Data & It Law Week, vol. 33: law and robots, lawyer’s biggest competitor and legal startups again

Robots taking legal jobs?

In the article at abovethelaw.com, the author analyses a thought-provoking issue of the possibilities of robots performing legal tasks. It might affect all types of legal professions.

“It could eventually handle tasks of senior associates. He sees it researching and writing a memo summarizing the law and suggesting the most persuasive arguments and precedents. Or it might quickly review stacks of contracts, looking for differences in indemnification clauses.”

However, the article notes that robots might also influence more complicated tasks. The article finally describes many additional advantages of robots and algorithms performing certain tasks.

Who is lawyer’s biggest competitor?

Jordan Furlong asks the question and usually gets these kinds of answers:

“A specific lawyer in another firm

A specific lawyer in my own firm (surprisingly common in larger firms)

An entire practice group in another firm

An entire firm (managing partners think along these lines)

A legal provider outside my jurisdiction (LPOs, for example; not too often)

A non-lawyer substitute, such as LegalZoom (more common for smaller firms)

Me (the clever answer from lawyers who take pride in always pushing themselves harder)”

However, his true answer is: My client.

“We have entered the era of do-it-yourself lawyering. Clients of every type — individuals, families, businesses, corporations, non-profits, and governments — have taken their lead.”

Eventually, he gives an overview of tools which help clients to perform the legal tasks by themselves.

Legal startups – is it really that bad?

Last week, we have written about a crisis in legal startups funding. However, in Forbes article, the author argues that the legal boom had not even begun yet. She argues that legal startups must necessarily be successful due to three reasons: “change must happen, we do everything online and there’s no reason to think law will be the exception and the business is still very ripe.”

She had even made a bet: “there will be a new legal technology company (i.e., not LegalZoom, Rocket Lawyer, Avvo or Clio) that is valued at over $500 million by August 2019 at the latest.”