Index

3 The era of legal technology

5 Where to start on your legal technology journey

7 The five pillars of law firm transformation

23 Leading the digital transformation process

26 13 Steps to implementing legal technology

29 Challenges and risks

Challenges and risksof
oflegal
legaltechnology
technology

32 What’s next?

34 About Bigle Legal

Click the titles to go to

the corresponding chapter
The era of legal
technology

There is no doubt, technology is now revolutionising law practice across Europe

and the world. So large is this growth, according to Forbes, US$1.6bn was invested
into legal technology in 2018 alone, representing more than 700% growth from the
previous year (see Figure 1: Growth in legal technology investment).

Investment in legal tech

2018

1663 M$
2017

233 M$
2016

224 M$

200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800

Years Millions of dollars

Figure 1: Growth in legal technology investment by Valentin Pivovarov

3
As of June 2019, there are 1,034 legal tech startups globally (32% more than
the previous year), with an average valuation of USD$4.5m. And 45% of legal
departments report that they have increased their spending on legal technology.
Clearly, legal technology is starting to take-off across the globe.

Many of the world’s largest law firms are now partnering with technology companies
to develop their own offerings; for example, global law practice Linklaters have
joined forces with the University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre for
Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) to develop new automated legal tech solutions.

Why? According to Thomson Reuters, the innovative strategic technology plans

of the global elite law firms such as Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Allen & Overy, and
Herbert Smith Freehills are “pushing them further, faster.”

The challenge now for many law organisations is to understand the enormous
opportunities this offers for business protection, operational efficiency, cost
reduction, and even the ability to take on more rewarding and complex legal
cases. The second step is to start the adoption process and prepare the basis for a
successful implementation of digital transformation.

And, most important for leaders within law firms across the EU is to see why legal
technology is, in the next decade, going to be essential to remaining competitive
within the rapidly changing law sector...and how can they turn this into their
commercial advantage.

Law firm transformation in a nutshell

In this guide, our aim is to broaden your understanding of legal technology

and how it can ensure your law firm has a sustainable future. By getting
ahead of the curve, and seeing technology as an ally, not a threat, your
business will be ready to take on the next few decades in a strong and
sustainable position.

Next, we aim to show you the best way to lead the process of transformation
in your firm, where to start, and how to structure this process.

The era of legal technology 4

Where
to start on your
legal technology
journey

If you are at the very start of your firm’s digital journey, or if you have
already made some investment in legal technology but are unsure of the
next steps needed to fully realise its potential, here are some key points
to consider:

5
 1 Cultural change comes first: hkjhjkhkjhjkkjhkjhkkh
Make a conscious decision to embrace legal technology
across your organisation. By making sure all of your
team are excited and positive about technology and
transformation, your chances of success will be hugely
improved. Cultural change is a great place to start
as it allows you to set the tone for the future of your
organisation.

2
Research, research, research:
Look at how other firms are using legal technology in each
area of law, research your competition, and understand the
technology offerings available.

3
Think about transformation:
Technology will only realise benefits for your organisation
if you think about the complete transformation needed
in your business. This may mean offering new services,
implementing new processes and roles, and refreshing your
business model.

4 Prioritise:dfdfdfddsfsdfdfdfsdfdsfdsfdfdsfdfdsfsf
Based on your research, decide which legal technologies
should be a priority. To allocate your resources more
efficiently, start with adopting technologies that solve
the biggest pain points in your company. Then, you can
move to solving the secondary matters. Finally, asking the
software providers for their client success cases could help
to quantify the forecasted outcome from purchasing the
technology and estimate whether it fits your company’s
needs.

5 Make a case for transformation:

Developing a business case for individual business
transformations will force you to consider exactly why and
where change is needed, how you will measure its success,
what will happen if you don’t proceed, and the risks and
costs.

6
Review, review, review: sddffdfdfdfdfdsfdfdsfsfdsf
Law firm transformation is an ongoing process. The more
successful and innovative law firms are constantly reviewing
their digital transformation status, risks, and needs, and
making decisions to reach their long-term ambitions.

Where to start on your legal technology journey 6

The five pillars
of law firm
transformation

As explained in our previous section, legal technology alone is not enough

to bring about change; it is important to understand how the whole
organisation must evolve.

