Automation

 

In a new survey, paralegals said some of their work had been replaced by technology, though many are being called on to help with e-discovery and guiding outside vendor use.

Sixty-three percent of respondents in the survey from Ari Kaplan Advisors and Level 2 Legal Solutions reported technology had replaced former manual tasks, and an identical percentage said they could not perform their work without technology. Nearly all, 94 percent, described their reliance on technology as essential.

Respondents remarked the switch to a paperless office, document management and general automation were common technology transformations at their firm. Paralegals also said technology usage resulted in a higher level of efficiency and responsiveness.

The most popular software tools for paralegals were noted as Microsoft Excel and Relativity. Other popular programs included Workday, Outlook, Skype for Business, OneNote and Quickview.

Regarding the results, Ari Kaplan of Ari Kaplan Advisors noted that “it was interesting to see that most of the responses acknowledged that they could perform tasks without tech, but it would be costly.”

Not all work for paralegals is being automated though. Sixty-three percent of paralegals said they had e-discovery responsibilities, with their most common challenges being the lack of familiarity with e-discovery by the attorneys with whom they work for, the navigation between various professionals who manage e-discovery, new hires' level of experience and the need to embrace technology.

Paralegals noted that many law firms hire paralegals and other professionals to manage e-discovery and navigating between the two poised a challenge.

“Since the people uploading documents are not working on the case or are not paralegals, there is some confusion about why we need things done a certain way, sometimes you need to educate the internal staff working on e-discovery to create greater efficiency,” explained an unnamed paralegal in the survey.

Nearly all paralegal respondents (94 percent) said their law firm uses outside providers in addition to internal support. While only 23 percent of surveyed paralegals said they had primary responsibility for selecting outside providers, 40 percent said they had input in the firm's process of selecting outside providers. However, nearly half (49 percent) reported they were the primary contact for some of their firm's outside providers.

Paralegals cited quality as the most influential factor for an outside provider, followed by trust and price, bandwidth and responsiveness were tied for the third-most influential factor.

Vendors who disclosed their mistakes, sent accurate bills on time, provided prompt responses and suggested ways to improve workflows were key ways to stand out—for all the good reasons—according to the survey.

Kaplan explained paralegals had influence over the software bought because they have familiarity and in-depth understanding of different software tools and techniques. Joey Seeber, CEO of Level 2 Legal Solutions, added that the survey confirmed what he'd experienced during his 10 years in the e-discovery business: Lawyers usually reach out first to purchase the service, Seeber said, and paralegals were the go-to person afterward.

Seeber doesn't see that role changing and said it even may grow. “The non-lawyer has an evolving role in the legal ecosystem,” he explained.

Ari Kaplan Advisors and Level 2 Legal Solutions conducted the survey based on the responses of 13 paralegals and 22 paralegal managers in Am Law 200, midsize and Canadian firms.