Guiding Your Legal Department’s Digital Transformation

Many legal professionals are realizing that their firms must transform in order to succeed. As the demand for digital services has grown, law firms have had to adapt and change their practices to ensure they're prepared for any next−gen requests. This means it can be difficult to determine which people you need to focus on hiring or recruiting so you're properly staffed.

Legal departments are facing a digital transformation, or at least they should be. But while a lot of information out there seems to suggest that this campaign will be ineffective in making its desired effect, it is still important to press ahead and show how much it can benefit the company.

Creating a Case in Legal Departments for Digital Transformation

Digital transformation doesn't replace lawyers with technology; it's about how best to put legal talents to their full use. Consider the costly time firms spend reviewing agreements, drafting and reviewing contracts, engaging in discovery, and transcribing correspondence. Many of these tasks are now digitally managed.

Lawyers have a reputation for being very busy people. So, when their time is spent more efficiently, their business value increases significantly. A recent report from Deloitte said that digital transformation will allow this to happen.

It seems that the transition to modern legal systems is necessary in order for a firm to be competitive and profitable. In a 2018 report by Deloitte, they found that while 83% of general counsels believe that technology would transform in−house legal functions, only 10% of them are on their third wave of digital solutions and there are many firms who still haven't begun this transition.

The train has been pulled down the tracks for three years now, with advances in natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), blockchain, and other efficiencies.

NLP Technology

A neuro−linguistic programming software enables computers to understand, read, analyze and interpret human language. Modern legal departments use NLP to create and evaluate legal agreements. Not only is NLP growing in the legal profession, but according to Forbes India, the healthcare industry is adopting its use too.

NLP is the technology that underlies artificial intelligence, and its two main practical applications are−

• There’s a lot of information contained in documents that attorneys need. Technology is able to find these documents and help them draft agreements and review contracts more efficiently, helping the legal industry become more efficient overall.

• If you want to make good use of a document or recording, information extraction can be a great help. Information extraction is useful for contracts, derivatives traders, and intellectual property attorneys.

Leveraging Cloud

Deploying your organization's IT plan for your cloud applications removes the need for on−premises storage. Staff can access what they need from the Internet through your company's portal. Data from the American Bar Association research has shown that lawyers and law firms see in−house cloud services as a cost−effective way to use advanced legal technology tools without the need for costly hardware and support services.

The survey showed that the number one issue for lawyers is poor and worsening cyber security.

Robotics in Legal Departments

Businesses are finding that a great way to streamline and accelerate operations is by using robotic process automation. RPA can eliminate several manual steps involved in typical business processes such as phone calls and email communications. This reduces the chance of overlooking important processing steps, while also improving productivity.

Deploying Artificial Intelligence

The law profession is finally beginning to deliver on its promise of providing digital services. As part of that transition, the legal education community is curating and labeling an open−sourced training dataset of legal contracts for artificial intelligence (AI) research and development.

There is a need for an AI system that can understand the legal text. This technology, however, is reliant on the availability, quality, and transparency of legal documents annotated with expert knowledge.

Attorneys can teach, create training modules, and host workshops to help increase awareness of AI in legal contract review. They'll also work with AI tools, collaborate with AI and data scientists, and gain a deep understanding of how AI works in their field.

How do Cloud Solutions Help Legal Departments?

Cloud solutions empower legal departments to manage their data, stay in control of important legal matters, and increase the level of legal expertise throughout the company by empowering digital transformation. While legal departments are adopting tools that provide greater control and better collaboration tools, it's imperative to find a holistic technology platform that can adapt to a variety of compliance and information management challenges.

Business owners need to make sure they balance their overall goal to distinguish themselves from the competition by complying with the law. However, if you're constantly having to sort through piles of legal information and folders, or your documents are spread across different filing cabinets and servers, it can be a huge drain on resources. Here let’s see how the cloud helps−

Data Loss

The worst−case scenario for any company is discovering that data has been destroyed by a natural or man−made event. 7.5% of files are lost and 3% of them are misfiled every year, often because we don't have clear business−wide governance on how to securely store, find, and track information. That can lead to $30,000 in losses for every 1,000 documents you manage.

Faultless data protection means that users will enjoy the extra peace of mind. There are several cloud resources available that can protect the data from being lost and also arrange them conveniently at the fingertips.

Wasted Resources

Not paying attention to time−wasting mistakes can cause serious consequences for your company in the long run. Employees might unwittingly contribute to the delay in certain projects, causing risks for your business and delays for your project. If you prefer digital storage and agree that cloud technologies are your best option, then trust that digital data in the cloud will save you money over on premise solutions.

Inefficient Collaboration

A legal system that is central to multiple departments makes it easier to track your organization's legal matters and delegate tasks. This admin tool can save you time as well as give each department a greater capacity to manage each sector of legal risks. By standardizing contract templates, you reduce the risk of spreading yourself too thin because they require less effort than individually prepared contracts.