The legal practice – and specifically legal consultation – has always had a strong emphasis on making a connection. The best attorneys know how to work closely with their clients in order to present the best case or offer the best legal advice in situations which can often be complex and particular.
Yet, into the age of advanced telecommunications, remote communication has become the order of the day across many industries, law included.
This need not be a bad thing though. Advanced communication technology means that attorneys can be more easily contacted and reached at almost any time. For building that lawyer-client connection, this has undoubtedly been something of value.
This has at any rate been the major shift in the practice of law in recent times, but it has by no means been the only one. The lawyer’s job is in one sense always the same, and in another always evolving. Indeed, one of the oldest professions known to us is experiencing the benefit of new technology trends.
New Jobs in Law
Furthermore, the communications revolution hasn’t just changed the lawyer’s job, it has made a whole new online-related expertise suddenly very relevant to the practice of law. These days, professional law firms will make use of web designers, communications experts, SEO experts, and online marketing in order to promote their business and carry out their work.
Attorney website design service Peak Design say that there is today a whole division of web design expertise which is specific to legal firm websites, and similar fields of expertise in the online marketing of law firms. There is no doubt that new technological trends should be of special interest to law firms – if not, they risk falling seriously short of the competition.
Top New Tech Trends for Law Firms
But that is all the past (albeit the very recent past). What about the future of law firms and technology? Well, short of a crystal ball, the best way to see what this holds is to examine the latest technological trends law firms are just now picking up on.
Remote Work Model
The biggest change law firms are experiencing right now is thanks to a trend that has existed for some time but has been accelerated in recent years. This is remote working, and the expansion of what is meant by the term “lawyers office”.
You can thank Covid for underscoring this work model as the way of the future, and we will not be going back after it is over. Law firms, like so many other businesses, are making use of advanced communication and virtual office technology in order to ply their trade wherever they are.
Cyber Security
As you probably know, there is a lot of data a practicing law firm needs to handle. These days, that’s all digital data. Accordingly, the very cutting edge of cyber security is absolutely necessary for law firms. And they reason a law firm simply cannot afford to fall behind here is that this technology is necessitated by the advancements made by cyber criminals. It is an arms race which no law firm wants to lose, given the extreme sensitivity of much of this data.
Automation
Automation means any technology that automatically performs previously human tasks. Law firms value the human touch, so this is not applicable everywhere. Nevertheless, when it comes to sorting and logging files, client data, and so on, a great deal of time and effort can be saved with automation.
Law is a truly ancient profession, and it’s still around because it is vital. And for law firms, sticking around means keeping up with tech.