The Legal Business Conference 2020 which held on 19 March 2020 was a great opportunity for experts in law and technology to discuss how to leverage technology to build a more profitable law practice.
As the Convener, I noted that the aim of the Legal Business Conference was to educate Lawyers on how to use technological tools to advance legal practice.
The three panel sessions addressed issues bordering on Law Firm Management, Data Protection and Privacy by Law Firms, Design Thinking in law practice, how technology can be used to improve work process and service delivery in law firms, how specialization and technology can enhance visibility in law practice, building a career in emerging technology-driven practice.
Legal Design Thinking can be applied to develop new ways of combining human-centred design and technology to changing needs of the legal profession which will result to more creative and effective solutions for clients.
Experts noted that there are fears and misconceptions of specialisation such as “losing touch with other areas of practice/law”, “redundancy and bankruptcy”, “boredom”, et cetera but stated that specialization relates to an area of practice where one carves out a niche for himself which makes one a go-to person in the field.
Speaking on leveraging technology for visibility, Experts noted that online presence is imperative. “You need to show yourself”.
In order to be an expert in a certain field, you need to research and identify a niche area.
There are some problems with the level of technology deployment in Nigerian Firms such as “absence of a legal tech curriculum in law schools”, “cyber security challenges”, et cetera.
In order to improve tech deployment in Law Firms, there is a need to define the Firm’s strategy and business model. Moreover, the leadership of the Firm needs to understand the importance and impact of technology tools.
There is a need for Lawyers to innovate as artificial intelligence and technology are providing new ways of doing things at a lesser time and cost.