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1、8 expert opinions on The Legal Tech Trends of 2023Hi there!2023 just started and were ready to write 2022 down in the books and turn the page forever.Except for the Little Mermaids new skin tone and Beyonces latest album,there wasnt much to cheer about.We rolled from a pandemic into an economic down
2、turn(is this what Adele meant by rolling in the deep?).It looks like 2023 will be a challenging,yet exciting year.More than ever,it will be key to prepare for the future and use resources in smart ways.And we strongly believe in the role software has to play in doing so.And were not alone.Wolters Kl
3、uwer stated in their Future Ready Lawyer survey and analysis that“technology leaders continue to outperform others year after year in the legal sector.”“Technology leaders continue to outperform others year after year in the legal sector”Software is an enabler for teams to optimize the way they work
4、.In a survey we conducted among our customers,access to knowledge was referred to as Henchmans main benefit.And we understand why:By making knowledge easily accessible,lawyers can focus on their added value instead of repetitive and redundant work like browsing files for a precedent or clause they h
5、ave written before.This will be key since clients will not be willing to pay for inefficiency any longer.According to the Wolters Kluwer report,demand for tech-enabled law firms hit a record high in 2022 and is expected to continue to climb.And according to Shilpa Bhandarkar,CEO of CreateiQ,Linklate
6、rs,its also very likely that the focus on adoption,training and integration will increase in the upcoming months.“We are convinced that the recession will separate the nice-to-haves from the must-haves”Legal tech will help legal professionals and firms to prevail,both in a bear and a bull market.But
7、 there is a lot of software available on the market,and innovations can be hard to follow.So which software should you place your bet on?We are convinced that the recession will separate the nice-to-haves from the must-haves,and will favour the tools with a quick Return On Investment vs.long impleme
8、ntation cycles.Which tools are here to stay?We asked the question to a bunch of legal experts in our network.We hope this report can help you prepare and decide whats right for your organisation.Cheers,Jorn3ContentsAdam Curphey 14Senior Manager of Innovation at Mayer BrownJoe Cohen 16Head of Innovat
9、ion atDentonsStefan Schicker 6CEO of SKW Schwarz Tech GmbHAlex Herrity 12Director of Legal Solutions at AdidasTrine Melsether 4Chief Digital Officer at ThommessenNikki Shaver 8CEO&Co-Founder at Legaltech HubVictor Cabral Fonseca 10Head of ThinkFuture at TozziniFreireAdvogados,BrazilKristof Cox,Ph.D.
10、18Partner at Deloitte4The increasing impact of technology is a trend that has gained momentum over the past years for both law firms and legal departments across a wide range of areas.While the pandemic restricted most of us to work from home,it also enabled a sector-wide adoption of digital process
11、es and technologies.In todays hybrid work environment,I believe that this will continue and improve even further.“Legal technology now often is a key factor in law firm selection by clients”As a leading Norwegian law firm,our experience is that legal technology now often is a key factor in law firm
12、selection by clients.It is also an important part of our day-to-day operations and a factor to attract new talents.Going into 2023,we will certainly continue combining our lawyers knowledge and experience across the firm with new technology,to be able to deliver services that add value to clients.So
13、,what can we expect for 2023(and beyond)?1.I predict that we will continue to see a lot of activity within the area of document assembly and document automation tools.There are already many tools available in this area,delivering great value when it comes to improved performance and efficiency.In ad
14、dition,and maybe just as important,it is our experience that lawyers easily get involved and quickly start using these tools.And as everyone working with legal technology knows-adoption is key.Successful implementation of document automation in a law firm comes with a bonus:there is the possibility
15、to deliver this as a new service to clients.2.I believe that project tools,used within a broad range of different legal areas,will continue to develop and gain attention Trine MelsetherChief Digital Officer at Thommessen5throughout the next year.As several law firms are focusing on improving their p
16、roject management capabilities,due to increased project complexity in their work,taking advantage of digital tools to improve communication and collaboration in projects makes a lot of sense.However,for a successful implementation of these tools,one needs to take into account the clients perspective
