The global pandemic has forced many legal professionals to confront a new reality — one in which many were unprepared for a transition from the office to working from home. It is becoming clear that the pandemic will have long-lasting impacts on how many legal professionals perform their work. Upon closer inspection, some of the changes that we have seen in recent months exemplify the transformation that has already been underway in the legal industry for some time, and that now — as a result of the pandemic — has been accelerated.
Wolters Kluwer recently conducted an independent survey — the 2020 Wolters Kluwer Future Ready Lawyer Survey: Performance Drivers — to assess future readiness and resilience in the legal sector. With insights from 700 legal professionals across the U.S. and nine European countries, the survey examines ongoing trends in the legal sector and how well-prepared organizations are for the future. While the survey was conducted before the pandemic took its toll in Europe and the United States, its findings are key to understanding the impact that the pandemic is having — and will continue to have — on legal professionals.
The report covers five areas related to the industry’s performance drivers: Top Trends and Readiness across the Legal Profession, Driving Successful Client-Firm Relationships, Changing Legal Departments, Changing Law Firms, and Technology Investments and Advantages. Some of the most enlightening findings included the following:
- Overall, fewer than a third of lawyers believe their organization is very prepared to keep pace with changes in the legal market.
- Lawyers predict pressure from a series of trends expected to impact their organizations over the next three years, and technology tops the list.
- The difficulty of change management and leadership resistance to change is the biggest barrier to change for law firms (53%) and corporate legal departments (65%).
These results bring to light the significant gaps that legal professionals are facing when it comes to adopting technology and preparing for change, and underlying those gaps, there also seems to be a clear need for understanding how to apply technology to solve problems within an organization or a firm. Those who are not already leveraging technology may find the data somewhat daunting — but addressing the lack of adoption doesn’t have to start with becoming an expert in artificial intelligence overnight (in fact, it shouldn’t). When it comes to tech adoption, starting small can open the door for scaling adoption to larger systems or processes within your organization in the long run.
Identify The Problem
It’s completely understandable to feel overwhelmed by all the technology options available and the intense pressure for change. So where should one start? For those looking to improve their organization’s ability to adopt technology, it’s important to first identify problems or pain points within your organization that need solving. Those problems can be prioritized so that solutions can be researched. It may also be beneficial to think about problems in a framework.
Here’s one possible framework to consider:
- Network and Infrastructure: The underlying technology that provides connectivity and services to an organization has taken on new meaning with the pandemic. Cybersecurity, reliable video call technology, online access to resources, and secure client communication all come to the forefront. A reliable infrastructure is foundational to other technology enhancements.
- Back Office: Time tracking, accounting, billing, contract management, utilization, budget tracking, and forecasting are all examples of back office functions. Inefficiencies in back office functions can impact productivity, profitability, and client relationships.
- Front Office: New client development, marketing effectiveness, competitive intelligence, responding to RFPs, and other customer-facing activities can be considered front office functions. Effective front office processes can lead to more business and more profitable business.
- Practice Solutions: The core mission of legal professionals is to deliver legal advice and to help drive positive outcomes. Technology can be applied to provide new and impactful insights.
Concepts like artificial intelligence, data analytics, and visualization suddenly feel less overwhelming if they are applied to specific problem areas and pain points.
Perhaps a firm might apply artificial intelligence to create timesheet entries and draft bills that leverage phone records, activity in applications like MS-Word, and e-mail correspondence. Data analytics might be applied to benchmark prior engagements to ensure proposals and bids are more likely to be profitable. Visualization tools like Tableau might be applied to court or internal information to help advise a client on why settling a dispute might now be a good option.
Frameworks like the one above can reduce anxiety while helping with focus, prioritization, and understanding of technology alternatives.
Research The Alternatives
Depending on the problem or challenge you’re solving for, there may be several kinds of tools to choose from. It’s important to do the right amount of homework and to consider alternatives to find something that meets your specific needs, not only for functionality, but for demonstrating value. In addition to considering the technical solution, consider what success might look like in the future state. Will users need training? Will the solution simplify processes? Will the solution change the day-to-day work for certain individuals? Successful projects are not just about technology: they also affect people and processes, and it is human nature to resist change, especially when the reasons for the change aren’t understood. Ask potential vendors questions about their insights from other customer’s implementations. And when evaluating alternatives, consider how a technology vendor might help you with creating a justification and how they can help ensure the implementation of the solution is successful.
Solicit Buy-In
We know from this year’s Future Ready Lawyer survey results that change management and leadership resistance to change are some of the biggest barriers to tech adoption within the legal industry — so this part isn’t always easy. But in light of the disruption fostered by the pandemic, now may be the right time to advocate for adopting new solutions and systems to bring efficiency and value to your organization. When making your case to leadership and stakeholders, make sure to demonstrate the impact that the solution will have for your organization — whether it be system efficiency, productivity, profitability, or improved client outcomes. Decide how the firm might measure the impact of the proposed solution and what is needed for success — and be sure to explain the anticipated results of the solution and the implications on people and processes. It is also important to solicit advocacy from leadership to help support buy-in from stakeholders, to the benefits of the solution, and to support the necessary changes required for success.
By taking on steps like these, firms can have more confidence in how they apply technology to problems. It’s important to remember that technology is not an end, but a means to an end (albeit, a very important means to an end in light of the survey’s findings). It can add value, create efficiencies, and provide pathways to higher profit, performance, and better client service, but only if applied to specific-use cases. To prepare your organization for the future, you can simply start by identifying — and solving for — the pain points you have today.
Ken Crutchfield is Vice President and General Manager of Legal Markets at Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S., a leading provider of information, business intelligence, regulatory and legal workflow solutions. Ken has more than three decades of experience as a leader in information and software solutions across industries. He can be reached at ken.crutchfield@wolterskluwer.com.