As the use of LegalTech evolves rapidly in industries all around the world, the legal industry’s adoption in this sector is moderately slow. This can be attributed to many different reasons; The load of work leaves no time for adopting new technologies, too comfortable with the traditional methods of office work, worry about the cost of change to legal Tech, or not witnessing within the legal field a legal Tech platform that can address the legal firm or law department needs. Regardless of the reason if you are in the legal industry, this is a must-read Article that will change the way you view legal Tech.
We recently conducted a poll on our social media, asking the audience if they believe management of a law firm plays an essential role in persuading the lawyers to implement LegalTech in their day-to-day tasks, to which 83% responded positively and 17% thought on the contrary. These results were extracted from our poll on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
Keeping into consideration that most of the audience who responded to the poll are from the legal industry, it is safe to imply that the role of management in motivating the lawyers is crucial indeed. We understand the challenges lawyers face while adapting to new technology, which is why the first step should always be acceptance.
Change management is the key to begin the process of acceptance. Whenever a law firm decides to implement LegalTech for their everyday tasks, the management must communicate with the employees and lawyers, and present them with the changes and benefits that will develop following the technology-implementation. A dramatic effect on productivity, enhancement of efficiency and welcoming the innovation culture are some of the many beneficial facts and points that would motivate lawyers to adopt it.
Additionally, we believe that timely employee-progress reports can also be a source of motivation. The benefits of how much time have reduced for the mundane, administrative tasks and more focus on legal tasks would give lawyers their share of incentives. Cost-reductions and how the firm overall has gained and benefited from the implementation of LegalTech can also be communicated. This can be done via meetings or internal newsletters to showcase employees how their usage of technology and automation systems is contributing to the transformation taking place.
Another key factor for motivation towards LegalTech usage would be the human factor behind technology. The management of the law firm should make an effort to hold online meetings and introduce their employees to the faces behind the technology to give a human touch and impact. This will help build a professional relationship between the lawyers and the employees of the LegalTech vendors.
In conclusion, while lawyers should also be open to accepting change through technology, the role of the management is highly crucial. Changing takes conscious efforts to learn something new, which should be initiated by the management itself in order to motivate employees and lawyers towards LegalTech acceptance and adoption.
