3 benefits of digitisation within the legal industry

Original article by Leanne Aldrich .

The past three years have accelerated demand for digitised content. Clients in all locations and sectors are adopting digitised ways of working that facilitate their agile working patterns. Firms that cannot offer products and services that fit into this model are adding friction to the relationship with their clients.

Andy Newland, Head of IT at Mewburn Ellis, says that: “Digitised products and services are inherently more flexible so, by delivering these to our clients, we’re reducing friction with them. This allows our clients to reap the same benefits of efficiency and agility at their end of the transaction. By delivering digitised products and services that clients adopt readily, the relationship between the firm and its client base is entrenched.”

Embracing technology went from being a “nice to have” to a “must-have”. This is mainly driven by legal clients, who have lived and worked online in recent years, expecting everything to be digital.??

3 benefits of digitisation:?

1. A more flexible and smoother process

Although going digital may have its challenges, it doesn’t have to be hard work. The benefits drastically outweigh the drawbacks.

By choosing a strategic software partner, you’re introducing a partner that is an extension of your in-house team who can mitigate risk and help maintain (or increase!) velocity. A high-quality partner will also have a higher-than-average?staff retention rate, which will provide a long-term solution and security.

Technology has the potential to streamline internal processes and make them both more efficient and more agile with respect to when and where the work is done. Digitised products and services are inherently more flexible and can help save both time and money through more efficient processes.?

Back in 2018,?McKinsey reported that 23%?of a lawyer’s job could be automated. With further innovations in technology, including hyper-automation, we can expect this percentage to have increased even more. Of course, this doesn’t mean replacing lawyers with robots, but rather automating repetitive, manual tasks. By templating documents or digitally tracking files, legal professionals can use their time more efficiently and focus more on clients and revenue-generating activities.

2. Better collaboration

By delivering digitised products and services to clients, one can lower the friction between the two parties. This allows clients to reap the same benefits of efficiency and agility at their end of the transaction.?

In recent years, technology has been a powerful enabler for a more secure collaboration as many of us have found ourselves working remotely. In the law practice sector digitised paper trails, online approval processes or templated contracts, for example, have been key in facilitating collaboration between parties – whether internal or external.

There are some potential security concerns related to this, but?firms can implement several approaches to solve this issue including?multi-factor authentication for internal accounts, document-level encryption and setting IP address restrictions. Overall, by embracing a more digitised work system, legal firms will receive the benefits of a more collaborative and interactive process.?

3. Better user experience for both clients and employees

Delivering digitised products and services that clients can adapt readily not only benefits the relationship between the firm and its client base, but the firm’s employees as well. Technology is available to give employees a better user experience and help drive employee satisfaction.?

Attracting and retaining the right legal talent is vital at a time when the job market is in favour of candidates. Adding to this is the fact the industry is seeing a new generation of tech-savvy lawyers entering the profession. Therefore, legal firms need to be equipped with the right technology to match the high-technology expectations of both technology-savvy professionals and their clients.?