17、.Often clients are quite different and one solution might not fit all.At the same time,using different tools may drive complexity and also prevent internal user adoption.It will be exciting to see what 2023 holds in this area.3.In 2023,I believe that we will take even greater advantage of existing t
18、ools and use them more efficiently.For example,Microsofts Office 365 suite,which is used by many clients and law firms,has untapped potential and several features have not yet been explored.The same goes for other systems within legal technology.Will we take advantage of more capabilities that alrea
19、dy exist?In a time of recession,this seems plausible.4.Businesses across all sectors are increasingly being targeted by cybercriminals.This also applies to the legal sector.With an increasing number of technology solutions,more integrations,and also people working from a vast amount of locations and
20、 networks,it is plausible that we may experience increased cyber risk in the year to come.I,therefore,believe that cyber security should be top of mind for 2023.This might involve working with IT security standards such as ISO,preventive cybersecurity measures,or investing in even better surveillanc
21、e and encryption tools.“How can we develop a unique client experience?Technology is only part of the answer”Accelerated by the pandemic,both clients and law firm personnel are demanding better and more efficient digital solutions more flexibility,more user-friendliness and more integrations.The poss
22、ibilities are endless,but it all starts with curiosity.How can we develop a unique client experience?Technology is only part of the answer.Equally important is working with the organizational culture to develop a growth mindset within the organization.6“Tech needs the right mindset”When we started i
23、ntroducing legal tech back in 2021,we focused on the question:“Which technology should we use”?The legal tech market at that time was still quite small and the number of tools available was overseeable.There was maybe even only one tool available per category at all,e.g.in contract drafting.So firms
24、 started to look into such tools and pretty roughly matched their need“We want a tool for contract drafting”and the tool.Many projects failed.And I am convinced that one of the main reasons for such failures was that the tool did not solve the right problem.It solved a problem in its category,but th
25、e specific features did not match that specific companys requirements.Or the technology was too complicated to use,and not enough people were trained in the software.“Legal practitioners actually do not want to get trained in the use of a software system.”In many instances,legal practitioners actual
26、ly do not want to get trained in the use of a software system.They wish for the tool to be set up and for everybody to be able to just use it.And this brings us to another very common problem in legal innovation:most legal practitioners are focusing on solving legal problems.And while this will rema
27、in to be part of our profession,it will not be the only selling point in the future.The question of legal delivery will increasingly become the focus of the practice.Hence lawyers should be trained in such methods,which should lead to understanding how technology works and should open their mindset
28、to changing the way of looking at things.Stefan SchickerCEO of SKW Schwarz Tech GmbH7We have started a legal design project to discover the clients journey with our firm.In many interviews with all of the different stakeholders,including clients,we have mapped the ups and downs of the way our law fi
29、rm interacts with clients and cases.This is great insight and gives us a journey map for the integration of the right tools and methods for the future.“Lawyers dont calculate,but they should use data”The clients journey should also help us on the way to becoming a data-driven firm and updating our t
30、ech stack.This starts with the regular processes of finding and onboarding clients and capturing the right data at the right position in the journey.It continues with the use of such data for controlling and predicting workload,costs of solving problems and predictions on the outcome.But there is mu
31、ch more data to use.Particularly if it comes down to metadata of contracts.Currently,this data is sparsely used.It is not even accessible,sometimes not even archived.Contract management is not yet at the centre of many firms focus.Many contracts are drafted in the legal departments,then modified by
32、employees and then(in some cases)collected,but not always digitalized or centrally organized.Googols of valuable data are lost every day for companies.“Currently metadata is sparsely used”Even if this is quite obvious to recognize,it is not so trivial to solve.Because in most firms the workflows for
