Legal IT landscapes 2017
FEATURES
Are SME law firms making the most of the opportunities technology can offer? Patrick Wingrove and Kayli Olson find out
Out with the old, in with the new, says Geoff Hornsby, general manager EMEA, iManage
Check yourself before you tech yourself, says Chris Jeffery, director, legal markets, Thomson Reuters UKI
Working on the same wavelength: Jane Pritchard, chair of the Tikit P4W user group
GET YOUR COPY NOWISSUE IN BRIEF
When we think of SME law firms in a general sense, ‘artificial intelligence’ isn’t a phrase that Freudianly pops into my mind. But the news in this LPM Legal IT landscapes report is that we’re wrong.
A hefty chunk of SME legal has switched on to the AI revolution: a third of our respondents said they’d be using some form of AI or machine learning technology within two years. That sounds far-fetched but it’s not – this technology will rapidly become commoditised and available over the internet as a service, of that I’m sure. By 2019 the question will likely be: “Why shouldn’t you use it?”
LET’S GET DIGITAL
It’s been two years since LPM last published Legal IT Landscapes – and the scenery of the legal market has changed enormously over that period. Despite considerable debate over whether firms would embrace the Legal Services Act, over 250 alternative business structures were licensed for SME firms between 2015 and 2016 – including the UK’s largest employee-owned firm.
Furthermore, just as the beast of uncertainty settled after the financial crisis, it reared its ugly head again after the UK voted to leave the European Union. It’s still unknown whether Brexit will have a significant impact on SME legal business – but who’s to say what effect it might have on client pressures?
