Ian Lopez, Legaltech News
Guiding legal technology’s transition
from esoteric to standard are four technologies: blockchain, machine learning,
the cloud, and analytics.
Hands of business person holding illuminated light bulb sign
Legal professionals have long been ambivalent toward
technology. But with information coming in new electronic formats and
increasing in volume beyond the control of any single practitioner, the days
where technology was an option rather than requisite are long over.
In the past year, four
technologies are turning the heads of law firm and corporate law leaders, all
pressed for reducing costs while delivering results of the highest quality.
Here are the technologies transforming the role of the lawyer in the 21st
century:
1. Blockchain: The future of contracts, currency and records
‘Immutable’ is an
adjective often used to describe the recordkeeping potential of the blockchain,
and it equally applies to the technology’s capability of transform legal
technology.
The ledger technology
behind every Bitcoin transaction ever made, blockchains are akin to a database,
in which uploaded content is sharable among users with access. Brooke &
Brooke partner Tom Brooke likened the concept to Napster.
In legal, blockchain use
is already well underway. In a Legal
Hackers discussion this past summer, MIT Media Lab leader Dazza Greenwood
discussed at the session lawchain.org, an effort to see whether “blockchain's
immutable record capability can be used for legal requirements” for collecting
and distributing records currently met by archivists. Furthermore, there’s
interest in using blockchain to make authoritative versions of regulations and
statutes available online. With this technology, there would be “an archive
system that anyone can demonstrate” that a statute was enacted.
Implementation of
blockchain looks to be underway in the legal world. Earlier this month, the
office of the Cook County, Illinois Recorder of Deeds launched its own pilot
program that uses blockchain to both store and secure public
records, helping the county save on storage costs. The program is also aimed at
making it easier for the county to track the city’s abandoned property.
Lawyers themselves are
lending their expertise in overseeing the development of blockchains as well.
In August, Steptoe & Johnson expanded its practice to aid clients deploying
and developing blockchain applications. The firm, which last year was retained
as counsel to the Blockchain Alliance, is also slated to accept Bitcoin payments in the
future. Similarly, attorneys from over 40 U.S. law firms launched the Digital
Currency and Ledger Defense Coalition, which will offer legal representation and expertise
to those behind blockchain applications. Vendors have caught wind of the
blockchain buzz as well, as a recent update by Vound to its e-discovery software Intella includes bitcoin
crypto-currency detection.
2. Machine Learning: Powering the artificially intelligent lawyer
While debates persist
around whether artificial intelligence (AI) is the evolution or destruction of
the legal practice, not up for questioning is the fact that AI technology is
here, and regardless of end result, disruption is well underway.
Machine
learning—AI’s less
glamorous synonym—has changed everything from e-discovery (through the ability
to scour document sets for relevant review terms and fine-tune its process as
if learning along the way) to contract review (rendering the last-minute
document dump a challenge of the past).
Machine learning’s
ability to automate tasks once left to junior level associates is also being
applied for compliance, a field increasingly complicated by globalization and
the maze of regulations that has ensued. Among vendors taking this route are
OutsideIQ, whose DDIQ technology helps organizations meet the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) anti-bribery standard ISO 37001, and NextAngles, whose compliance regulatory suite helps financial
institutions deal with regulations around liquidity and money laundering.
Regulatory uses have gotten attention from investors as well: ComplyAdvantage, which uses machine learning in identifying
compliance risks, received $8.2M in a Series A Funding round.
There’s no shortage of
demand for machine learning technology, and some of its vendors are making
names for themselves in the legal tech space. Big
players include UK tech company RAVN
Systems, which recently
partnered with Fireman & Co to increase its North American market presence; Brainspace
Corporation, which
partnered with In-Q-Tel to bring its technology to the U.S. intelligence
community; and LawGeex, which specializes in contract review.
3. The Cloud: Providing (cloud) cover to data storage concerns
As far as information
goes, electronically stored information (ESI) proliferates at an unprecedented
rate, causing much concern for those with obligation to store it. In the rush
to cut costs, cloud technology seems a viable alternative. Able to store
massive amounts of information for a low cost based on a service model, cloud
technology has expedited processes while saving law firms and legal departments
overhead costs, replacing bulky servers stored in a back room with a single
sign-in screen.
Major service providers
are taking note of the change ahead that many deem inevitable. In the legal
tech space, this is most pronounced via kCura, which recently announced its
industry-standard e-discovery ecosystem, Relativity, will be available in cloud
format (Relativity
One). Another cloud
provider making waves in the space is CloudLex, which closed a Series A fundng round with $3.7M.
Also, it seems as if law
firms and legal departments are by-in-large interested
in cloud technology.
According to a survey of Am Law 200 firms from ALM, 56 percent use some form of
cloud technology. Similarly, in the 2016 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing
Survey,” 47 percent predicted that over a quarter of their firm’s offerings
would be cloud based within the next three years.
4. Analytics: Making legal technology easy on the eyes
As far as legal
technology goes, analytics is, whether at a conference or law firm or legal
department, the talk of the town. This is partially because of recent advances
in technology that provide more user-friendly visual capabilities, which,
coupled with massive data sets, makes review much easier.
Like with machine
learning, some companies specializing in analytics are becoming synonymous with
the technology itself. Most notable among those is Lex
Machina, which recently
released law firm and federal court comparator applications. The company itself
was borne out of a Stanford University project and has since expanded beyond IP
law into securities law, a move the company is making to eventually expand into all
areas of federal practice.
Stanford itself collects data on securities litigation cases under its Stanford Securities Litigation Analytics effort.
The drive for analytics
in the legal industry may in part be due to a greater push for law firms to
operate more like businesses, meaning finding new ways to access business
intelligence. As Thomson Reuters Elite senior director of product management
told Legaltech
News recently, “We have information overload. We have too
many emails; we have too much to read on websites; there is a ton of
information that is out there. Filtering that down is really key.”
Furthermore, analytics
can come in handy alongside other technologies, such as those used for early
case assessment or e-discovery. As kCura vice president of business development
Dean Gonsowski recently told
LTN, “in the right hands”
these tools “all have the right place in the workflow, and they can be used.
And we're getting past the point of waiting for [U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew
Peck] to make another ruling about TAR and protocols. … We're getting more into
how this technology actually helps practitioners versus having people wrangle
over it."
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