33、 contract drafting,negotiation and management are not documents,let alone standardized.So the first step is to have a look at the journey of the contracts or know-how.Where is know-how developed?Can it be reused?How can we incentivize know-how input from lawyers?And for law firms:what would be a goo
34、d pricing model?Which other legal tech tools can be connected via APIs or platforms?So there are many steps to go before such metadata of contract can strategically be collected and used.Solutions coming up in this area should be easy to install,or at least for the law firm easy to have it installed
35、.Automated text collection and recognition systems can be of great help to structure available data and make it accessible.But then they also have to be friendly from a users perspective.The more intuitive to use,the lower the hurdle for legalists to use it.Even a bit of gamification could be helpfu
36、l,as lawyers like to have some fun as well.;-)We have seen many tools coming and going over the last few years.If you change the mindset of the lawyers and combine it with easily accessible tools,then legal tech will prosper over the next years on a very broad scale.8Increasingly,legal workflows are
37、 being undertaken through technology.Where technology in the practice of law was once limited to foundational support tools,it is now disrupting the way that lawyers practice.Advances in technology over the past five years have allowed for areas of practice that are now inextricably linked to the te
38、chnology that supports them.eDiscovery is the obvious area where this is the case.Discovery used to be a process that was largely manual.The rise of eDiscovery occurred both as technology evolved that could automate many of the processes involved in discovery,and as the landscape of work changed so
39、that most of the data and information that needed to be collected,produced,and reviewed become electronic.Now its impossible to separate“discovery”from“electronic”the technology is an integral part of the legal workflow.As automation becomes ubiquitous in other legal processes,such as due diligence
40、and document drafting,we will see similar evolutions.Due diligence will become,by default,automated due diligence.Drafting will always involve some component of automation and we will look back with amazement at the days when lawyers drafted manually,word by word.“We will look back with amazement at
41、 the days when lawyers drafted manually,word by word”These changes in the way law is practiced mean that education on and about legal technology will be essential for lawyers and legal organizations because the practice of law in many areas will not be feasible without an understanding of the underl
42、ying technology through which it is conducted.Its likely that in many jurisdictions,continuing legal education for lawyers will involve some annual requirement for learning about legal technology.Nicola ShaverCEO&Co-Founder at Legaltech Hub9The technological evolution of the practice of law also mea
43、ns that multidisciplinary teams will serve clients,rather than lawyers alone.In eDiscovery,data sampling and statistical analysis require new resources in the form of data analysts and data scientists.As a result,its now common for large firms to have data practices or data centres,where even three
44、years ago this was rare.Many of the particularly exciting new technology developments are emerging around use cases focused on legal drafting and documents.Smart drafting is a category of technology that extends the value of document automation and clause banks by combining them and adding AI that c
45、an review a database of contracts in real-time and extract relevant clauses,allowing users to add these into a contract as theyre drafting.“The legal industry is not heading in a direction where lawyers are replaced by machines”The advent of large language models like Open AIs ChatGPT potentially me
46、ans we will see even more automation around drafting,with initial drafts being produced by machines after a human provides factual prompts.Of course,these drafts will then be heavily edited by lawyers.Even with this advanced technology,the legal industry is not heading in a direction where lawyers a
47、re replaced by machines.Lawyers who are not using modern technology,however,and are not being strategic about automating the parts of legal practice that lend themselves to it,are vulnerable.The lawyers who will thrive in the future are those who embrace technology and understand its potential to im
48、prove the way they practice,the way they deliver legal services to clients,and to optimize the quality of the work that they do.Legal teams wondering how they should get started when it comes to legal technology should review their practice to identify areas of work that are overtly manual and repet
