did
not
find
it
important. 
Additionally,
no
consensus
was
reported
on
which
technologies
would
have
an
impact.

The
2019
survey
also
identified
top
challenges
—
addressing
technology,
dealing
with
increased
complexity
and
volume
of
data,
and
managing
changing
client
and
leadership
expectations
—
that
less
than
40%
of
respondents
felt
they
were
prepared
to
address
by
2022.
Additionally,
fewer
than
24%
said
they
understood
transformational
technologies
such
as
AI.
And
only
53%
of
lawyers
indicated
their
organization’s
technology
investment
would
increase
over
a
3-year
period
that
would
end
in
2022.

All
of
this
tracks
with
the
traditional
perception
of
the
legal
profession
as
an
industry
that
proceeds
cautiously
—
and
slowly
—
in
the
direction
of
new
technologies.
However,
notable
exceptions
are
present.
Legal
professionals
were
some
of
the
first
to
adopt
online
full-text
research.
The
legal
industry
was
ahead
of
the
curve
in
the
use
of
word
processing
features
and
plug-ins.
And
e-discovery
leveraged
search,
AI,
and
semantic
processing
well
before
the
typical
corporate
IT
department
had
those
items
on
their
radar.

The
respondents
of
the
2019
Future
Ready
Lawyer
report
could
not
have
anticipated
the
seismic
global
events
on
the
horizon
that
would
shape
the
direction
of
legal
services.
In
2020,
lockdowns
due
to
COVID-19
pushed
an
otherwise
cautious
and
deliberate
industry
forward.
Zoom
and
Teams
calls
became
the
norm
as
online
meetings
were
essential
to
preserve
communication
with
staff
and
clients
who
couldn’t
meet
physically.
Online
research
spiked
as
attorneys
who
might
have
still
reached
for
a
printed
publication
were
unable
to
access
content
in
any
other
way
but
electronically.
And
digital
signature
platforms
like
DocuSign
became
cemented
as
the
de
facto
way
to
complete
and
memorialize
transactions.

The
changes
driven
by
the
pandemic
kept
firms
and
law
departments
busy
while
the
world
prepared
to
change
once
again.
On
November
30,
2022,
ChatGPT3.5
Turbo
was
released
and
promptly
went
viral.
For
the
first
time,
managing
partners
at
firms
began
to
truly
care
about
technology.

Case
in
point:
The
2023
Future
Ready
Lawyer
survey
demonstrated
a
consensus
among
a
wide
majority
of
respondents
(87%)
that
technology
had
improved
their
work,
while
91%
of
lawyers
surveyed
felt
that
access
to
the
latest
tools
and
technology
was
important.
One
year,
the
2024
Future
Ready
Lawyer
report
would
show
that
76%
of
law
department
attorneys
and
68%
of
law
firm
attorneys
use
GenAI
at
least
once
per
week
—
a
frequency
that
suggests
lawyers
may
be
experimenting
with
GenAI
technology
on
a
personal
level,
that
lawyers
are
actually
using
the
technology,
which
is
extremely
important.
Many
well-intentioned
technology
projects
die
because
of
a
lack
of
adoption.

Meanwhile,
even
as
the
number
of
new
technology
startups
and
GenAI
products
continues
to
multiply,
AI
governance
remains
an
emerging
topic.
Firms
and
law
departments
will
need
to
keep
ensuring
users
are
trained
and
informed
in
how
to
use
GenAI
technologies.
They
will
need
to
understand
the
ethical
use
and
have
an
awareness
of
AI
bias.
And
transparency
will
be
required
so
that
clients
and
firms
alike
know
when
AI
was
used.
Some
clients
demand
that
firms
stay
away
from
GenAI
on
their
engagements.
Others
express
interest
in
the
technology
if
it
can
provide
better
outcomes
or
reduce
spend.

The
pace
of
technological
advancement
has
been
tremendous,
with
new
startups
and
a
constant
flow
of
new
GenAI
products
to
evaluate.
The
change
has
been
tremendous,
and
the
demands
on
staff
to
evaluate
and
keep
pace
have
been
overwhelming
for
many.

Last
year,
I
suggested
the

Future
Is
Now
when
it
comes
to
legal
technology.
As
we
move
past
the
AI
hype
cycle
in
the
coming
years
organizations
will
need
to
focus
on
return
on
investment
and
aligning
staff
to
deliver
results.
Talent
training
and
attracting
the
right
talent
that
is
“AI
Ready”
will
become
more
important.

2025
will
be
an
exciting
year
for
the
legal
profession.
Legal
work
must
continue
to
be
accurate
and
correct
so
the
industry
must
continue
to
be
deliberate
in
the
adoption
of
technology.

The
past
five
years
represented
significant
change
for
legal
professionals
and
there
continues
to
be
much
speculation
over
disruption.
As
the
hype
dies
down
a
bit,
we
will
continue
to
see
significant
change
and
a
steady
evolution.
Will
that
be
true
disruption?
Let’s
discuss
in
another
five
years!

Note:
For
each
of
the
past
six
years
the
“Wolters
Kluwer
Future
Ready
Lawyer
Survey”
has
included
insights
from
700
lawyers
in
law
firms
and
corporate
legal
departments
across
the
U.S
and
Europe.
The
survey
examines
how
client
expectations,
technology,
and
market
trends
are
affecting
the
future
of
the
legal
profession
and
how
legal
organizations
are
prepared
to
address
these
challenges.
For
the
latest
report

click
here.

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