What will be the impact of technology on the legal profession?

Progress leaves no stone unturned, which means that it’s impossible to come up with a cutting-edge IT trend that won’t change the entire landscape of the business world. This means that every field will leap forward, even though not every single one of them might move at the same pace.

One of the fields that are horribly underrepresented on most of these lists is the legal profession. With that in mind and without further ado, here are several things you need to know about the impact of technology on the legal profession.

The blockchain and self-executing contracts

The first massive innovation in the present-day business world is definitely the trend of the blockchain technology which will allow the next level of self-executing contracts to come into existence. Anyone who knows anything about this technology knows full-well that the information stored in the block cannot be altered by a third party, seeing as how it would more or less require them to change the entirety of the internet. In this way, digital contracts can become both more reliable and more trustworthy, but there’s more. They can enforce themselves, due to the fact that, when combined with the IoT (internet of things), it creates a unique system capable of self-governance.

These self-executing contracts may raise the need for a direct intervention of a legal counselor, yet, might also increase the demand for lawyers in the field of IT. Sure, programmers might still be the ones making the algorithm, however, in order for these contracts to be legally binding, they will have to be made under the watchful eye of a certified legal expert.

AI-aided legal transcription

The problem with the legal transcription in the past could be seen in the fact that every single word had the power to change the perspective on the case. Therefore, the margin of error, no matter how small was too big of a deal to be safely ignored. Depositions, court hearings, witness testimonies, interrogations and telephone conversations all may play a vital role in the future course of the case, which is why all of this data is more than necessary to the legal team. This is why an AI-aided legal transcriptions service may improve the legal world as a whole.

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Online mock jury platforms

Another major improvement that can be currently encountered in the digital world is the phenomenon of the online mock jury. The way in which all of this works is fairly simple, a lawyer goes to an online jury platform and looks for a group of people who meet the profile of their jury. In this way, they get a unique chance to test their case in as life-like environment as possible. Sure, the trend of a mock jury isn’t anything new, however, never before was it so available and so affordable. The majority of smaller law firms couldn’t actually afford a mock jury or at least not do so on a regular basis. Moreover, the fact that the jurors are not physically present further contributes to their objectivity.

SEO vs niche reputation

In the modern world, more and more people use search engines to find an adequate legal representation, which might be problematic for those who don’t know how to adapt. Think about it, in the past, most legal counselors would be hired due to the fact that they were recommended by a person that’s close to you. In this way, you would have a guarantee of their competence where it matters the most.

Nowadays, all of this is replaced by an online research and the competence of lawyers is determined by their ability to conduct a proper SEO campaign. In other words, reviews, ratings and positive brand mentions on forums and subReddits make a difference between being hired and being ignored. This trend may give birth to a rising number of digital marketing agencies that specialize in SEO for law firms. Needless to say, this specialization leads directly to the higher quality of service, which works for everyone’s benefit.

Conclusion

You should also keep in mind the fact that the business world as a whole, indirectly involves the legal system on every turn. For instance, it’s impossible to imagine the world of real estate without the involvement of the ownership transfer process governed by law firms. In a world where some of these tasks are handled automatically, with the help of an AI or an elaborate algorithm, we might see a much more segmented and specialized legal profession.

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