49、itive.Themes will likely arise from this review,with problem areas arising,for example,in workflows around work intake,document drafting,contract management,or task tracking.Once you identify the most common pain point for your team,you will be able to focus your initial efforts towards digitization
50、 on this use case and identify from there the type of technology that will have the most positive impact on your legal practice.10Legal Tech projects:5 quick tipsTechnology adoption is paramount for every single organization nowadays.From law firms to legal departments,considering all sizes and shap
51、es(like New Law firms or Legal Operations teams),there is no such thing as tech-agnostic legal work today.This fact raises a common question in the legal marketplace:how to choose my tech stack to improve efficiency and productivity?“There is no such thing as a tech-agnostic legal work today”Greg Sa
52、tell once said:“there are as many ways to innovate as there are different types of problems to solve.”Bearing this powerful assumption,I will not provide any tips on which technologies lawyers should be using;alternatively,here follow a few things to have in mind when deciding on which technologies
53、you should adopt for your legal work.1.Prioritize problems over solutionsThis first topic might sound clich,but,asa full-time innovation manager for over5 years,the most notable failures I haveexperienced analyzing legal tech projectsare due to a lack of understanding of theproblems that one intends
54、 to solve witha tech solution.When you take a look atcomplex and wonderful technologiesavailable in the market,it is easy to getimpressed and purchase them on the go.However,before bringing any technologyto the table,you need to ask the rightquestions and decide if it will solve aproblem that you ac
55、tually have(or,at least,if this problem is meaningful enough todemand a new technology).2.Make your client feel the differenceYou may be more efficient and productivewith your shiny new technology,but itwont be worth it if your external or internalclient wont perceive any upgrade in thelegal service
56、 itself.It can be faster,clearer,cheaper or many other things combined,but your client needs to acknowledgesomehow that they benefit from your techadoption.Victor Cabral Fonseca Head of ThinkFuture at TozziniFreire Advogados,Brazil113.Dont develop it by yourself if not totally necessaryWith so many
57、legal techs in the market featuring a broad menu of solutions,dont spend time trying to develop something that might be already available via outsourcing.This is a major lesson from Open Innovation projects carried out by big companies worldwide.If you decide to work with an external technology,you
58、will not only be saving money on tech development(believe me,its not that cheap)but also help legal tech start-ups to thrive and improve their products.Of course,you might not find what you need in the market,and then develop it in-house,but this should be the last approach for your project.4.Know t
59、he S.M.A.R.T.criteriaWhen facing a large pool of problems to solve,you need to prioritize them.A good technique is to apply S.M.A.R.T.criteria:order your backlog to prioritize the most(S)pecific;(M)easurable;(A)ttainable;(R)ealistic;and(T)ime-based projects.Dont try to deal with everything at once.T
60、rust me.5.Test,implement and improve,alwaysLast but not least,it is important to see every legal tech project as an ongoing challenge that might last forever.Not because you will never implement and effectively use new technology,but simply understand that to better take advantage of an advanced too
61、l,you need to track the results and always improve it.Technologies require continuous updates,and as a client/user,you are the most important agent on this journey.12For a mid to large-sized corporate in-house legal team the top 6 things in my core tech stack(i.e.excluding any specialist point solut
62、ions)in 2023 would include:1.Legal Front Door/Demand Intake WorkflowDigitising the way you receive requests into Legal is essential if youre going to:(i)manage and prioritise workload effectively;(ii)quickly triage self-service,automatableand non-legal work away from lawyers;and(iii)easily track val
63、uable data that can drivefurther optimisation and investment.2.Supercharging SolutionsOK so Ive just made this name up,but Imtalking about layered or plug-in solutionsthat enhance or extend the experienceand productivity of legal users bycomplimenting existing tools.Usually,theseare relatively light
64、weight tech solutionsthat support legal users in the Office stack(Word&SharePoint)and other key systems.Theyre focused on completing legal tasks/processes quicker and to a higher standardwhilst keeping the user in their familiarnative environment.Alex HerrityDirector of Legal Solutions at Adidas133.
