admin The Covid 19 pandemic took the world by surprise and shook its very core. It had a severe impact on numerous professions, businesses, and it left no sector untouched. One such case is that of the legal sector. It is easy to say that two years now into the pandemic Covid 19 changed the legal profession forever. After a massive shift in 2020 and 2021 that forced professionals in the legal sector to work and conduct court proceedings remotely, with the help of many remote technologies, many legal professionals may wonder what lies ahead from a technology standpoint. After such a dramatic shift, are there even more disruptions to embrace?
The answer is yes! The world turns, technology keeps evolving, and so too will the legal services industry. Below are predictions of technology trends that will continue to be important in 2022 and help shape the industry in the years ahead.
1) Hybrid Remote or In-office Work Model
Two years into the pandemic, and with varying reports about when and if the “end” is in sight, remote work is no longer a temporary fix, but the way of the future. A recent MyCase survey found that remote work benefitted the legal profession; 60% of firms in the survey reported that profitability remained stable or increased during the pandemic and for 73%, there was a significant increase in productivity due to the adoption of remote working tools.
70% of respondents in the MyCase survey also reported that their legal office will now be allowing remote work even after fully reopening. To help support ongoing remote work culture, law firms should embrace technology that makes remote work easy, accessible, and productive, such as RemoteDepo™ by U.S. Legal Support.
In 2021, U.S. Legal Support scheduled 132,000 remote events via this remote deposition platform, which allows the professionals in the legal industry to conduct depositions quickly and with ease in a remote or hybrid format. All the attorneys need is an internet connection and webcam equipped device; with such simple and accessible technology, they can easily communicate in real time, observe witness body language, introduce exhibits, and seamlessly facilitate questioning.
2) The Growing Importance of Cybersecurity
The year 2021 itself saw 50% more cyber-attacks per week on corporate networks compared to 2020. While it may be easy to explain this stat as only affecting large corporations, according to Cost of Cybercrime Study conducted by Accenture, typically 43% of cyber-attacks are aimed at small businesses as they are the easiest to attack and also are the most vulnerable – out of that, only 14% are in any way shape or form prepared to defend themselves. On top of that, a survey according to the Ponemon Institute revealed that cyberattacks in small businesses have increased more than 20% since 2016.
In addition to that, another report found that 24.9% of all ransomware attacks in the first part of 2021 targeted small and medium sized law firms. Due to the rapid adoption of remote work on less secure at home networks and the sensitive nature of their work, law firms are primed as a target for hackers. U.S. Legal Support recommends law firms place cybersecurity initiatives near if not the top of their tech priority list.
3) Automation
The legal industry is known to be a sector that is heavily dependent on papers and physical documents. Indeed, it is a paper document heavy business. In the current scenario however, law firms now prefer that every part of the legal process is automated and digitized. The digitization of these services will start becoming more and more paramount with remote work growing more and more indefinitely. That said, there is a positive aspect to a potentially heavy lift: the Gartner report published in 2021 mentions the estimated reduction in costs that automation will bring; as much as 30% costs of IT, operations and their infrastructure could potentially be reduced.
4) Artificial Intelligence
While the legal profession may historically be slow to adopt new technologies, AI is the way of the future. A recent 2021 Gartner report estimates Artificial Intelligence will generate $2.9 trillion (about $8,900 per person in the US) in business value and augment 6.2 million hours of productivity in a year. Mori Kabiri for Forbes writes, “As legal technology explores these technologies and is more exposed to the capabilities, professionals will realize the true goal of tech like AI. AI algorithms are not here to replace lawyers but to equip them with the tools to automate daily repetitive tasks so that they can focus more on specialized tasks that require their creativity and intelligence. As the industry stabilizes from the technology shifts required for remote work, AI adoption will only continue to increase.
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