LegalTech: The Future of the Legal Industry
As society has become increasingly reliant on technology, it’s no surprise that the legal industry has begun to embrace it to improve efficiency, accuracy, and access to justice. Legal technology, or “LegalTech,” is broadly understood as applying technology to the legal profession. It encompasses everything from online legal research and document drafting tools to artificial intelligence-powered contract analysis and virtual reality-assisted litigation. In this post, we’ll look at some of the most exciting LegalTech trends and how they’re changing the legal landscape for the better.
One of the most promising applications of LegalTech is in contract analysis. Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, it’s now possible to draft and review contracts with high accuracy and efficiency. It saves time and money for businesses and reduces the risk of contract-related disputes. And as more companies move to adopt AI-powered contract analysis tools, we’ll likely see a corresponding reduction in the number of contract-related conflicts that end up in court. In 2017, ROSS Intelligence, an AI-powered legal research tool, was used by Baker Botts to help with due diligence in a merger between two companies. The future of LegalTech is looking very bright, and it’s clear that it has the potential to revolutionize the legal industry.
Another area that keeps improving is smart contracts. Smart contracts are self-executing contracts that use blockchain technology to enforce the performance of a contract. It means that once the terms of a smart contract are met, the contract will automatically execute itself without any human intervention. Smart contracts can completely change the way we do business by eliminating the need for third-party intermediaries, such as banks and lawyers. They also have the potential to make transactions more secure and transparent. In 2016, a group of developers launched the first decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) on the Ethereum blockchain. They designed DAO to be a decentralized investment fund run by a community of users. However, due to a flaw in the code, the DAO was hacked and millions of dollars worth of ether were stolen. This led to a hard fork in the Ethereum blockchain and the creation of the Ethereum Classic. While the DAO hack was a setback for smart contracts, it did serve as a valuable lesson about the need for security and auditability in this new technology.
LegalTech is also changing the way we litigate by making it possible to use virtual reality to simulate courtroom environments. This allows lawyers to better understand how a case is likely to play out in court and makes it easier to prepare for trial. It also has the potential to make the trial process itself more efficient by reducing the need for physical evidence and testimony. And by using AR/VR, we can make investigations and online courtrooms much more reliable.
Artificial intelligence, deep learning, cognitive computing, and continuous active learning have helped enable access to prompt legal care. There are tools already assessing witness credibility by way of facial nodes for small movements indicating dishonesty, MRI images for changes in the brain, pupil dilation tracking, and voice stress analysis. AI is being used to help with the collection of evidence and in the courtroom. IBM Watson’s first case was in 2016 when a Japanese law firm used it during a trial to help predict which side was more likely to win based on past cases. We can also leverage technology to support judges and arbitrators by providing great insights. By replicating the decision-making process, we can help to ensure that cases are decided fairly and impartially.
Despite the challenges, it’s clear that LegalTech is here to stay, and it’s only going to become more prevalent in the future. As the legal industry continues to embrace new technologies, we can expect to see more efficient and effective ways of providing legal services. This is good news for everyone involved in the legal system, from lawyers and judges to law enforcement and the general public. With LegalTech, we can hope to see a more just and equitable legal system that can better meet the needs of all its users. As technology continues to evolve, we’ll likely see even more exciting and innovative applications of LegalTech in the years to come.
What do you think about these LegalTech advancements? Do you think they’re positive or negative for the legal industry’s future? Let us know in the comments below.
Until next time! ❤