In the next section of this guide, we will outline five-pillars of law firm
transformation, each of which should be considered to bring about
complete organisational change. The five pillars are:

1. Transformation of processes and operations in law firms

2. Transformation of customer service in law firms

3. Transformation of communication in law firms

4. Transformation of marketing in law firms

5. Cutting the costs and driving efficiency in law firms

Let’s take each in turn!

7
Pillar 1:
Transformation of processes and operations
in law firms

The challenge

In recent years, to remain profitable and competitive, legal firms have been striving
to make their b ack-office functions greatly more efficient by reducing case duration,
maximising the use of staff time and revenue, and improving the quality of legal
services delivered. In addition, law practices are now under more regulatory scrutiny
and must find ways to support and evidence alignment with regulations.

How legal tech can help transform law firm operations

A wide range of legal technology solutions are now available to improve the
efficiency of law firm operations. Whereas many firms have traditionally used
separate technologies which are often incompatible and outdated, the latest
practice management systems bring together all of the aspects of law firm
operations, including:

Case management Operational workflow

Billing and accounting

Key Considerations

When reviewing how to transform your law firm’s operations, we recommend you
consider:

Integration:
Integration of systems is essential to ensure that information and data is
aligned across your organisation. Many of the latest practice/case management
platforms such as bring together all law firm needs under a single platform. This
means that there will only be one set of customer details, billing data, invoicing
and payment history.

The five pillars of law firm transformation 8

 Accessibility: GFGF
Many law firms are moving to an increasingly agile and flexible model of
working. As such, any operational systems and processes need to be accessible
safely and securely regardless of location. Cloud-based legal technology
solutions enable staff to work in any location with the benefit of encryption and
secure centralised document storage.

Software-as-a-Service (SAAS):
SAAS provides a simple model of purchasing IT services. Rather than
purchasing, installing, and managing solutions in-house, many law firms prefer
to pay a monthly subscription to an external provider of legal business solutions.
Doing so means that your core internal staff can focus on law service delivery,
allowing specialists to manage your systems.

Technology solutions to consider

Clio (Practice management) Lawsyst (Case management)

Lawfusion (Practice management) Hoowla (Case management)
LawWare (Practice management)

Case Study: Case Management Software

Law firm, The Family Law Group, successfully implemented Select Legal
System’s Lawfusion practice management solution. The software serves 82
users across 9 offices. One of the primary reasons The Family Law Group
selected Lawfusion was the ability to tailor the software to their needs. The
company now report that legal aid billing, which was undertaken manually,
now takes 60% less time to complete. In addition, the time taken to setup
9,000 clients each year on the system has been eliminated as data is
automatically downloaded from the legal aid website.

Case Study: Document management software

Law firms like Roca Junyent are starting to transform the way they generate
and manage all types of legal contracts and documents. With document
automation solution by Bigle Legal, this large law firm employing 140+ lawyers
is forecasted to enjoy the annual cost reductions of €307,200, a saving of
13,200 cumulative work hours, and completion of contracts 91% faster.

The five pillars of law firm transformation 9

Pillar 2:
Transformation of customer service in law firms

The challenge

The latest annual report by the UK Legal Ombudsman shows that in all 6,150
complaints they resolved in the year to 2018, there was clear evidence of poor
service in 54% of these cases.

Their figures show the reasons for complaints include (in descending order of
occurrence):

Delay/Failure to progress Poor communication

Failure to advise Costs
Failure to follow instructions

With the introduction of legal technology, each of these failures to provide good
customer service can be mitigated.

“
Lawyers far too often assume that they know what their clients want better
than their clients do and leave clients out of the conversation. The best
innovations come out of a thorough understanding of client problems. Identify
your clients who are likely to be most interested in new approaches and
schedule time to talk to at least two or three of them, early in your process.
The ‘value proposition canvas’ tool that can be found at strategyzer.com is a
simple and highly valuable way to help you with these conversations.”

