Technologies That Are Changing Law Practices
Digital technologies are transforming the world for business, making processes more efficient and freeing up higher-skilled workers to invest their resources more intelligently. The law industry is no different; while there are some special circumstances, digital technology is mostly embraced, leading to better outcomes for clients and law professionals.
Virtual Legal Assistants
Virtual legal assistants are a form of AI technology that speeds up the legal department of a law firm, making it more productive. Consider the number of legal inquiries taken by the average law practice, then consider how efficient it would be to have them automatically handled by AI.
In other industries, these are sometimes known as chatbots, but in legal practices, they are virtual legal assistants. There are some differences; for example, VLAs are designed to perform to a higher standard than chatbots, you can ask a VLA complex questions, and they interact.
Needless to say, this technology dramatically improves the performance of law practices, especially larger ones with many calls to handle. VLAs take the pressure off the personnel in the agency without sacrificing any of the workloads, clients, or the professional standard of service.
Automation
These days, most businesses are reaping the benefits of automation, and the legal industry is no exception. Automation helps standardize the mechanical processes in a business and free up employees to concentrate their professional skills in other areas, strengthening the agency.
When it comes to law offices, many things are automated; these include email templating, data collection, and billing processes. Document automation is also increasing in viability because security for digital signatures is better, speeding up processes and delivering better services.
An automation infrastructure is now mostly standard practice in law firms thanks to the efficiency improvements, and law office workers are now expected to understand automation processes and security protocol. Not only that, automation continues to extend its capabilities for law firms.
Digital Marketing
Like any other business, law offices can benefit from digital marketing - this is the technology used to improve a company’s brand visibility online or increase the client base using local SEO services. Digital marketing can be utilized by any business with a website and desire to grow.
If a law firm wants to grow its customer base and become more recognizable in the local area, it’s a good idea to start a blog based on relevant keywords. There are also various changes that can be made to the local website that enhance its presence online without spending anything.
Voice Technology
One of the key skills for a law office worker in the past was the ability to use shorthand and transcribe text quickly, but more and more, these skills are becoming obsolete in favor of voice technology. Voice technology is available from Google Voice, Siri, and VTX for law businesses.
Whether you are in the courtroom or working with a client, you can speak directly into the voice assistant device and have the words transcribed quickly and directly onto the page. These transcriptions are digital and easy to share; they are also secure, making them perfect for law.
Artificial Intelligence
It seems like AI is touching every business and industry with its many benefits; not only can AI add new services and functionality to a business, but it can also increase general productivity. The trouble is that there is still a lack of confidence in some of the processes and their security. Despite this, AI is being used in law offices as virtual assistants and to take care of regular tasks and heavy workloads, such as personal injury cases for road traffic accidents. Artificial intelligence is also used to analyze large qualities of data in complex cases more quickly.
Virtual Law Practice
Nowadays, the majority of businesses are interested in disaster-proofing the business to protect them from unforeseen impacts like the Covid-19 pandemic. In the majority of cases, this means creating a virtual office platform giving workers the option of working from home or in the office.
A virtual law practice can be used in this capacity, but it can also overtake a brick and mortar office environment altogether, reducing overheads without sacrificing any productivity. There are some issues, especially around security, but VLPs are becoming ever more popular these days.
Final Thoughts
While there is nothing to stop a law practice from operating the same way it did a decade or two ago, there’s no doubt that technology is having an impact. It’s hard to ignore the productivity enhancements of automation, AI, and VLAs, that can automate tasks and enhance services.