65、CLM StackThe stack within the stack.All corporatestend to need something here,but Im still abeliever that full E2E solutions in the CLMspace are not complete or agile enough tocover the reality of the broad CLM needsin big corporates.Thats why Id still seea bricolage of solutions creating a mini-CLM
66、 stack of tools;with the effort andinvestment on certain tools within the stackbeing proportionate to their importancefor the relevant business/Legal team.Forcommercial contracts,heavy organisationsthen contract automation/documentassembly being front and centre.4.Knowledge Management SystemWhether
67、were talking management ofa portfolio of templates,sharing bestpractices and external advice,or maximisingcollaboration across legal teams,ideallyyou would have a centralised tool for this.Homemade solutions and workaroundsare available but invariably suffer frompoor adoption,lack of reliable search
68、 anddifficulty to visualise and control updates.5.No-Code/Low-Code PlatformIdeal for use as a sandbox to developideas and potential innovations for futureinvestments,but these days robust enoughto create scalable medium to long-termsolutions at a fraction of the time andcost.Can also be used by indi
69、vidual teammembers for personal efficiency andproductivity if willing to learn.6.eBilling SystemThey dont have the glamour that they usedto have,but eBilling systems let you escapethe pain of using your corporate sourcingtools to deal with the unique way that lawfirms charge for their services.Its a
70、lso afoundation system in cost control,panelreview and budget optimisation.Lawyersdont like numbers so let your eBillingsystem handle it.14“Technology is a solution looking for a problem”I would love to provide a one-size-fits-all solution about the perfect legal tech stack,with a checklist of softw
71、are that provides full coverage to all.But that would be impossible,especially in such a short article.Technology is a solution looking for a problem.Without knowing your problems,no one can diagnose what technology you need,or whether you need technology at all.The“right”tech stack for an in-house
72、legal team is going to look very different from that of a high street practitioner or of a global law firm,or even the different practice groups and business units within that firm.The trick with building a tech stack is knowing what you need to solve.What I can provide is some guidance on how to mo
73、ve forward and what others are doing.And I think Ill do it all through Marvel quotes.“Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave!With a box of scraps!”(Obadiah Stane,Iron Man)One of the biggest trends we are likely to see over the next few years is in-house teams building more of their own technolo
74、gy solutions,whether from their existing software or by partnering with external providers.At the moment law firms are filling this gap,but as technology becomes more accessible and affordable we are moving to a world in which in-house teams require law firms to integrate with their in-house stack r
75、ather than having to log in to different solutions from multiple law firms.“No amount of money ever bought a second of time”(Tony Stark,Avengers:Endgame)Many in the legal industry are currently using technology to increase efficiency,but I have seen a movement recently to more teams judging the succ
76、ess of technology on a wider set of factors.This Adam CurpheySenior Manager of Innovation at Mayer Brown15means looking at how technology can unlock new revenue streams,improve client relationships via new delivery methods,and whether technology can improve the lives of those working in the legal te
77、ams which can lead to better talent retention.As we traverse difficult economic conditions,monitoring the return on investment from costly SaaS licences is going to be important.“If youre nothing without the suit,then you shouldnt have it”(Tony Stark,Spider-Man:Homecoming)Technology is not magic.It
78、will not fix bad processes or instantly inspire new ways of working.You need to spend time identifying the issues you are trying to solve.Step one is finding why you need technology.Run design thinking workshops to understand needs.Look at data to identify economic opportunities.Map and review curre
79、nt processes.Step two is figuring out how to introduce it:is a training plan in place?Do you need it to integrate with existing tech?Only once you know the answers to steps one and two should you engage with step three and look into what tech to use,if any at all.“Dread it.Run from it.Destiny arrive
80、s all the same.”(Thanos,Avengers:Infinity War)When looking at what tech to implement,a quick win is learning to use what you have already.That means going out into the business and doing some digging to see what you have access to.Not only might you find new pieces of tech you didnt know existed but