– Dennis Kennedy, legaltech/innovation adviser and a well-known speaker &

podcaster

The five pillars of law firm transformation 10

How legal tech can help transform legal customer service

Case management software can play a key role in eliminating each of these
complaints by providing:

Scheduling and reminders: Client portals:

To ensure all cases are progressed. With online customer portals,
clients can access their case details
Automated workflow solutions: and progress at any time via any
Systems can be set up to ensure device type (e.g. mobile, tablet,
each step in a legal process is or computer). Such solutions can
followed in the correct order. show clients a real-time view of
their finances, case progress and
Management dashboards: expected timelines, contacts within
Allows managers to see an the law firm, and enable the easy
overview of all cases, including sharing of case documents.
any problems with delays, poor
communication, and unpaid
accounts.

Other tech solutions aimed at improving customer service include:

End-to-end document management software with digital signatures

CRM and email automation solutions like Hubspot
Chatbots and messengers instead of emails and phone calls

Key Considerations

When reviewing how you will transform your law firm’s customer service, we
recommend considering:

New ways to communicate:

When it comes to customer service, effective communication is as important as
the legal advice provided. Traditionally, all communication with clients was in
face to face meetings, and via phone, however, clients now want the option to
speak to their lawyer using video conferencing, email, text, rather than meeting
in person.

Transparency:
Any technology which lowers barriers between lawyer and client should be
considered. Often clients feel as though they don’t know the status of their case,
how much they will be charged, or if there are any problems holding up their
matter. Online client portals and systems which automatically send updates to
clients as their case progresses can help to provide complete transparency.

The five pillars of law firm transformation 11

 Security:
When reviewing your system capabilities and needs, we recommend placing
a high priority on security and data protection. The UK’s National Cyber
Security Centre (NCSC) reports that in just one year, £11 million of client money
was stolen from law firms by cybercriminals. As a result, many law firms are
investing heavily to ensure their clients are not affected by cyber-attacks.

Case Study: Automated workflow technology

In 2007, law firm, Walker Foster implemented the Proclaim automated

workflow and case management solution by Eclipse Legal. The main benefit
they have realised is the elimination of errors during the claim process. The
Proclaim solution uses workflow and high-level automation to reduce risks
problems associated with the claim process, with little intervention needed by
staff members.

The five pillars of law firm transformation 12

Jordan Furlong, author of “Law Is A Buyer’s
Market: Building A Client-First Law Firm”:

“
We’re now several years into the transformation of the commercial legal
marketplace worldwide, and we can start to see more clearly what the new law
firm landscape will look like. Among the most important features of this new
terrain is that law firms are increasing and diversifying the resources they use
to solve client problems.

In the past, lawyers had exactly one such resource: lawyers. The firm would
deploy as many lawyers as the file could bear, for as many hours as the
client would pay for, sequentially in a straight line, over and over. These
were “analog” law firms, contemporaries of the gas-guzzling sedan and the
transistor radio -- and equally, their time is coming to an end.

Today’s commercial clients have legal needs far more complex, intricate, and
urgent than what these analog firms can handle. Providers of commercial
legal services require a range of expert professionals, buttressed by robust
banks of actionable legal knowledge, to meet client demands – but what
they also need are systems that can handle waves of legal, regulatory, and
compliance demands, customized to the unique features of the specific client.
If technology alone can deliver a legal service in future, then it will – but if not,
it will still assist and augment the legal professionals who are doing it.

This is all part of the inevitable digital transformation of law firms, and this
book will tell you everything you need to know about what this digitization
process involves and how your own law firm (or your preferred outside
counsel) can get started.

But if I could offer one piece of advice to those of you embarking on this
transformational journey, it would be this: You need more than just lawyers.
Invite and empower as many allied professionals as you can, from information
professionals to system designers, from process specialists to technology
experts. And above all, invite and empower your clients and customers: Be
guided by their priorities and definitions of value, and re-engineer your firm to
value first and foremost the buyer experience.

The legal profession has entered the digital age. There’s still time to be among
the leaders of this new age just don’t wait too long to join in.”

– Jordan Furlong is one of the leading analysts of the global legal market and
owner of the Law21 blog.

The five pillars of law firm transformation 13

Pillar 3:
Transformation of communication in law firms

The challenge

It is widely accepted that many lawyers were against using email even into the mid-
2000s; but thankfully many have realised the importance of improving the flow of
communication. In part, this is because the greater the complexity of legal work, the
more that lawyers need to work together, between and within practice areas.

