Digital Lawyer
The digitization process in the legal sector has been going on for some time. The measures surrounding COVID-19 have accelerated. Training courses are now given digitally, refresher courses can be followed online, procedural documents are emailed to the court, and consultations with clients can be via a video connection.
Could a digital lawyer work as a true digital nomad globally while having a law firm in the United States on paper? And if a lawyer could work completely digitally, what would be the consequences? We figured it out today in this article.
Can A Digital Lawyer Save Time, Money, And Energy?
The digitization of society creates opportunities for Digital lawyers to change the traditional way of working at a law firm. For example, in the United States, there is an Online Law Firm. This initiative offers fully digital legal services and collaborates with experienced lawyers who optimize digital innovations and resources. This saves money, time, and energy. The office is always open, and the lawyers can be reached via WhatsApp.
Is The Client Waiting For a Digital Lawyer?
The digital law firm, is that what the litigant is waiting for? Perhaps, the high costs of a traditional law firm can deter the litigants. A Lawyer expects that there will be hardly any calls with clients in five years and that discussions will be conducted online. The intake interview can disappear: the client fills in the data, possibly after an online consultation via chat or an online face-to-face conversation.
The advantage of this is that the process is faster and costs less. If the intake interview is canceled, the client is mainly concerned with the lawyer's service, accessibility, and pricing. Clients look for lawyers who can solve their problems at short notice for a competitive and transparent fee. The work of a lawyer thus seems to grow towards adding value in a place where the client needs it.
Can a Digital Lawyer Work Anywhere In The World?
If you set up the work process completely digitally, can you work anywhere? The intake discussion no longer needs to occur if the client fills in the data himself, follow-up discussions occur via telephone or video, and procedural documents are exchanged digitally. The refresher training can be followed online. The digital mailroom can process any mail. Only some procedures require oral proceedings in court.
A lawyer's work is changing because legal thinking is partly shifting to determining the strategy, reaching the target group online, and using legal tech properly. While a few years ago, you would search for information in the library. You can now find professional information much faster online, thanks to the possibilities offered by a legal search engine such as Legal Intelligence. You search the legal sources online; you no longer have to go to the office, which is essential for working completely online.
Because a lot of (legal) work can be done online, the way of working is changing. This could mean that more and more online law firms will be added in the short term. The question is whether an online law firm is suitable for every case. Think of more complex matters such as international takeovers on which an entire team of lawyers works. In that case, you as a team probably want to meet regularly at one physical location.
Is The Digital Lawyer Have The Future?
Suppose you work as a lawyer at a firm working on optimizing work processes. You will only be deployed for the work that requires your substantive knowledge. A ticketing system gives you direct insight into the digital file. If you have any questions, you can email the client, and the answers to substantive questions can be found via a legal search engine. And when you have completed the work, press send. To what extent do you have contact with the client?
Do you want to go so far that you no longer have personal contact with the client, and wouldn't the lawyer's work turn into almost assembly line work that requires high-quality knowledge but no different soft skills? And is it possible to build a relationship of trust online?
If we look at a situation in which the relationship of faith is the starting point, such as psychotherapy, an online treatment does not influence the result. But suppose a client is suspected of murder. Would you like the meetings to occur via an online connection, or would you rather meet at a (secret) location? What do you think about the digital lawyer, now and in the future?
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