81、 you will see benefits from upskilling yourself in tech you use every day.Yes,this does mean using Microsoft Word and Excel.They are not often talked about in the legal technology world but they have a host of capabilities we often dont even know about never mind use and these capabilities can help
82、us to solve problems quickly and easily.By using existing technology,you also avoid the issue of ad hoc innovation which leads to the same problem being solved in different ways in different parts of the firm or business often occurring where there are silos.So in law firms,you might have different
83、practice groups using different technologies to do the same document analysis activity.In legal teams,you might have the business using one project management software while the legal team are using a specific“legal tech”one.“Avengers,Assemble”(Captain America,Avengers:Endgame)This seems like a good
84、 quote to finish on.The best way to get the right legal technology stack is to work together with other teams.That might mean different practice groups or business units or people from outside the legal profession altogether.But only together can you identify why you need technology,how you might in
85、troduce it,and what technology is needed to help.16I dont necessarily believe that the ideal legal tech stack has changed too much in the last 12 months.It will continue to revolve around things you can do with documents i.e.drafting,populating,negotiating,analysing,progress managing,signing,storing
86、 and searching.There are,of course,other areas of legal tech research and visualisation,bundle assembly,and verification for example all of which also fall within the document lifecycle but perhaps only tangentially.At the moment the legal innovation world is making steady progress with the increasi
87、ng adoption of tools that fit into these categories and this is likely to continue for the next few years;a future where the lawyer is fully aware of all the legal technology at their disposal,how it works,how much it costs and can autonomously make decisions as to when to use it is coming,but were
88、not quite there yet.I like to think of innovation progress as a function of the innovation mindset of the median lawyer at the firm in question at the end of the year,do you think that the average lawyer is slightly more innovative than last year?If so,then youre doing OK.“Innovation progress is the
89、 innovation mindset of the median lawyer at the firm,compared to last year”Part of this is to do with the purpose of the legal tech tools ultimately they must either make the lawyers life easier or allow them to deliver the work faster,cheaper,better or at a lower risk to the client,who should alway
90、s be at the forefront.However,many tools do have well-explained purposes and it is worth factoring in that the industry as a whole,globally,has very established processes and one by-product of that is a different pace of change to other industries.Joe CohenHead of Innovation at Dentons17In terms of
91、quick wins:1.Get serious about documentautomation,if you havent already.Despite having been around for decades,automating templates across different legaldisciplines is still a huge,reliable time saverand quality equaliser.2.Consider making some elementsof innovation mandatory,or highlyencouraged.In
92、 my opinion,the oft-repeated maxim that innovation shouldbe part of the day job for everyone isaspirational but not currently realistic-innovation wont happen by itself,it takesa lot of thought and straying from whatworks,and therefore needs constantencouragement.By experimenting withthis concept,we
93、ve managed to spinup 80+amazing innovation projects peryear just from our trainees.Without theencouragement,structure and seniorsponsorship of the scheme,almost all ofthese projects wouldnt have happened,as we can see from the marked differencein actual innovation before vs after for thisgroup.3.Wev
94、e found that numerous low-complexity legal tasks can be automatedusing Robotics(e.g.Microsoft PowerAutomate or UI Path).You might need toget a programmer and a process specialiston board,but youd be surprised justhow much data entry,data research(panies house)and validation tasks,amongst many others
95、,a robot can take away reliably from the junior lawyers or paralegals,enabling them to do higher value tasks.The main point here is you can tailor them to your own systems and working practices.Definitely worth the investment in my opinion.18From good to great On my very first day in law school,the
96、professor started his class by stating:“There are two types of people.The lawyers and the others”More than 20 years of practice as a lecturer,lawyer,negotiator,mediator and arbitrator have taught me that there are also two types of lawyers:good lawyers and great lawyers.Now,what distinguishes the la
97、tter from the former category?And how can legal tech help lawyers to evolve from good to great?My two cents100%legalGreat lawyers always draft contracts and other legal documents that are 100%in line with the most current version of legislation and jurisprudence at any time.Unless they intend to do