Many law firms are not set up to allow easy and effective collaboration between staff
members because:

They lack the time capacity as they Workflow processes do not allow
are focused on lower value work for it.
and meeting billable hours targets. Systems and tools are not in place
Departmental collaboration is to enable effective collaboration.
not part of the culture within the
organisation.

Effects of cross-practice collaboration on revenue

Average $$/client from collaboration Average $$/client from cross-selling

(actual data) (illustrative)

Firm A Firm B

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6
Number of practices serving client Number of practices serving client

Actual, disguised data from 2 global PSFs

The five pillars of law firm transformation 14

Research by Harvard Law school suggests that the more practices serving a client,
the rate of revenue increases – e.g. moving from one to two practices serving a
client on average tripled the revenues from that client” (see graphic on page 14).

How legal tech can help transform communication within law firms

Improved internal communication and collaboration can be enabled by implementing:

Direct messaging:
Direct messaging is now commonly used instead of email. Solutions such as
Slack, enable lawyers to filter out irrelevant communication and only participate
in discussions they want to engage in. This method of communication also allows
for the rapid transfer of information.

Online meetings:
Online audio and video meetings can bring together staff members located in
any office at any time. Such solutions should be easy to use, enable the sharing
of key case documents, and integrate with the fee earners schedule and billing
system.

Legal project management:

Complex cases require effective planning and coordination. The latest law tech
solutions enable the creation of project plans for these cases and the allocation
of tasks to members of staff.

Key Considerations

When reviewing how you will transform your law firm’s internal communication, we
recommend considering:

Creating a culture of openness:

Technology to enable effective communication within teams will not be effective
without a culture which promotes collaboration. And a culture of openness and
collaboration must be promoted by each and every partner.

Reconsider performance measures:

As long as lawyers are fixated on meeting their individual monthly billing targets,
the less likely they will have the time to effectively communicate with lawyers
from other teams. Instead, consider targets which promote team cooperation
and reward the successful completion of higher value and complex legal cases.

Keep communication within limits: There is a tendency for technologies such

as direct messaging to make employees feel obliged to work outside of office
hours. It is important both to ensure the quality of work and to respect the
private life of the member of staff that controls be put in place to make sure
direct messaging does not become a burden.

The five pillars of law firm transformation 15

Technology solutions to consider

Glasscubes - collaboration solution Monday.com - project management

HighQ - collaboration solution Slack - collaboration and messaging
Foxwordy - collaboration solution

Case Study: Collaboration tools

Strasbourg law tech firm Juris.live has developed a law tech offering which is
specifically designed to improve internal collaboration within law firms. Their
product brings together direct messaging, project management, video calling,
and document sharing functionality. Integration of project management is
key to effective collaboration as this enables larger legal cases to be taken on
in a manner which can be easily co-ordinated with team members from across
the law firm.

The five pillars of law firm transformation 16

Pillar 4:
Transformation of marketing in law firms

The challenge

Like all law firms, bringing in a steady stream of prospective clients is always
a challenge. Many legal firms are turning to content marketing, pay-per-click
campaigns, social media, and data analytics in a bid to target new audiences.
Technology is now becoming essential for law firm marketing, but only 2.5% of the
average business budget is spent on marketing and business development.

How legal tech can help transform legal marketing

Law firm marketing can be improved by technology which provides:

Customer relationship management (CRM):

The latest practice management solutions CRMs maintain all existing and
prospective client information. Many law firms rely on separate systems and
struggle to have a clear view of who their prospects are.

Data analytics:
Data analytics is a game changer when it comes to legal marketing. By bringing
together data on existing clients with data on prospects, new insights can
be discovered which can significantly increase the accuracy of targeting and
conversion.

Automated inbound marketing:

We recommend using software which allows your firm to take a scientific
approach to marketing. By designing automated campaigns and comparing
results, your marketing team can gain a competitive advantage over other law
firms.

Law tech solutions such as Client.ID (Designed for B2B law firms) automate
the end to end process of legal marketing, including building email campaigns,
adapting campaigns based on feedback, gathering prospect intelligence,
development of personas, digital scoring, and response analysis.

