Technology as Positive Enabler

The British magazine Managing Partner has been providing information on law firm management since 1998. Their target group is the “senior management team” and they provide resources covering strategic management, case studies, analysis, and opinions from “industry experts and senior managers at leading law firms.” Their March issue reports on the ARK Group’s Legal IT conference held in London in January 2016.

In her introduction publisher Helen Donegan concludes her summary of the event this way:

“While clients were a major focus of the discussions, the question also predictably arose over the future role of the lawyer. With technological advancements predicted to take over certain legal tasks, the obvious question to ask is how this affects lawyers both now and in the future. The discussion on this was refreshingly positive. The majority of responses from the experts on the day being that: while traditional legal roles may not exist in ten years, and lower level administrative tasks will be performed by robots, lawyers will always be needed.

Technology is the enabler that will allow lawyers to focus on higher level work for their clients. It should work with lawyers, not instead of them. Lawyers understand their business, their clients, and their work. Now they need to understand how technology will help them to continue to work with their clients in future. We hope this supplement helps with that.”

This Special Focus issue includes the following articles:

• Examining the Impact of Technology On Law Firms, by Emma Reitano, Managing Editor, Managing Partner
• A Brave New World: The Challenges and Opportunities For Legal IT, by Mark Brill, Senior Lecturer in Future Media, Birmingham City University and Director, Formation
• How Law Firms Will Be Working In Future, by Simon Ratcliffe, Consultant, Advanced 365
• Using IT to Improve Client Relationships, by Soo Darcy, Managing Director at Papyrus Research
• How Cognitive Computing Can Help the Legal Profession Face Increasing Challenges, by Peter Waggett, Director of Emerging Technology, IBM
• How IT Will Underpin The Evolution of the Practice of Law, by James Duckenfield, Chief Innovation Officer, Xerox Consulting and Analytics

It’s a great overview of some of the issues surrounding the use of technology in the practice of law and its impact on law firm clients.