They were aware of the many misconceptions surrounding technology and even the importance of an app. Neota Logic has therefore been specially developed for lawyers and individuals who do not know how to program, but who want to create and use different tools for their practice. Nearly $1 billion was invested in legal technology and new law disruptors in 2018. This took place over more than 50 funding cycles and ranged from start-ups to more established players, according to a study by Investec. Venture capital, private equity, non-legal companies and commercial buyers are increasingly interested in what they see as a highly lucrative legal sector. However, automation of repetitive and low-value work has become more common internally. CCs provide NDA automation tools and self-service tools as examples of successful ongoing technology projects. Just over a third of in-house legal teams surveyed say they use tools to automate contract and data management, while NDAs and other forms and templates are automated at 8% and 14%, respectively. The consensus is that the use of technology has moved from rhetoric to action, especially for large internal teams. At Vodafone Business, the B2B arm of telecoms company FTSE 100, General Counsel Kerry Phillip set up a contract lifecycle platform three years ago. There are now more than 60,000 searchable contracts in this system, used in ten countries, while the workflow tool sends the work directly to the appropriate team.
Phillip says Vodafone was an exception at the time it was first used: “It`s now accepted that you have to do it, and there is a wide range of providers to choose from. It`s unusual not to think about or implement some form of technology, which wasn`t the case three years ago. One of the topics discussed in several presentations to the American Bar Association`s Commission on the Future of Legal Services is the changes that will be needed in legal education to prepare new lawyers for the future. In Neota Logic`s recent presentation to the Commission – 21st Century Technology & 19th Century Practice: The Coming Clash – we found that of the 205 ABA-accredited law schools, fewer than 20 pay much attention to the impact of technology on practice. Australian retailer Wesfarmers introduced a legal operations and technology task force three years ago, led by chief legal services chief executive Sheldon Renkema. In addition to their day-to-day duties, the five-person team had been working part-time on new processes and technical tools. As a lawyer himself, Max is aware of the needs of legal practice in the North American context, but also of the different possibilities. With this customizable template, you can enable your legal department to easily and efficiently collaborate with in-house commercial clients and their external lawyers by automating the end-to-end process of generating, reviewing, tracking, and reporting requests for legal services. To navigate this multitude of vendors, in-house legal teams should expect potential technology partners to help them identify potential use cases and understand their organization`s needs and requirements, according to Aziz. “You used to sell the software to someone, throw it over the fence, and they figured out how to use it.” We know that there is innovation in many law schools. If you know of others who should be on this list, please write data@neotalogic.com. Overall, there has been an increase in basic management tools, which are not necessarily innovative, but are essential to the functioning of a department.
Increasingly, it was about finding systems that could communicate with others so that, for example, your workflow tool and document management system would work together. For example, Neota Logic, which offers document management, know-how automation, and workflow automation on a single platform, finds that many legal departments need to start with a simple triage application to know exactly what their department is dealing with on a daily basis and route those requests to the right people. The GC100 group, made up of more than 125 GCs and secretaries-general primarily from the FTSE 100, has put technology growth and adoption on its agenda. Everyone wants to share and take control of the market. “Everyone assumes they`re far behind and everyone else is much more advanced, and it`s helpful to talk to our colleagues to understand that we`re all just trying to deal with it,” Price says. There is also a sense that many legal technologies offer solutions to non-existent problems and cannot be easily connected to the existing technical infrastructure. “Many solutions are looking for a problem. All legal departments are different and the technology looks a little familiar,” said Dan Toner, Secretary of Spire GC and Group Company. “Technology has to come from the demand side. The cost of this is rapidly decreasing, but he discovers how well it works with our technology and gets the time and space to put work into it.
The frequency and volume of legal technology funding has also increased significantly: a report by Thomson Reuters in mid-2017 estimated investment in UK legal tech start-ups at just £16 million over the past 18 months. Hundreds of legal technology companies have emerged. Every law firm is quick to announce their latest innovation or partnership with a technology provider, while some even have incubators where they work with startups for several months and refine their products. But GCs are eager to shift the conversation away from a focus on pure technology and back to a broader focus on how it fits into people and teams. They analyze whether they have the right people in the right places, the right levels of seniority, and then whether they are doing the right job. “To run a truly successful and efficient service, technology helps you do that, but it`s not a panacea,” says Croxford. This is a common sentiment, as many GCs relate specifically to Office 365, including those from blue-chip companies Pearson, Centrica, Vodafone, Aviva, Spire, Three, and easyJet. Most highlight it as an intuitive collaboration platform, while group communication tools like Microsoft Teams are also widely used. Bie`s former Royal Mail GC, who joined easyJet in mid-2019, says that when she looks at the technology, her first thought is not whether there is a tool on the market, but whether she can first improve the process around the problem and whether it can be solved by existing tools within the company. “Is there something I can customize that already works in the enterprise environment instead of adding another tool to the many already numerous applications that many organizations have? The more you contribute, the more complexity and risk you involve. Read more: beststartup.us/27-best-new-york-city-legal-tech-companies-and-startups/ Meanwhile, over the past three years, Barclays has integrated its case management, electronic invoicing, time tracking, and external legal expense tracking. Ben Eason, Head of Legal Transformation, comments: “We have taken the time and effort to do this, even though it is not considered a luxury job.
This allows you to look at things like AI. As technology providers are increasingly expected to be technology consultants, in-house legal departments need to identify in-house technology champions – often legal staff, but also regular legal counsel – and, most importantly, define use cases across multiple departments. When a legal team can find a solution that moves to HR or procurement, there are more opportunities for value creation across the organization and cost sharing. Aziz comments, “If you can connect these people in the store and allow cross-sharing, it makes the opt-in process much easier.” GCs are constantly talking about running their legal teams like a business. However, to do this, you need to know exactly the nature of this business. Document management systems, workflow tools, e-invoicing solutions and management information services have been around for many years, but these products have developed rapidly and are becoming increasingly complex. They have also become much more user-friendly. De Bie adds, “I`m a big fan of data. Business colleagues are used to presenting data and risk levels, and I see no reason why we, as a legal team, should not do the same.
I really saw how valuable it is to collect data to demonstrate value. The GCs also say that the human aspect is more important than technology. Digital training programmes and the employment of non-lawyers or lawyers with broader skills are firmly on the agenda. In early 2018, UBS launched an internal transformation and digitalization program for legal teams. Croxford says the focus has been on empowering his lawyers to talk about technology. This has manifested itself in many ways, including an in-house academy to train lawyers in areas such as digital literacy – understanding the technology used and its impact on businesses. But there are softer aspects, such as connecting product-focused lawyers with privacy and technology lawyers so they can mix ideas. Neota`s platform offers breakthrough opportunities for law firms, alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) and in-house legal teams to quickly and easily automate their legal services, providing their clients with a superior experience at a lower cost.