Overall, there are numerous software solutions that allow you to automate
marketing efforts and also act as CRMs, content management platforms & social
media planners. Such platforms include Hubspot and Zoho CRM.

The five pillars of law firm transformation 17

Nick Rishwain, legaltech & marketing expert, co-creator of LegalTech Live and VP at
Experts.com:

“ Lawyers and legal technology providers are going to have to market

themselves. Not the firm or company. The people. Nobody is interested in
brands. They are interested in people. You have to let the people behind the
brand, shine. Lawyers have to get front-and-center on social media, blogging,
paid ads, etc. Whichever channels you choose to market your services, the
human element has to be at the forefront. Let clients and audiences get to
know you personally. This is what we’ve done at Experts.com. People know
myself and the CEO and interact with us on Twitter quite frequently. We
get far more interaction on personal accounts than we ever get on brand
accounts.”

Key considerations

When reviewing how you will transform your law firm’s marketing, we recommend
considering:

Investing in digital marketing:

According to research by the US-based Legal Marketing Association (LMA),
over half of the law firms, they spoke to, cited a lack of ‘buy-in’ as a major
barrier to investing in digital marketing. This, in turn, has resulted in low digital
marketing budgets for many firms. Therefore, the first challenge in embracing
digital marketing is showing a measurable return on investment, backed up with
clear evidence.

Craft the design and user experience (UX):

A harmonised and modern design will improve the customer experience and
make your company look more reliable, evoking trust in your potential clients.
Don’t try to do everything on your own; hire an in-house designer, or work with
freelancers from platforms like Upwork.com and Toptal.com.

Be a data-driven law firm:

Firms worldwide have realised the benefits of being data-driven. By applying
a scientific approach and treating marketing more as an experiment, you can
improve your results and better understand who your audience are and how to
reach them.

Promote sales and marketing collaboration:

Traditionally, sales and marketing have worked side by side, but not in a fully
collaborative way. By making sure both teams are aligned and work to a
common goal, the results of one will help improve the results of the other, in a
continuous cycle.

The five pillars of law firm transformation 18

 Embrace personalization and keep optimizing:
Modern martech (marketing technology) allows us to create highly personalized
marketing communication and target each of our prospects with the right
message, at the right moment. Moreover, with free tools like Google Optimize,
you can test all kinds of variables on your site and personalize entire sections of
your pages, creating a smooth and enjoyable experience for the user.

Tell your story, evoke emotions and create value:

People trust people behind brands, and they are much more likely to respond
to stories, rather than to raw data and facts. The starting point of building a
successful marketing strategy for your law firm is creating your unique story
and thinking of ways to make your brand identity more human. Here, you can
opt for content marketing, and start using the blog and video formats to both
help your potential customers and tell your story in a less intrusive way.

Technology solutions to consider

Hubspot - CRM solution Peppermint Technology - CRM

Zoho - CRM solution solution
Client.ID - automated online Lex Machina - legal analytics
marketing and demand generation Legalytics - legal analytics
software Wavelength Law - legal analytics

Case Study: Cloud-based CRM

Peppermint Technology is a provider of cloud-based practice, case and

document management solutions. One of their customers, Carey Olsen,
one of the world’s leading offshore law firms, implemented the Peppermint
cloud-based solution. The primary aim of the solution for Carey Olsen was
to improve their marketing and business development. Because the system
is based around a fully integrated Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the customer is
able to easily see an overview of all client and contact data across their firm
and to use dashboards to gain important insights into business development
performance.

According to Peppermint, four months after go-live,

“ Mailings showed open rates up by 55 per cent, click rates up by 26 per

cent, undeliverables down by 14 per cent and unsubscribes down 70
per cent, compared to the same period in 2017.”

The five pillars of law firm transformation 19

Pillar 5:
Cutting law firm costs and driving efficiency

The Challenge

Law firms are under increasing pressure to remain efficient and competitive.
According to a report by global consulting firm PWC, law firms are squarely focused
on improving efficiency;

“ In the face of growing pressure on profits and rising staff costs, firms remain
focused on improving efficiency, with key business support priorities for a third
successive year being to ‘improve use of technology’ and ‘standardise and
centralise processes”.

