Evolving Legal Technology and Emerging Trends

13
Aug
2012

Alex Heshmaty

Do-it-Yourself Legal Services
Since the mid 90s, a burgeoning and innovative online legal services industry has been threatening the status quo of the traditional legal profession. A plethora of legal information and document websites has been taking advantage of the growing financial restraints of businesses and individuals. This began with the first consumer-oriented websites like Nolo, which published its legal self-help books online, and offered legal documents services for a fraction of typical attorney fees.

Then LegalZoom came to dominate the legal document filing market, serving approximately 2 million customers over the past 10 years and garnering some $66 million in investment from the likes of Kleiner Perkins and Institutional Venture Partners. Meanwhile, Californian based Rocket Lawyer, another legal document service, has received the backing of Google Ventures.

Although the rise of DIY law, aided by legal information websites and online legal forms, is commendable in the sense that it theoretically leads to a more legally educated public and allows people to take direct charge of their legal affairs, there are potential pitfalls. For example, a minor mistake in the drafting of a complex legal document can have considerable repercussions. Furthermore, the difficulty of retaining an objective logical approach makes it more difficult to fight a case independently.

Online Legal Marketing
In an effort to retain tech-savvy clients in the face of competition from DIY legal services websites, many firms started conducting a proportion of their business online, and some even went completely virtual. The rise of virtual firms prompted the setting up of an eLawyering Task Force by the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association, which sets minimum requirements for law firms delivering legal services online.

But it's not only established law firms which need to reach out into cyberspace. Whilst places in law schools remain full to capacity, steadily generating a stream of new law graduates eager to start paying off their substantial school fees, economic conditions have significantly reduced the jobs available in the legal marketplace. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal services market has shrunk for three consecutive years. This has led to law graduates filing at least 15 class-action lawsuits across the country, accusing their law schools of inflating employment and salary data to attract prospective students. The web can provide an effective way for these unemployed legal professionals to market themselves, find clients and start putting their skills into practice.

Legal Directories and QA sites
As consumers continued to search for attorneys where DIY law was inadequate, and lawyers tried to market themselves online, Internet directory sites emerged to help them both. By the end of the 1990s, Martindale-Hubble published its massive attorney database online with the launch of Lawyers.com. LinkedIn launched in 2003, prompting attorneys to create and update online profiles on its professional network. What these directory sites lacked for legal consumers, however, was a truly interactive online experience with the attorneys.

Thus followed a proliferation of the legal question and answer sites over the past decade, including JustAnswer, LawPivot, and Avvo, to name a few. On these sites, consumers post form questions, answered by attorneys willing to provide legal advice for a nominal fee or the mere opportunity to market their practice online. However, while QA sites offer a forum for consumers and attorneys to mingle, some may be wary to publish confidential communications online. Moreover, the QA sites are a slow-paced impersonal medium for legal advice, compared to real-time human communication.

Emerging Trends: Call Now and LawZam
Attorneys still need to engage with their clients in order to fully understand the nature of their unique legal issues. This requirement has led to two innovative new services, which mark a trend toward real-time communication to match consumers with attorneys online. Last month, Avvo announced the introduction of its “Call Now” feature, which enables attorneys to call consumers who choose to be contacted when they post legal questions. Most recently, LawZam launched a platform for consumers to video conference with attorneys online for initial legal consultations.  LawZam is a legal matching site offering something new, namely, real-time communications between lawyers and prospective clients—in video. The great thing about video conferencing is that it adds body language and facial expressions that aid successful communication.

Mixing Traditional Skills with Modern Technology
Technological advancements coupled with financial woes have led to the propagation of an array of online legal services, many of which attempt to automate legal tasks, thereby making them less expensive. But the fact is that many areas of the law are simply too difficult to automate, and an element of personal counselling by legal professionals is required. Real time communication technology allows attorneys who lack the clout of larger firms to market themselves to a range of potential clients, expanding their presence and building their practices. At the same time, it opens up legal services to many individuals and small businesses who may not otherwise reach out for bespoke trustworthy advice.