Intelligent automation has become the lifeblood of many industries. However, the legal sector is conservative and has only begun ushering in technological advancements. Corporate legal departments constantly face the challenge of doing more with less. Data privacy and security, confidentiality, risks of non-compliance, cost of investments vs. return, and cultural factors compel lawyers to stick with manual operations.

Intelligent automation has become the lifeblood of many industries. However, the legal sector is conservative and has only begun ushering in technological advancements. Corporate legal departments constantly face the challenge of doing more with less. Data privacy and security, confidentiality and risks of non-compliance, cost of investments vs. return, and cultural factors compel lawyers to stick with manual operations.

However, expensive yet limited resources, mundane repetitive assignments, and high-volume data-driven tasks make the legal industry suitable for intelligent automation. With increasing client expectations and rising business pressures like market competition, alternate fee arrangements, and client-forced technology usage, law firms are looking to adopt methods that are fast, efficient, productive, and cost-saving.

It is also interesting to note that technology companies have developed ways to deliver traditional transactional legal services in an automated or semi-automated fashion, pushing law firms to aggressively embark on their automation journey. Intelligent legal automation is the use of tools and technology like robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence, and machine learning to enable legal teams to streamline, automate, and measure legal work. A wide range of time-consuming, monotonous daily processes can be efficiently handled by robots, thus enabling lawyers to do what they do best: practice law!

‍

Here are five trends we see driving intelligent legal automation:

1. Technology-the foundation to growth
‍From e-discovery solutions to automation in contract drafting and trademark search, intelligent automation can help law firms become more efficient and productive. By 2025, legal technology budgets would have increased three times, according to a report published by Gartner. Specialised legal tech vendors will build legal applications on top of business application platforms exploiting RPA, artificial intelligence, machine learning (ML), advanced analytics, process automation, and other emerging technologies.

‍2. Automation to simplify corporate transactions
‍Corporate transaction workload, including M&As, has soared in the past few years. Advances in natural language processing and machine learning technology have opened the door for handling these fluctuating workloads more efficiently and accurately. Legal departments have reported that almost 55% of work on corporate transactions is automatable.

‍3. A shift from revenue to profits
‍Legal firms have organically shifted their focus from making revenue to profits and margins. Legal departments are prioritising capabilities that match their process maturity instead of a big bang approach. Developing a multi-layer legal technology strategy that evolves with changes in the corporate environment will be critical to success, reduce costs, and translate into higher profits.

‍4. Increased adoption of contract lifecycle management (CLM) processes
‍A centralised mechanism for contract management from negotiation to execution, including reviewing, revising, and recreating contracts, can improve an organisation’s overall efficiency and client serviceability. KPMG predicts that by 2025, every organisation can rely on its contract lifecycle management (CLM) system to be the central source of truth for all contracts.

‍5. Enhanced Client Experience and Servicing
‍Like many other industries, customers are used to getting personalised professional experiences. Many legal firms offer automated applications that deliver cost-effective legal advice and legal documentation for direct client use. This facilitates clients ability to focus their legal budgets on truly complex work where lawyers bring their knowledge and expertise. In 2022, we will likely see more legal firms adopting a strategic approach to intelligent automation, reducing costs, mitigating risks, and driving client service innovations.