They also believe that law firms are looking to decrease the ratio of non-fee earners
to fee earners – which itself will drive the increased use of technology for tasks such
as document filing, billing, handling enquiries, and routine administration.

How legal tech can help transform law firm efficiency

Almost all legal technology solutions provide potential improvements in law firm
efficiency, however, we believe that the greatest gains can be achieved by adopting:

Automation:
Legal technology can automate a wide variety of tasks including technology-
assisted review and document discovery (eDiscovery), client invoicing/billing,
client intake, document management, digital dictation, and smart contracts.
Each of these technologies has the potential to free up huge amounts of time,
which can be redirected to fee-paying work. Johannes C. Scholtes, Ph.D.,
Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of ZyLAB, reinforces this view, stating, “law
firms have tremendous opportunities to improve their margins and revenue by
deploying advanced technology. eDiscovery solutions allow them to be more
competitive, take on more work with the same resources, be collaborative and
get work done faster to meet clients’ deadlines.”

The five pillars of law firm transformation 20

 Artificial intelligence (AI):
AI technology will become a significant enabler of law firm efficiency over
the next ten years. We are already seeing how AI is being used to perform
technology-assisted document review, case risk analysis, case outcome
prediction (also known as predictive analytics), DIY law and chatbots, legal
research, relationship analysis, and data analytics. Many of these technologies
already exist, but great developments are expected.

Data analytics:
Data analytics provides law firm leaders with the unprecedented ability to see
patterns in the vast amount of data they hold. Using the latest data analytics
technology, user s will be able to:

Gain a better understanding of Adopt legal strategies which

profitable areas of business; will lead to a positive outcome
more quickly (e.g. by assessing
all previous cases of a particular
Avoid cases which are unlikely
type or heard by a specific
to be successful or demand
judge).
excessive resources, and;

Key considerations

When reviewing how you will transform your law firm’s efficiency, we recommend
considering:

Focusing on the opportunity:

When thinking about efficiency, it is easy to focus on saving money and time
and driving up productivity, but doing so can damage employee morale. We
recommend you switch the focus to the opportunity to take on more interesting
and high-value client work. In other words, by freeing up staff from time-
consuming tasks which can be automated, they can pursue higher quality cases,
rather than higher quantity. Efficiency can also mean that staff work in ways
which are more agile, offering them improved lifestyle opportunities.

Task force:
Law firm efficiency cannot happen in pockets across your organisation;
instead we recommend creating a task force, made up of key and interested
stakeholders, whose role it is to drive efficiency in a co-ordinated and well
communicated manner in all areas.

The five pillars of law firm transformation 21

 Outsource:
In the past, implementing new business systems could take months or even
years from initiation to completion. Consider software-as-a-service (SAAS)
offerings where possible. These are typically costed on a per month basis
and remove the overhead for IT expertise in house (i.e. for implementation,
configuration, testing, training, maintenance and upgrades).

Case Study: eDiscovery Solution for FOI requests

For more information on this case study, please visit: https://www.zylab.com/

en/blog/how-johnson-county-made-their-business-case-for-an-ediscovery-
system

Johnson County Kansas Government several problems in handling information

disclosure requests, including:
Increasing numbers of non-email types of disclosure
Limited staff to handle requests
Inability to track what had been done in order to respond to requests
Not knowing how much information is needed to satisfy the request
Inability to know whether the request is a one-off or if the information
gathered to respond needs to be updated over time
Difficulty in narrowing down the scope of the information from a broad
start point
The need to satisfy a range of different entities including information to
be used for internal investigation, for a judge, for outside counsel etc.
No unified solution for all types of electronically stored information (ESI).

Johnson County implemented the Zylab eDiscovery solution which

transformed how they handle and respond to information requests. The
solution has led to considerable efficiency improvements due to the ability to:
Manage workflow and policies designed to ensure proper FOI responses
Help users limit search scopes
More easily collect data and make it ready for review
Permit review of all electronic file types at once

The five pillars of law firm transformation 22

Leading
the digital
transformation
process

There is no doubt that law firm transformation requires strong leadership and
buy-in. The larger the law firm, typically the bigger the challenge to get the whole
management team behind changes in systems and processes.

