LawTech of the future is already here

Alex Hamilton, like the science fiction writer William Gibson, also believes ‘The future is already here – it is just not very evenly distributed’. This pithy post is Alex’s first on Dialogue – welcome Alex. “Yesterday, I came across this article on ‘The Tech-Savvy General Counsel: Notes from a Future GC’, describing a day in the life of a GC in 2020.

Obviously, tech was the theme running through everything that this GC of the future performed, from a slow morning start courtesy of legal tech efficiencies giving back time for the important things in life (like yoga), through to a quick AI review of contracts.

All very exciting, and something for GCs to look forward to … except, we’re already there for what was described:

• Contract management system – there are hundreds, take a look at www.capterra.com/contract-management-software/ (although driverless cars still coming)
• Legal Slack, already working well, www.slack.com or www.webex.co.uk for live drafting
• NDA creation, there’s www.contractexpress.com, www.hotdocs.com or www.exari.com
• Paperless billing? The billable hour is a thing of the past for many firms already, and take a look at www.counsellink.com and www.legaltracker.com
• IP/innovation management platforms, try www.anaqua.com, www.ipfolio.com or www.patrix.com
• For AI analytics of contracts, take a look at www.beagle.ai, www.kmstandards.com or ThoughtRiver

These are just a few examples, there are many more out there and some have been around for a decade or longer.

I couldn’t agree more with the premise that new technologies can, and will, not only help us to do our jobs better and help us be “healthier, happier people”, but almost everything on the list can be done right now. So, for me the question is not LawTech availability but about uptake.”

Author

Alex is CEO of the UK’s Radiant Law and a lawyer focusing on outsourcing and technology transactions, including off-shoring, business process and assisted transformation outsourcing, information technology and network and systems and software procurement and integration and data protection. 

Radiant Law is a UK law firm that supports large companies and banks on their major outsourcing and technology contracts, day-to-day commercial contracts and contract review projects.

This article was first published on LinkedIn by Alex Hamilton on December 14, 2106.