Lawyers Believe There's a Dearth of Tech Designed Specifically for Them
According to a new survey, law firms looking to keep both clients and top-tier talent around should focus on utilizing tech. But first there needs to be more tech options.
April 11, 2019 at 09:30 AM
3 minute read
On Wednesday, technology services platform Intapp released the results of a survey conducted in partnership with YouGov that polled 258 lawyers working the U.S. and the U.K. about their views on technology and the way that its impacting law firm culture.
The major takeaway is that the practice of law is no different than any other industry—technology is being deployed to make day-to-day business faster and more efficient. However, where other business verticals may benefit from tech solutions that were designed specifically to address their unique needs, 40 percent of U.S. survey respondents felt that wasn't the case for law firms.
“Law firms don't make things. They have clients. They don't have customers. They don't sell widgets. They're advisers and the business model is different as well,” said Dan Tacone, president of Intapp.
So where exactly do attorneys think that they could benefit from some more law firm specific tech? User interfaces were ranked at the top by 41 percent of U.S. respondents, followed by software tailored to the practice of law at 29 percent. An additional 29 percent want the software they use to be more intuitive.
Some lawyers value technology more than others. Of the 31 percent of U.S. lawyers and 38 percent of U.K. lawyers said they were considering a career change some time in the next year, 19 percent of both U.S. and U.K. respondents indicated the outdated technology their firms were still utilizing as a reason.
Tacone was surprised that respondents in the U.K. felt more strongly on the issue but chalked it up to the country's smaller legal market. “I think U.K. market is much more competitive so I think there's been a stronger emphasis on efficiencies in that market,” he explained.
Speaking of efficiency, clients still appear to be leading the charge in that area. In response to what clients want , 35 percent of U.S. lawyers said that clients were demanding faster service. Another 24 percent indicated that increased transparency on service matters was also a priority.
Tacone said clients were particularly interested in understanding how rates would be applied to various tasks.
“Law firms are having to deploy systems to help them service that information, not only to have transparency with clients but also to have transparency internally and help them build business models that can survive in this new economy,” Tacone said.
If that's true, it could help to explain the interest in artificial intelligence expressed in the survey. Among U.S. respondents, 30 percent indicated that AI could be used to help track billable time, while another 20 percent were interested in applying it towards compliance with client billing requirements.
Tacone gave the example of a client who is unwilling to pay for research. In the event somebody doesn't get the memo, precautions can be taken to avoid a costly billing mistake.
“You can use AI to check those time entries for compliance before they ever hit the bill,” Tacone said.
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