23
In our experience, we have found that there are six keys to achieving success in law
firm transformation:

1 Get your legal teams invested

in your technology journey:
Law professionals often lack the understanding of the
benefits of technology, and many feel intimidated by
technological change. By finding ways to make your
staff feel they can confidently invest and engage with
technology, they will feel empowered and make it more
likely changes are readily adopted within your firm. Ways
of doing this include arranging training and masterclasses
which they can attend during working time to build up
their skills, encouraging professional development and
qualifications in the area of legal technology.

2 Get clear on your goals from the outset:

Before you do anything, take the time to get clear on
the ambitions and goals for your law firm. These goals
are not about technology; rather, technology is just an
enabler. Think about the position in the market you wish
to achieve, the type of company you want to be, which
competition you want to beat, your values, how you want
to work. Only at this point, can you paint the picture of your
organisation’s future.

3 Create a bold vision:

An exciting and bold future requires exciting and bold
ideas. The law firms which have achieved the most success
have created a compelling strategic vision for their
organisations and worked hard to get all staff behind it.
Complex change programmes require determination and
hard work, and by creating a large amount of positivity and
momentum, your firm will have the best chance of success.
Consider hosting seminars, road-shows, or ‘away-days’ to
show your staff the bold vision created and the exciting
career benefits they can expect.

Leading the digital transformation process 24

 4 Find transformation champions:
There are few ways better to alienate and frustrate your
team than to ignore their views and leave them out of the
transformation process. By inviting interested lawyers
and other members of staff to have a stake in the change
process, perhaps by being part of the project team, or
consulting them on their needs and wishes, those people
will promote the initiative.

5 Technology is only a tool:

Technology is one aspect of law firm transformation.
There are also people and processes to consider. Lawyers
especially have vast legal expertise and need to know
that technology is not a threat to their roles, but rather
a tool they can use to save time and win more cases.
Lawyers have nothing to fear from technology; instead, by
embracing it, they can engage in higher value and more
rewarding work which will further their careers.

6 Hire a programme manager:

Like any complex programme of work, organisation and
planning is vital. Experienced programme managers
understand how to take a project from inception to
completion in a way that meets your time and cost
goals. Firms that seek to avoid the cost of a project
manager often pay far more in costs due to poor contract
management, scope creep, time delays, errors and poor
planning generally.

Leading the digital transformation process 25

13 Steps to
implementing legal
technology

For any law firm considering making an investment in new legal technology, knowing
which steps to take next can make a considerable difference to the quality of the
final outcome.

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The thirteen steps we recommend you take are as follows:

1 2
Document your initial Research potential solutions,
business needs and providers, and vendors.
objectives, invite all
stakeholders to collaborate.

3 4
Invite solution providers Re-evaluate your
to demonstrate their requirements based on
technology. provider demonstrations
and opinions of different
decision makers in your
company.

5 6
Set objectives by which Seek solutions which meet
your new technology your short and long-term
implementation can later be needs.
measured (e.g. marketing
conversion rates, expense
per lawyer, employee
satisfaction, client
satisfaction, and matter
profitability).

13 Steps to Implementing Legal Technology 27

 7 8
Seek ‘system champions’ Employing a dedicated
from within your business project manager with
who will play a key and experience of law
influential role in its practices and IT solution
successful implementation implementation will ensure
and subsequent bedding in. the project is managed from
the perspectives of risk, cost,
people, and time. Providing
the ability to learn for other
employees is also key.

9 10
Create a project board who Ensure staff have adequate
are ultimately responsible support and time away
for the project and can give from their core role to
guidance and signoffs to undertake solution training.
the project manager and his
team.

11 12
Once implemented, canvass Periodically measure the
users on the benefits they success of the solution
are experiencing and also against the objectives set
issues which need to be prior to implementation.
managed and resolved. Look for soft ways to break
through the resistance that
you might meet along the
way.

13
Finally - make sure you document any learning
opportunities and ensure these are fed back into the
implementation process for future technologies.

13 Steps to Implementing Legal Technology 28

Challenges
and risks of legal
technology
While the opportunities for legal technology are immense, as a business leader,
you should understand the risks and challenges it poses, and how these can be
overcome.

