Decades ago, law firms had huge libraries, a secretary for every attorney, manual and then electric typewriters, and enormous file rooms. Slowly, typewriters gave way to word processors and then computers. Law libraries were replaced with online research databases, and secretaries disappeared as young associates who used digital devices from birth came on board. Indeed, digital technology has transformed the law office and the practice of law.
Legal Research
Legal research once involved working with lots of books, tracking chains of cases manually through case reporters, and keeping stacks of photocopies in your office. Getting a simple legal document done (eviction form, demand letter and so on) could have taken ages.
Today, several services provide subscription research services, while much of what used to be in print is free online. All the states make their laws and regulations available for free and many their case law. Newer services like Casetext can even help draft your brief when the research is completed.
Legal Writing
Even if you don’t take advantage of a writing software to draft your briefs, legal writing is still very different from what it once was. Standard boilerplate language can be stored in a computer and inserted into a contract or filed with just a few strokes. Making changes to a draft can be easily accomplished as well, with editing services like Grammarly make editing and proofing your work a simple task.
Project Management
In the early days of technology, sharing documents was still challenging. Emailing and sending floppies around was better than paper, but only marginally. Today, project management software and sharing software like Google Docs and Teams allow many people to work on the same document in real-time. There’s no more waiting to see each other’s changes , and even red-lining, while still available, is less valuable than it once was.
Project management software can lay out timeframes, keep track of who’s doing what, and keep everyone on track for a timely filing without working all night shifts.
It’s Technology…
Although older partners still have secretaries and groups of attorneys and paralegals may share one, they are an endangered species. Most newer attorneys draft and research at their keyboards. They plan and pay for their own travel, or better yet, avoid traveling by using Zoom and Skype-type programs for digital meetings. Further, those appointments are all scheduled and maintained on an electronic calendar. Files are kept in central firm networks holding digital documents. Document signatures are more likely to be accomplished with software, like DocuSign, avoiding paper altogether. Phones are mobile, and messages are digital. In other words, virtually all of the work once handled by secretaries is now handled by some program or another.
Even vital, complex functions like conflicts checks are performed more thoroughly and more effectively through software than manually. A robust database of the firm’s clients, with a strong program searching for related parties, will go a very long way to avoiding conflicts, with only data entry of new clients and relationships necessary to keep the system running smoothly.
Filing Your Documents
The pandemic forced a lot of late adopters to face the necessity for digital legal work. When courthouses weren’t staffed, and documents still had to be filed for digital hearings, it became essential to create electronic filing processes. The efficiency and reduced costs that these processes brought to the courts and the law firms means that they are not going away any time soon – if ever. Sending litigation documents with digital receipts is a cheap and reliable way to make service. Getting electronic signatures on documents is equally efficient.
And the revolution was not limited to courthouses. Many regulatory bodies have begun accepting electronic filings; some, such as, for example, the Securities and Exchange Commission, are insisting that more and more regulatory filings be made electronically. The old four-page paper registration form for a stock broker is now a digital form that can print out into 30 or more pages. On the other hand, it is also a smart form which cannot be filed with errors in it. Prospectuses and offering documents, as well as financial reports, are all filed electronically now, saving time, money, and mistakes.
Technology and the Non-Lawyer
Perhaps in no place has digitization affected the legal world more than in allowing non-lawyers access to the courthouse. Dozens of services provide templates and form documents online, allowing non-lawyers to draft wills and powers of attorney, and even to form their own businesses. Companies like Dispute by Legalpine offer the ability to file a case in small claims without consulting a lawyer to do so. With Dispute, potential litigants have access to templates and guidance for all they need to file a case, and instructional guides to help them do so.
Conclusion
Law firms are simply not the places they used to be. Technology has taken over many of the routine jobs and artificial intelligence is slowly beginning to enhance the less routine. Distance working and AI-assisted drafting will continue to speed this process along.
