Technology is often a process or manner, with which a specialised knowledge is applied, in any particular area, to achieve optimum results, in the least possible time1. In easier words technology is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes in an industry.
Technology is in everything, from the first stone tools that mankind made to the latest automated assistant that everyone is vying for. And this is just a start. 100 years ago nobody anticipated the computer era. In the same way, where we go from here is uncertain (and so exciting).
BRIEF HISTORY OF LAW AS WE KNOW IT TODAY
A. To better understand our future as legal practitioners, let us see how we got here. Before humans invented reading and writing, law was primitive. It relied on word of mouth, memory, what was acceptable and what could be physically proven.
Humans, then, lived in small covens or tribes. Intra-tribe laws were decided, executed and adjudicated upon by the tribe’s elders or rich and inter-tribe laws were few and mainly trade-related.
B. Then we invented the written language and paved the way for record keeping. This revolutionised ‘legal practice’. We could now maintain written records of legislation and closely inspect and manage their execution. Perpetrators and their punishments were recorded. This led to ‘precedence’. Of Course, easier said than done. This was a weary, non-linear and staggered process that took many years.
C. Then came the printing press and made the word available to masses. Subsequently, there came electronic type-writers, copiers, tele-communication and fax, making communication even simpler and far-reaching.
The truth remains, that as many communities and tribes and histories have existed, each one evolved ‘the law’. It might be subjectively different, each unique to their living conditions, prejudices, customs and other variables, but everyone developed a law of their land. Testament of the importance of law for life as we know it.
Today, law is irreplaceable, all-encompassing and omnipresent. It’s fundamental to how we live and best function in the modern world. It's also ever-evolving.
The computer has automated record keeping and finding. There is no longer a need for a bunch of paralegals to scurry through hundreds of case-laws to find one. One associate can type-in a few keywords and find a legal precedent in minutes.
TECHNOLOGY AS WE WITNESS EVERYDAY
Things are changing so fast, that ‘yesterday’ we invented “SCC Online” and “Manupatra” and today we are in the process of digitizing complete libraries. In 2017 The Harvard Law School Library announced the completion of its ‘Caselaw Access Project’, which digitized its 334 years of legal history. India's first AI Legal software was also launched in this year. The global legal arena is at the edge of the cloud computing era, and it’s only the beginning.
Technology has triggered changes that threaten to shift the balance of markets, society and politics. The once conservative-and-exclusive legal market is no longer immune. “The increasingly informed and tech-savvy client base, the unbundling of the legal services, online service delivery, and the application of new technologies in the legal profession such as big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain and automation of legal services continues to disrupt the legal profession in profound ways.”2
WILL THIS CHANGE THE LEGAL FIELD AND HOW LAWYERS FUNCTION?
Legal practitioners have adopted mobile operations in-lieu-of conventional desktops. Artificial intelligence and e-discovery have become so central that many new lawyers will be left perplexed if they had to work one day without them. Many have termed this as the ‘proliferation of legal tech’3. And it's changing human involvement in myriad legal spheres.
Many scholars agree that the emergence of ‘digital lawyers’ is inevitable. “A combination of regulatory changes that enable new entrants to deliver innovation services outside of the structure of traditional law firms, alongside the emergence of new technologies that speed up labour-intensive functions, are expected to significantly transform how the business of law is carried out and what it means to be a lawyer”.4 For example there are relatively-new online-applications that can help a layman draft simple contracts from home.
THE HUMAN TOUCH
Yet some aspects will never change. They will always require the ‘human touch’. Large e-data is internationally and easily available. This has helped law firms service clients better and constantly retain a competitive edge This has also given rise to ‘replaceable’ and ‘non-replaceable’ law practices. A 2014 American Bar Association Report said “The key to our future success as legal service providers lies in our ability to identify the specific lawyering areas in which we can be replaced and those in which we cannot be replaced. The most prosperous law practices in 2020 will be those that are able to successfully adjust their business models to use artificial intelligence-type tools while at the same time promoting and delivering the part of the legal service value proposition that the machines are not able to provide.”5
Since law is for the people, so is the lawyer. Lawyers must use all the tools they can to enhance their practice instead of shunning new technologies for usurping their field, like:
Telecommunications has helped many to work remotely, service international clients and connect with them round-the-clock.
Many are also adopting automated e-discovery to find evidence in email chains, database archives and such.
We should utilise digital business management platforms to simplify case management. These softwares allow us to schedule important dates, organise contacts, enter billing data, manage volumes of documents and share them with other lawyers. These services can also be accessed remotely.
There are also services that use Artificial Intelligence to automate editing and approval processes. Others help to analyse contracts. These make our practice more effective and save money.
5. Finally, technologies have brought the legal fraternity closer. We have formed global (also local and regional) communities of lawyers. If utilised properly these can kick-start a chain reaction for-the-better in our career.
The future may be uncertain but it’s enthralling. We may have to change some habits, evolve some skills and let go of some practices, but the legal practitioner will emerge unscathed. We are a relentless lot, after all.
References:
2 Kigwiru, Vellah Kedogo, Emerging Technological Innovations in the Legal Profession and Its Impact on the Regulation of Market Competition: Kenyan Perspective (March 19, 2019). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3355861 or fdhttp://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3355861
3 Chay Brooks, Christian Gherher and Tim Vorley, Artificial intelligence in the legal sector: pressures and challenges of transformation; Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Volume 13; Oxford University Press, 2020, on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society
4 ibid
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