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The key challenges and risks which law firms need to be aware of and mitigate
include:

Cyber breaches:

According to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), 60% of law firms
were affected by an information security incident. And given the potential fines
and reputational damage which cyber breaches can cause, it is essential that any
transformation project using technology puts cybersecurity considerations front and
centre.

1
There are three Implementing best practice processes and
aspects to cyber procedures designed to prevent cyber breaches
security which - we recommend looking at the resources
law firms need to provided by the European Union Agency for
implement: Cybersecurity

2
Using technology to actively monitor and then
halt a cyberattack. Consider outsourcing this to
a specialist Cyber Security as a Service (CSaaS)
provider, such as Transputec, to manage this for
you – especially if you lack in-house IT security
skills.

3
Using technology which is inherently cyber
secure. Far from introducing cyber breach risks,
cloud-based solutions mitigate the chance of
such an occurrence because providers have too
much to lose by allowing even a single breach.
Cloud-based applications are typically highly
encrypted, meaning that if data cannot be
intercepted between the server and the client,
they are also kept fully up to date and are
placed into IT infrastructures designed to be as
secure as possible.

Business outages:

Rather like the risk of a cyber breach, many not familiar with modern IT systems fear
that even a small outage could cause their business to stop functioning.

Challenges and risks of legal technology 30

Cloud-based solutions are designed to be highly fault-tolerant, allowing them to
keep functioning in the event problem. Solution providers will also typically copy
their data to other data centres, meaning that in the event a problem in one location,
data and systems are preserved in another.

In general, cloud-based providers offer high levels of uptime and performance. With
this in mind, we recommend ensuring you negotiate a robust and favourable service
level agreement (SLA) with any external software provider.

New tech contenders:

It is true that technology firms are trying to break into the law industry by
developing solutions which take over high-volume legal work such as conveyancing,
contract drafting, and divorce. In addition, many of the worlds largest law firms are
forming partnerships with research institutions and tech start-ups (e.g. Mischon de
Reya’s tech start-up incubator programme and Denton’s Nextlaw Labs), which many
law firms see as a competitive threat.

Where does this leave small and medium-sized law firms who perhaps do not have
the resources or budget to do the same? In truth, law firms which lack the financial
and people resources to develop their own solutions, but do invest in existing legal
technology, will not be left behind. Remember, those big firms need to innovate to
make the highly complex international work they do viable; not all firms need to
invest such considerable sums.

Challenges and risks of legal technology 31

What’s next?

Legal technology is already realising considerable benefits for law firm in terms of
business operations, customer service, client communication, internal communication
and collaboration, marketing, and overall cost savings and efficiency.

The important message we want to convey is that it is never too late to invest in
digital business transformation. Your clients and competitors are likely already
using some combination of AI, data analytics, automation, cloud-based systems,
cybersecurity solutions, workflow, or other business enhancing technologies.

Technology has traditionally been treated with suspicion with the legal sector, but
lawyers, across the world, are realising that not only can they benefit by being
able to handle more complex cases, but there are also exciting career-enhancing
possibilities available for those who grasp the opportunities legal tech offers.

Let the technology do the heavy lifting and allow your legal team to take on
premium cases which raise your firm’s profile and revenue.

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Notes Type your notes on this
page & save the PDF

Want to start transforming your law firm today?

Check out our Blog to read more Or get in touch with our sales team
about digital transformation, to learn more about implementing
document automation, legaltech, document automation at your firm
personal growth and beyond

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About Bigle Legal

Bigle legal is the next-generation end-to-end document automation platform. Our

mission is to transform the way law firms and legal professionals across all industries
create and manage contracts. It’s time to say goodbye to repetitive tasks and
refocus your efforts on high-value consultancy and customer-centric work – and
grow your business.

Our secure cloud-based platform automates your complex documents and allows
you to create new contracts in under 5 minutes. With fully customisable document
templates, dynamic forms and EU-compliant digital signatures, legal teams can save
hundreds of thousands of Euros a year in repetitive paperwork.

Email: hello@biglelegal.com
Web: biglelegal.com
Linkedin: @bigle-legal
Twitter: @biglelegal

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