Lawyer Monthly Magazine - February 2020 Edition

Attracting and Retaining Talent The legal profession is well known for being a competitive, high-pressured environment that demands hard work and long hours from its junior lawyers. Fresh out of law school, these trainees are hungry for success, but enthusiasm can soon dwindle as legal burnout takes hold. However, firms are rapidly coming to realise that technology is the solution to this problem. By providing junior lawyers with an AI tool that can lighten the admin-heavy, time-consuming tasks, firms can finally allow their brightest recruits the opportunity to spend their time on more meaningful work. And it pays off in dividends for the firms themselves; if you invest in your trainees, demonstrating your trust and supporting their growth, rather than assigning them to the ‘bottom of the pile’ tasks, they will learn at a faster, more motivated pace, leading to better retention rates. Every law firm takes on graduates in the hope that they will continue to the senior ranks; by utilising AI, they can enhance engagement and fulfilment, and develop the superstar lawyers of the future. Levelling the Playing Field Smallerfirmswillcontinuetocapitalise on the time saving capabilities that this technology provides. These companies recognise the untold benefits that a product such as Luminance offers; namely, speed, confidence and flexibility, all of which ultimately result in improvements to profitability. It enables them to get through swathes of documents at a record pace, freeing lawyers from the time-intensive tasks whilst keeping the work in-house rather than outsourcing to less skilled resources, thus maintaining quality and tight control over the entire project. These organisations know that without these innovative tools, they won’t survive. So instead, they are embracing change, and thriving in the process. Brexit and Repapering Brexit is also likely to play a hand in the continued uptake of machine learning platforms. Nobody knows exactly what the state of play will be, particularly in relation to how businesses in the UK will continue to operate with the rest of Europe after our departure from the EU. However, in preparation for the inevitable, companies are entering a period of ‘repapering’, completely over-hauling all contracts to ensure that these do not become liable in an era of uncertainty, as well as wading through cross-border agreements and interpreting new clauses. This, along with other changes such as IBOR and LIBOR, is set to place a drain on resources for law firms and in- house legal teams, which inevitably impacts profit. However, by adopting the latest technology, lawyers will be able to focus and streamline even the most complex and convoluted reviews. UK vs US Adoption In the US, the billable hour still remains normal practice, with associates incentivised on target hours. Law firms can be highly profitable on this basis, so there has been little motivation to move away from this established model. But the tide is turning. Over the past year, we have witnessed first-hand a shift in attitudes as US firms recognise the need to become more nimble, and see this as a clear opportunity to improve profitability. As a result, the adoption of AI is gathering pace amongst the larger corporations and pressure is ramping up across the board as their smaller counterparts look to follow suit. I can testify to the fact that the US legal tech market is fully engaged in catching up. We opened our New York office, our second location in the US, late last year to cater to Luminance’s expanding customer base in the region. New York is undoubtedly a hub for innovation across the US legal community and lawyers are realising the vast potential AI holds – to boost efficiency, quality and overall client service. The Ethical Debate As technologies mature, there is no doubt that the ethical debatewill ramp up. This makes it more important than ever for organisations to ensure they are deploying the right technology, in the right way. No lawyer should ever have to cede control to a machine, and with true AI they don’t have to. The human plays the most important role in any decision-making process and legal technology has now reached a level of maturity that doesn’t make it necessary to compromise on this. LM 31 FEB 2020 | WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM Special Feature Emily Foges, CEO, Luminance