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ÑÇÖÞÉ«ÇéÍø Head of Segment Marketing, Siobhan McGinley, recently spoke at , which returned to London’s Kings Place this year. Siobhan formed part of the panel focusing on legal tech and the future of training as a lawyer. New to the legal world herself, Siobhan recently joined ÑÇÖÞÉ«ÇéÍø after working in Strategy for Virgin, we couldn’t imagine anyone better to share insights from the event. 

Why is legal technology important and what part does ÑÇÖÞÉ«ÇéÍø play? 

At ÑÇÖÞÉ«ÇéÍø, we have a rich heritage of publishing legal content, something that we continue to do today. But the world has evolved since Butterworths publishing house was established in London in 1818, and we’ve transformed spectacularly in that time too. We’ve shifted to focus on legal tech: creating new, user-friendly tools to make the law more accessible. Tools like Lexis+^®, a new platform that combines our incredible content with cutting-edge technology, all in one portal. We’re launching Lexis+ to our UK customers as an upgrade of our legacy platforms, and it’s exciting to be here to experience that journey alongside our users. 

What does the future of technology look like, what heights can we expect to reach? 

The sky’s the limit here. While the legal industry has a reputation for being slow to change, the tech industry is a fast-paced environment, and that’s true with legal tech too. At ÑÇÖÞÉ«ÇéÍø, we’re continually evolving our product offering based on customer feedback and our users’ needs. In the last year alone, we’ve launched several products, such as Lexis^®Create, a collaborative legal document drafting tool, and Law360, which provides breaking news and analysis on policy, litigation developments and legal trends. It’s brilliant to release new products, but it’s just as important to us to invest in and evolve our existing products in response to customer feedback and new technologies – which is what we’re doing with Lexis+.

With all the new developments future tech will bring, will we still need lawyers? 

This is something we often get asked, and the answer – resoundingly – is yes! Tech doesn’t replace people. We’ve seen that in enough other industries, for example finance. The same principle applies in the legal industry, we will always need lawyers. As new technology develops and helps to lessen some of the administrative tasks (often given to juniors as part of their training), lawyers will find their roles adjusting so they can spend more time on value-add activities, such as spending time further meeting the needs of clients. 

Do the advantages of technology (efficiency gains) cause disadvantages for the next generation of lawyers? Will they miss out by not having to sort through endless boxes of paperwork?

We shouldn’t do things ‘because we always have’. Enough people can explain the pain points experienced by previous generations and plenty more have new ideas to improve on the status quo. That being said, the pandemic has shown us all how important the traditional ways of doing things can be. Being physically present in the office, particularly for new starters and those at the early stage of their careers, is a useful part of the development process. Learning via osmosis is one example of something which is difficult to replicate virtually – and so many workplaces (including ÑÇÖÞÉ«ÇéÍø) have adopted a hybrid working model. This allows for flexibility among employees but ensures that the next generation don’t miss out. 

Why do some lawyers think of tech as someone else’s responsibility if it’s integral to their role? 

Integrating legal tech and improving it can be someone else’s role, but all lawyers use tech. We all use emails and video conferencing tools without thinking about it. The same applies to legal tech too. If you consider legal research and how much the law is amended on a yearly basis – it’s no surprise that people prefer to consult an online resource (which automatically keeps up to date with the amendments), rather than relying solely on printed materials.  

Should we be training lawyers to be better at maths and data if we expect them to use technology well in future?

If students have a genuine curiosity about the subjects, then they should absolutely take an interest in them. It’s no bad thing to encourage diversity of background and skills, this brings a variety of perspectives which can lead to better outcomes.

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