INNOVATION & ADAPTION
REVISITING THE FUTURE OF LAW AND INNOVATION IN THE PROFESSION REPORT AFTER THE PANDEMIC PROFESSOR MICHAEL LEGG AND GARY ULMAN
T
he legal profession has been subject to change at a pace not previously seen. The Law Society of New South Wales’ 2017 Future of Law and Innovation in the Profession (FLIP) Report sought to understand and respond to that change. Only three years later the world is in the grip of a pandemic and the practice of law faces further challenges. So what does a post-pandemic profession look like? This article revisits some of the key findings and recommendations of the FLIP report in light of 2020’s shut-downs, border closures and social distancing.
NEW WAYS OF WORKING One of the most important findings of the FLIP report was the multitude of approaches to offering legal services that were developing. A central focus was New Law or the virtual law firm which had been built with technology as a core component. There were also lawyer marketplaces or legal staffing providers that linked lawyers with clients, or lawyers with law firms. Legal Process Outsourcers who took elements of the legal service, such as discovery in litigation, and undertook it for lower cost. The multidisciplinary partnership, including the Big 4 accounting firms, offered the prospect of the one-stop shop for professional services. Business models remain a key area for the evolution of legal practice. A development that attracted interest in the FLIP report was remote working. In a COVID-19 world this has been fully embraced, by necessity for the most part, by working from home, or ‘WFH’ for shorthand. WFH became a necessity
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around the world because in March, 2020 an estimated 2.6 billion people – or a third of the world’s population – were living under some kind of lockdown or quarantine.1 Remote working was prized for the flexibility it afforded lawyers and its ability to reduce office overheads. However, the pandemic has raised for consideration whether there may also be a downside to WFH. The measures taken to avoid the spread of COVID-19, including isolation, have been said to have impacted the wellbeing of citizens around the world. People, including lawyers, need personal connections. WFH needs to ensure that these connections are maintained. A further concern that was not apparent at the time of the original FLIP report is that some new modes of practice operate by introducing the ‘gig economy’ to legal practice. The worry is that lawyers, particularly new members of the profession, while having greater flexibility and autonomy will also face greater precariousness in employment and income, as well as reduced opportunities for professional development.
LEGAL TECHNOLOGY The FLIP report covered a range of new technologies, or technologies being used for new purposes in the legal field, including mobile technology, big data, the internet of things and artificial intelligence (AI). At the time there was enormous interest in cutting edge technologies like AI as it offered the opportunity for dispute resolution, due diligence, document
drafting and compliance to be automated with the result that less hours and less cost would be incurred. Consistent with remote working, the FLIP report identified that lawyers were no longer tied to their office because of mobile technology. The virtual law firm was becoming a reality, but the levels of interaction with technology varied significantly across the profession. The pandemic made mobile technology and video-conferencing software apps such as Zoom, Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams essential business tools. The massive uptake of these apps by almost everyone in the profession so as to be able to keep practising was not foreseen by the FLIP report. The videoconferencing software app has been used for internal team meetings, client meetings, negotiations, witness interviews, mediations and even court hearings and trials. This introduced new challenges such as security and confidentiality, and for the courts additional questions about how to maintain open justice and procedural fairness. The refinement of these apps will continue now that their utility is accepted. What remains unclear is what other technologies will receive expanded usage.
CLIENT NEEDS AND EXPECTATIONS The FLIP report identified that across all clients - corporate, government or individual - the client wanted user-friendly legal services that solved problems in a cost-effective manner. Easily said – but much harder to deliver. The FLIP report put forward some solutions:
