Nov 14 2022

Legaltech to offer more efficient legal services 

Legaltech, and the evolution of legal services, is one more ally in our day-to-day lives that aims to minimise costs and maximise productivity, avoiding factors such as slowness, inefficiency, lack of communication, delays, etc.

What is Legaltech?

Legaltech is a concept that comes from the union of the words “Technology” and “Legal“, which defines the use of technology to provide legal services. In other words, it is the use of technology to provide added value to the services offered by the legal profession.

Traditionally, law has been a largely old-fashioned sector, as some years ago legal services were largely confined to the publishing market.

However, its impact can be seen in different types of organisations, depending on the type of practitioner in the sector or the use case they are solving. In other words, there are several levels at which LegalTech is growing:

Support on documentation: In this case, Legal Tech is understood as a support for storing information, databases, and legal documentation, as well as the applications that enable its consultation, modification, or management.
Process in the legal activity: That is to say, everyday use cases in the sector, for example, sending a certified communication telematically with the same legal backing and security as if it were delivered by hand.
In relation to the legal professional: Reinvention of standardised processes. For example, software that automates administrative and daily tasks of the lawyer.
With regard to the modalities that exist within this field, we highlight the following:
Automated legal advice products for citizens (automated legal advice products).
Marketplaces or meeting platforms between clients and lawyers.
Companies that outsource legal work for law firms and legal departments (legal process outsourcing).
Document automation.
E-discovery and document review tools.
Predictive analysis of cases.
e-Learning platforms.
Digital platforms for legal advice

In this way, LegalTech has developed software and online services in different formats to completely transform the way in which legal services are offered.

How can Legaltech help improve legal services?

Legal Tech is about using technology to add value to the work of lawyers. Leaving behind the traditional ways of working of lawyers and introducing tools that allow legal services to change.

Like all processes related to digital transformation, Legaltech puts the client at the centre of the entire strategy and offers personalised solutions to facilitate, in this case, the resolution of procedures and formalities quickly and easily.

Likewise, companies in the Legaltech sector use technology to speed up procedures, reduce costs and facilitate the day-to-day work of lawyers and other legal actors.

In short, technology is at the service of the lawyer, who in turn is at the service of the client.

Legaltech companies that provide legal services respond to this ease of access to advice and defence of the client: through the use of technology, the client can send their query and documents and immediately receive an answer on the viability of their claim, or the contract they need will be drawn up.

In this regard, and by way of example, the General Council of Spanish Lawyers has designed (with external support) a digital contracting platform for the exclusive use of lawyers, which allows them, on their own behalf or on behalf of their clients, to enter into smart contracts that make their legal effectiveness conditional on the collection of the amount agreed by the contracting parties.

The tool is based on Smart Contracts technology. The use of this technology makes it possible to block the contract digitally signed by the parties, not allowing it to be downloaded from the platform until the collection of the amount requested by the beneficiary (collection proposal) or offered by the obligor (payment/consignment proposal) has been verified.

Although the application of innovation to the legal sector is becoming increasingly common, there is still a long way to go.

At Letslaw by RSM, we are involved in the development of this technology and we are currently working with digital tools that allow us to automate processes, reduce costs and get closer to our clients’ needs.