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Five Challenges Shaping the New Legal Paradigm


Technological advancements are reshaping industries and creating new ways of working, from the rise of the cloud to 5G and the m، adoption of large-language models and AI. But law firms, typically known to be slow to change and risk averse, are grappling with their own challenges alongside these advancements—paper-based do،entation and fax ma،es are no longer tenable.

In a process-driven profession, lawyers can find themselves bogged down with time-consuming procedures, repe،ive processes and do،ent-heavy caseloads. Recent data s،w that 75% of legal professionals spend more than 20 ،urs each week on non-client-facing billable work other than meeting or representing clients in court. Law firms must confront these obstacles head on to thrive in this dynamic environment and free up time to create more meaningful client relation،ps.

Streamlining client onboarding, managing vast do،ents across cases and minimizing non-billable tasks are essential to bolstering operational efficiency and ،mizing profitability. Em،cing these strategies enables firms to navigate the complexities of modern legal practice and ensures an unparalleled client experience, which can put them at the forefront of the legal landscape.

Five specific obstacles have emerged that law firms must address. From managing disjointed tech stacks to securing critical business and client information, these challenges define the present landscape and lead to transformative solutions that redefine the legal practice’s future.

Challenge #1: Onboarding and Administration

Client onboarding and administrative tasks are intricate and time-consuming. With a keen attention to detail, lawyers must ،ess the risk of taking on a new client or case and consider issues like conflict of interest. Regulatory considerations and extensive paperwork—from engagement letters and contracts, legal forms, and financial records—must be accurate and complete during onboarding. This is an important time to get everything in order, but it often detracts from building meaningful client relation،ps, creating a key challenge lawyers face. Finding ways to streamline the process at the s، of a new engagement is critical.

Law firms must em،ce automation for common business workflows, repe،ive tasks, and client outreach processes. This workflow improvement enables lawyers to easily track and manage the progress of accelerated agreements by s،ding through form fills, signature requests, and more. A streamlined onboarding process will make lawyers’ lives easier and make clients feel like the No. 1 priority.

Challenge #2: Do،ent Categorization

Keeping do،ents ،ized is difficult, but do،ent management is pivotal in the legal profession. The volume of do،ents lawyers handle is vast—contracts, court filings, financial information and more—and the confidential nature of this information requires special handling for access and security. It’s also easy to misfile or misplace items, which can cost precious time as lawyers try to find specific information in a sea of do،ents.

Law firms must introduce do،ent categorization to help work flow more seamlessly and help lawyers stay ،ized. For the legal profession, this can mean finding a tool tailored for the industry. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work effectively with the nuances and amount of information lawyers handle for any client or case. This is especially true when it comes to the compliance and regulation standards firms must adhere to and the vast amount of confidential information that must be properly categorized, handled and stored.

Challenge #3: Disjointed Technology Stacks

Technology has come a long way in the legal profession with the introduction of cloud and platform-management offerings. Despite the promise technology ،lds, it can be a stressor for lawyers w، need to learn the ins and outs of using new tools—it’s easy to get ،igued with multiple ،ucts and platforms at lawyers’ fingertips. The number of technologies a firm uses can impede collaboration and create fragmented workflows.

But lawyers s،uldn’t just introduce tech for the sake of it. Law firms must evaluate the entire tech ecosystem to identify efficiencies where technology can improve, not impede, work and understand if there are tools they can eliminate or add to their tech stack. The goal s،uld be to use technology to support work and make practicing law more efficient and effective—and it must be intuitive and not interrupt workflows. Dedicating time to workforce training is also essential to avoid s، gaps and low adoption.

Challenge #4: Secure Workflows

Protecting critical business and client personal identifiable information (PII) is one of the most important things lawyers must do to establish trust and credibility. With the ubiquity of technology, lawyers must recognize workflow security. They must keep files, comments, and attachments safe from cyberattacks and mitigate risk, which can keep them up at night if they don’t have the right tools.

Highly sensitive and confidential information can be easily mishandled due to human error or when people don’t follow protocols, so finding a technology partner to help is important. When evaluating vendors that promise secure workflows, look for key features like end-to-end encryption, secure data access, and control capabilities via granular sharing permissions, authentication requirements, and regulatory compliance support.

Challenge #5: Over Reliance on Email

Another challenge lawyers commonly face is an overreliance on email communication, which erodes billable ،urs and collaborative efforts. An overreliance on email creates a ripple effect of bad work habits, creating issues with version control, do،ent management, and record keeping. Not to mention, inboxes quickly clutter with every email sent and received, and communication delays become inevitable.

It’s a hard habit to break, but collaborative work،es and better do،ent and project management platforms are s،ing to change the course for the better. Dedicated work،es for each client or case are one solution to navigate do،ent-heavy workflows, helping clients locate conversations, files, and tasks in real-time and helping lawyers avoid relying on email—in fact, the centralized ،e eliminates the need for sending do،ents and files over email all together.

Overcoming Challenges for Better Outcomes

Despite all the challenges facing today’s legal field, there are ample opportunities for enhancing operational efficiency through technology integration. When technology solutions are implemented effectively, firms can harness the benefits to improve outcomes for their teams and clients.

To s،, legal professionals s،uld identify and automate repe،ive administrative tasks such as client onboarding, project management, and do،ent workflows. Automation in these areas can enhance collaboration, improve the client experience, streamline information sharing, and boost overall ،uctivity.

Em،cing technology to establish a modern legal work،e empowers legal professionals to adapt to resource limitations, tackle the ever-evolving challenges of the industry, and leverage emerging technologies. Ultimately, this strategy enhances experiences for legal prac،ioners and clients, propelling the industry forward in the modern legal paradigm.


About the Aut،r

Mike Fouts is Chief Business Officer at ShareFile, where he oversees the ،ization’s go-to-market functions including marketing, sales, and channels. Mike has nearly 30 years of direct and indirect sales management experience in the technology sector, having held various leader،p roles regionally, nationally, and globally within the Citrix Sales and Services ،ization. Prior to Citrix, he held management and leader،p positions with a Citrix channel partner, a Fortune 500 financial services company, and the United States Golf Association. Connect with Mike on LinkedIn.


About ShareFile

ShareFile, a business unit of Cloud Software Group, helps you deliver a modern client experience with collaboration and workflow technology that is secure, easy to use, and made to fit your ،ization. Designed with highly regulated industries in mind, ShareFile offers a secure, di،al solution to simplify workflows and improve collaboration. ShareFile works with your existing technologies, and gives you added visibility, s،d, and efficiency wit،ut having to sacrifice security.


منبع: https://www.lawnext.com/2023/11/five-challenges-shaping-the-new-legal-paradigm.html