98、so,they never include clauses that,e.g.appear on the blacklist of consumer protection laws or violate anti-competition laws.Great lawyers are aware that a clause may qualify as a“suspicious”clause on the grey list of the B2B law,which implies that the reasoning behind that clause and the economic ba
99、lance will have to be proven.When the law applicable to the contract is changed,they know which clauses cannot be upheld in the other jurisdiction.In a world of rapidly evolving and increasing legislation,it has become an illusion for any lawyer to know the law.Nemo censetur ignorare legem?It would
100、take a super-brain and lifelong 24/7 work to even just have the ambition to make that true.As long as the freedom of contract allowed lawyers to include almost any type of clause or agreement,this posed rather little risk for transaction lawyers.However,with increasing legal protection and complianc
101、e mechanisms,it will take artificial intelligence to give a lawyer the comfort that what he is writing is,in fact,legal.Scenario thinkingEven within an increasing legislative framework,the most important skill of a lawyer remains scenario thinking.Most legislation tells you what you cannot write in
102、a contract.Very little legislation tells you what you must write in a contract.This implies that it is up to the lawyer to create the manual for the contracting parties which Kristof Cox,Ph.D.Partner at Deloitte19describes very clearly what they have to do throughout the lifecycle of their contract
103、and throughout various scenarios that may unroll.Some say that the definition of the word contract is:“the summary of all misery other people have gone through”.In a sense that is correct.More seasoned lawyers have encountered more situations and reality always turns out to be more creative than you
104、r own imagination is.With the rise of smart contracts,some have claimed that the software developer will replace the lawyer.The survival of the fittest(dev/lawyer)will depend on who is the best scenario thinker.Just like software code,a contract is basically a compilation of IF-THEN scenarios.Ideall
105、y,in the near future legal tech will assist lawyers in their scenario-thinking skills.Good lawyers can analyze a contract and comment on the clauses that are in there.Great lawyers also notice the clauses that are not in there.That is the major risk of working with contract templates or drafting a n
106、ew contract based on a previous one:something may be missing.Legal tech should assist lawyers in noticing these lacunas and help them unspin the story the parties may live during the execution of the contract.Such legal tech would at the same time be an excellent basis for contract management once t
107、he contract is signed:the platform would track the status of the execution,follow the paths described in the contract and the variables that take place and guide the user of the contract to the next step he/she has to take.ConsistencyHenry David Thoreau once wrote:“The lawyers truth is not Truth,but
108、 consistency or a consistent expediency”.Nevertheless,the biggest challenge for any senior lawyer is to teach his/her junior lawyers how to draft consistent contracts.This consistency takes many forms,ranging from correct cross-references between articles of the contract,consistent use of(capitalize
109、d)terms and avoiding synonyms,to making sure at any cost that the scenario described in article 5 on page 3 of the contract smoothly fits with the scenario in article 52 on page 36 of the contract.In fact,it is not that difficult to judge any given article of a contract on its merits.The difficult p
110、art is knowing how articles interact or interfere with each other.Definitely,in lengthy contracts or lengthy negotiation cycles,the biggest risk is that no one notices how the changes made in that article 52 may be incompatible with what is described in article 5.Any lawyer who is training and revie
111、wing younger colleagues today is very happy with an intelligent spelling and grammar check doing part of the job for him.Every lawyer with that task would be excited if AI could also assist in discovering inconsistencies and specifically Catch-22 scenarios in a draft for review.And lets be honest,ev
112、en very senior lawyers would appreciate the clear mind of a digital assistant keeping them awake to avoid such crucial mistakes when drafting“midnight clauses”while champagne is already popping in the room next to them.With a little help from my(AI)friendsThe conclusion?There should only be one type
113、 of lawyer:great lawyers.Will developers eventually replace lawyers?In my opinion not for as long as AI is unable to replace the value of direct human contact and soft skills.Will and should legal tech play an increasing role in assisting lawyers with the complexity of legislation and economic scenarios?Definitely.20Unlock the knowledge of all the lawyers in your organisationGet in touch:dunyahenchman.io