7 trends in the legal-tech industry to watch out for

Technology is slowly penetrating into the legal-tech industry. Globally, new apps and software are launched to facilitate legal work and make it easier for the legal community. Lawyers handle cumbersome tasks with tons of paper work, manage multiple meetings and client demands. This is where technology comes in. 

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Source: https://tech.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Legal-Technology.jpg

Tech aims to assist and facilitate the legal industry to make it easier for legal professionals, thereby saving time and increasing efficiency!

Let us look at 7 most exciting technology trends to look out for in 2017:

Legal Automation – There have been a lot of software lately which automate legal processes and tasks. They develop workflow management and document assembly in order to streamline legal processes and more efficiently deliver services to clients. As the manufacturers claim, they can even replace the functions of a legal secretary!

Cyber Security – The global cyber-attacks in early 2017 have caused the demand for cyber security to increase especially for law firms which exclusively deal with classified documents. Various cyber security software are available to provide young lawyers or relatively new law firms who cannot afford an IT department to handle cyber security which can be efficiently done by a cyber-security software.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) - AI refers to the technological systems which are able to perform tasks that generally require human intelligence. It doesn’t change the nature of legal work but allows lawyers to focus on technical work. Processes like due diligence, research, updates, tracking of developments, basic documentation, contract review, etc can be easily performed by AI.

Blockchain – Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize the legal industry. It is an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. It has however been overlooked by lawyers since it is relatively difficult to understand but the manufacturers claim to bring new updates to make it easy to use.

Cloud Collaboration – Most of the lawyers secure their data by uploading it to a cloud system. Cloud collaboration is a technology wherein lawyers can exchange information by uploading it to a common cloud used by their associates or partners. For large litigation practices, teams of lawyers can collaborate and share notes about case-related evidence and documents in secure web-based platforms, reducing redundancies and inefficiencies in the litigation preparation process.

CRMs – Another trend entering the legal industry is the Customer Relations Management software. It helps to manage and analyze customer interactions and data, with the goal of improving business relationships with customers and assisting them. CRM systems are designed to compile information on customers across different channels which could include a company's website, telephone, live chat, direct mail, marketing materials and social media. Since most of the law firms aim to provide quality services to clients, CRMs are very useful.

Legal Encryption – Another upcoming trend is using software to encrypt the conversation between lawyers and clients. Software like ‘Signal’ which aim to strengthen the attorney-client privilege, since e-mails and phone calls are not entirely safe, can be the next big thing in the legal-tech industry.

These legal trends have gained much importance in the recent years and 2017 seems to be the year in which their manufacturers intend to breakthrough into the Indian market!

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Source: https://www.myadvo.in/

For more such technologies, join India's first Legal Tech Fair, at The Lalit, New Delhi on 15th July, 2017. The event aims to provide legal fraternity and tech service providers, an access to new innovations in the legal-tech domain. Be a part of a comprehensive summit on panel discussions and exhibition, organised by LawPundits in association with MyAdvo.